When I think of Thai food I tend to think of all of the wonderful curries so it was only natural that when I was enjoying the Thai inspired chicken noodle soup recently that I thought of trying a Thai curried soup. The only question was; What kind of Thai curry paste did I have in my freezer? After a few minutes of searching I hit the jackpot when I found 2 tablespoons worth of frozen panang curry paste . Panang curry paste is one of my favorites as it incorporates peanuts. I had also recently tried using peanut butter in a sweet potato and peanut soup and I really liked it so I was thinking a Thai curry soup with peanut butter. Of course I would also need to add coconut milk as it is very often present in Thai curries. For some reason shrimp often come to mind when pondering about Thai cuisine and I figured that it would do an excellent job as the protein in the soup. Next I wanted some vegetables and I thought that the sweetness of squash would go well with both the spicy curry paste and the creamy peanut butter. From there I rounded the soup off with some red peppers and peas for extra colour. The curried pumpkin and prawn soup turned of fantastically! It was nice and warm and fresh and creamy and tasty. It was just packed with flavour and all of the different flavours played really well together. What a perfect soup for a cool winter day!
Panang Curried Pumpkin and Prawn Soup
ingredients
- 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons panang curry paste
- 6 cups shrimp stock or chicken broth or chicken stock
- 2 kaffir lime leaves (thinly sliced)
- 2 cups butternut squash (cut into bite sized cubes)
- 1 red pepper (cut into bite sized pieces)
- 1 teaspoon palm sugar (grated, or sugar)
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1 pound shrimp (shelled and deviened)
- 1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
- 1/4 cup cilantro (chopped)
- 2 green onions (sliced)
- 1 birds eye chili (thinly sliced)
- 1/4 cup peanuts (roasted and chopped)
directions
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the thicker coconut milk that floats at the top in a pan.
- Add the curry paste and saute until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add the chicken stock, coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves, butternut squash, red pepper, sugar, fish sauce, lime juice and peanut butter and simmer until the butternut squash is just tender, about 10 minutes.
- Add the peas and shrimp and simmer until the shrimp is cooked, about 2-4 minutes.
- Serve garnished with cilantro, green onions, birds eye chili and peanuts.
Pam says
February 20, 2010 at 2:37 amThai soups are my favorite! And this one looks like a real winner.
Rachael says
February 20, 2010 at 3:14 amWOW! This looks wonderful! I love pumpkin and penang curry. This is definitely one I need to try!
Chef Fresco says
February 20, 2010 at 3:29 amWe love Thai recipes. This looks delicious Kevin!
Sook says
February 20, 2010 at 3:43 amOh i just know I'm going to love this curry. I love curry with sweet potatoes and prawn. 🙂
Anonymous says
February 20, 2010 at 5:30 amWhat a gorgeous, colorful meal! It definitely is soup weather, I'll have to give this a try this weekend.
Joanne says
February 20, 2010 at 12:46 pmthe best Thai curry I've ever had was a penang curry dish with huge hunks of kabocha. It was absolute heaven. This looks like it could definitely compete. Gorgeous.
Food and Fate says
February 20, 2010 at 1:10 pmI love Thai and the combo. of flavours – fantastic น่าอัศจรรย์
meeso says
February 20, 2010 at 2:36 pmWow, what a great combo of flavors!
Anonymous says
February 20, 2010 at 5:33 pmI love your logic when deciding what to put into your recipes! It makes perfect sense to me!
Anonymous says
February 20, 2010 at 6:45 pmI believe it's called Panang, not Penang (?) Penang is a state north of Malaysia.
Ginny says
February 20, 2010 at 7:09 pmyum! yum! yum! this looks so great! 🙂
Anonymous says
February 21, 2010 at 12:22 amYou are amazing – every dish is de-lish! Thank you for sharing. I am so impressed with your photos and recipes – all have turned out wonderfully!
Jan says
February 21, 2010 at 5:13 pmWhat a lovely looking soup!
Gina says
February 21, 2010 at 5:57 pmThis looks great Kevin, I've been in the mood for this soup!
Holly Knott says
February 21, 2010 at 8:57 pmThis looks fantastic. I'm really enjoying your blog, and have linked to it on my blog so others can find you and enjoy it as well!
Jeanne says
February 23, 2010 at 12:54 pmWhat wonderful flavours you have going there. I have a load f frozen shrimp in my freezer and they might just be heading for this!
Drake says
February 23, 2010 at 11:16 pmI'm a vegetarian, so the prawns are right out for me, but I just wanted to tell you how beautiful the picture is. The colours are gorgeous. Well done!
James says
February 23, 2010 at 11:55 pmIt really looks quite delectable. My favorite is penang duck curry
Julie says
February 26, 2010 at 5:09 pmI love all the ingredients, but I never would have put them all together on my own. Have never tried Thai cooking. This will be my first attempt. Thanks for the idea.
Suzi says
November 7, 2013 at 9:42 amThis is seriously the best Penang curry I have ever had thank you so much… Its a new favourite.