Phanaeng

A curry reduced until it clings to the meat, thickened by peanut rather than by flour or time.

Beef. Not vegetarian — contains beef, curry paste, which usually contains shrimp paste, fish sauce.

Ingredients

600 g beef sirloin, in thin slices
600 ml coconut cream
5 tablespoons phanaeng curry paste
4 tablespoons peanuts, finely ground
8 kaffir lime leaves, very finely shredded
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons palm sugar
2 long red chillies, in fine strips
4 tablespoons coconut cream, to finish

Method

REDUCED UNTIL IT CLINGS. This is the thick one. The red curry on this site is ladled and the green is soupier still; phanaeng is cooked down until the sauce coats each slice and barely pools on the plate. If you can ladle it, keep going.
COCONUT CREAM ONLY, NO THIN MILK AND NO STOCK. There is nothing in this to dilute -- the liquid you start with is the liquid you reduce.
Crack the paste: 200 ml of the cream boiled hard 5 minutes until it splits and the oil rises, then the paste fried in it 4 minutes until dark and fragrant.
GROUND PEANUT IN WITH THE PASTE, not at the end. It is the thickener and it needs to cook; stirred in late it tastes raw and sits on top.
Beef in, turned 2 minutes only. Thin slices in a sauce this thick toughen quickly.
Remaining cream, fish sauce and palm sugar in.
Simmer gently, uncovered, 15 to 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until it has reduced by about a third and the oil is separating at the edges.
THE TEST: draw a spoon across the bottom of the pan and the channel should close slowly.
Most of the lime leaf in for the last 2 minutes, shredded as finely as you can manage.
Off the heat, the last 4 tablespoons of cream drizzled over unstirred, with the remaining lime leaf and the chilli strips on top.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Thailand · All recipes