With my freshly made Penang curry paste I decided to make a simple chicken curry, Penang Gai from “The Big Book of Thai Curries”. The chicken curry looked really tasty and sounded pretty simple to make. Once again I found that I was missing a lot of the ingredients and I had to go in search of them. I was really pleased to find some Thai basil . I tried a leaf by itself and it was pretty good, having a distinct licorice flavour to it. I was not able to find the kaffir lime leaves and so I just used some of the Thai basil instead. I was able to find the palm sugar which came in solid discs of sugar which needed to be finely grated. I was also able to find a source of fresh red chilies which I had been looking for for a while. The curry turned out to be really good! Making my own Thai curry paste was well worth the effort. I was introduced to many new ingredients and flavours. I am looking forward to using the panang curry paste again.
Penang Gai (Chicken Penang Curry)
ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 tablespoons Penang curry paste
- 1 pound chicken breast (cut into bite sized pieces)
- 1 14 ounce can coconut milk
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons palm sugar (grated, or white or brown sugar)
- 4 kaffir lime leaves (chopped)
- 2 red chilies (thinly sliced)
- 1 handful Thai basil
directions
- Heat the oil in a pan.
- Add the curry paste and saute for a few minutes.
- Add the chicken and saute until cooked.
- Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and sugar and cook for a few minutes.
- Add the lime leaves, chilies and basil and remove from the heat.
Peter M says
November 11, 2007 at 6:48 pmAhhh, I had something like this last night. It was filling, satisfying and affordable.
Kevin, the Asian markets have keffir lime leaves but you have to know to recoginize it and but because asking for help at the market is futile as they barely anyone speaks English.
Pam says
November 11, 2007 at 8:31 pmKevin, that looks amazing. I love thai curries, and I knew you would make your own curry paste! My asian market keeps their kaffir lime leaves in the freezer, I have to ask for them. I also order from this website: http://www.importfood.com/
to get thai ingredients that I can’t find here.
Anh says
November 11, 2007 at 9:29 pmKevin, if you can’t find lime leaves, some grated lemon zest will help. it is not the same, but it adds the zesty flavours to the paste. HTH.
Vanessa says
November 12, 2007 at 1:07 amKevin, that looks warm and satisfying. I think making your own curry paste is a great idea.
Cynthia says
November 12, 2007 at 1:36 amI love the adventure of trying new ingredients and dishes. Your Thai curry looks very flavourful.
Coffee & Vanilla says
November 12, 2007 at 1:39 amKevin, this recipe looks very tempting. I still did not use miso I bought, but sooon, I promise.
Margot
tigerfish says
November 12, 2007 at 4:49 amWOoo…another curry dish to win me over…yummy!
Ferdzy says
November 12, 2007 at 10:48 pmMm, love those curries. The keffir lime leaves are very distinctive. I’m a little surprised you couldn’t fine them; I know they’re out there. But yeah, like Anh says, a little lime zest is passably close.
Sara says
November 14, 2007 at 5:58 amThat looks fantastic. I love curry.
Jerry says
November 18, 2007 at 11:35 pmKevin – kaffir lime leaves are relatively common in TO. If you go to one of the markets around Spadina and Dundas you will have no troubles. I work at Dundas and University so I often take a little field trip over.
Kalyn says
November 19, 2007 at 12:53 amI do love Thai curries, but I confess that I buy the paste in a jar, so I’m impressed that you are making your own. My stepsister sends me kaffir lime leaves from California and I freeze them. So if you order some, you can keep them good that way.
Laurie Constantino says
November 19, 2007 at 5:35 amThat looks really delicious, and like it would make my taste buds tingle in the best way possible. Kalyn, thanks for the tip about freezing kafir limes leaves — I tend to let mine go bad in the refrigerator. Never again!
Kevin says
November 20, 2007 at 3:36 amI found some kaffir lime leaves this weekend. Thanks for the tip about freeing them Kalyn.
Kate says
November 28, 2007 at 7:05 pmHey, i make thai curries all the time – you can get kaffir lime leaves [the freeze dried ones which need soaking in water before cooking with them, and removing before eating] at Tesco, they usually come in the asian specialty section, they have lots of things!
redforever says
January 30, 2008 at 5:29 pmSomeone suggested using lemon zest instead of kaffir lime leaves.
Grated lime zest is better, or even freshly squeezed lime juice.
And yes, if you do find kaffir lime leaves, freeze them.
PHIL says
November 8, 2008 at 9:45 pmWicked curry recipe just like my local thai restaurant, maybe better !!!
Anonymous says
October 1, 2009 at 12:58 amhow many people is this recipe for???
Kevin says
October 1, 2009 at 9:27 pmAnonymous: Along with some rice and some vegetables side dishes, this should make 4 servings though you could easily increase the chicken to 1 1/2 pounds for larger portions.