Flavours of home is a series of recipes from around the world cooked by people at home in Otago. They are accompanied by a video on the ODT website. This week Lek Findlater, from Thailand, cooks Panang chicken curry.
About 15 years ago, Lek (Pohpimol) Findlater came to New Zealand and met her future husband, a Dunedin man, so she stayed. She ran Bahn Thai restaurant in Moray Pl in the 1990s but gave it up when she became pregnant with her daughter. Later, she cooked in the kitchen at Dunedin Public Hospital and now is in partnership in a lunch bar in Mosgiel.
Panang curry is a red dish from central Thailand, and is eaten often. It can be made with beef, pork or chicken. Here, Lek makes it with chicken.
Panang chicken curry
500g sliced chicken
1 large Tbsp Panang curry paste (or to taste)
1 cup coconut cream
4 kaffir lime leaves (dried or fresh)
½ Tbsp palm sugar (or soft brown sugar)
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp oil
to garnish:
1 Tbsp coconut cream
4 fresh kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced
½ fresh long red chilli, finely sliced
To serve:
steamed rice
serves 4
Cut the chicken breast into thin slices and set aside.
If you have fresh kaffir lime leaves, slice some thinly for a garnish and use the rest whole in the cooking. Otherwise use dried leaves in the cooking.
Slice the chilli lengthwise and remove white rib and seeds. Slice thinly and set aside for garnish.
Break the lump of palm sugar with a wooden spoon so you can measure about half a tablespoon.
Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a pan, add the chicken and stir until it changes colour. Add the curry paste and stir.
When it starts to colour and smell fragrant, add half a cup of coconut cream and stir until a thick sauce forms and the colour is even. If you put in too much coconut cream too early, the sauce will be thin. It should be a dryish sauce to coat the meat, not runny.
Stir in palm sugar and fish sauce. Add lime leaves and a little more coconut cream as it cooks down.
Lower the heat and simmer for about 10-15 minutes.
Serve with rice. Garnish with a swirl of coconut cream, finely sliced fresh kaffir lime leaf and red chilli.
Lek serves vegetables, such as green beans, carrots or snow peas on the side to make a balanced meal, but some people like to add vegetables to the curry.
Thai people eat with a fork and spoon rather than a knife and fork or chopsticks, she says.
• Thanks to Afife Harris and Hinton Fruit and Produce.
Tips
- Lek uses a Panang curry paste made in Thailand from chilli, galangal, shrimp paste, garlic and other herbs and spices. If you like it hotter, add more paste or chilli. Unused paste will keep in an airtight container in the pantry for several months. Available from Asian grocers.
- When the rice is cooked, she likes to stir it then let it settle for a few minutes so it evens out in texture.
- You can use chicken breast or thighs. In Thailand they would keep the skin on but in New Zealand people prefer to remove chicken skin
- You can use beef or pork or lamb, which takes a little longer to cook. For a vegetarian version, make the sauce, and stir through cooked vegetables such as potato, carrots, green beans or fresh asparagus
- Kaffir lime is a small tropical tree from Southeast Asia that needs warm, humid conditions to grow.
