Homemade Panang Curry Paste

Homemade panang curry paste is a standard Thai curry dish you can find as a standard dish in most Thai restaurants.  You may also see it spelled Panang or Phanang.  (Source Wikipedia)  The recipe first appeared in the literature in the late 1800’s and has been made into many new variations since then.  It is a thick, peanut flavor recipe with a lot of natural Thai spices.

Paneang Curry Paste

Because everyone’s health situation is different and fact dependent you will always want to make sure this dish is healthy for you. That said, you can see from the ingredients below how natural it is.  Plus, when you make a recipe at home you have greater control over the what goes into it.  Part of the fun of this recipe for us is the preparation as the fragrant oils and variety of colors look and smell amazing.

If you have a peanut allergy this recipe will not be for you as peanuts are what makes it Paneang.  If you are vegetarian, you can substitute vegetable stock or low sodium soy sauce for the fish sauce.  You can also just leave out anything you want including the shrimp paste or if you have an Asian market nearby there is a shrimp paste substitute called kapi chae.  If you have high blood pressure always go with the lowest sodium sauces you can find too.   There are low sodium soy sauces and fish sauces available and most other sauces if you look hard enough.

Paneang Curry Paste Ingredients

Ingredients:

• 10 dried Thai chili, soaked in water
• 2 tsp salt
• 10 black pepper whole
• 2 tsp finely chopped galanga
• 2 tsp sliced lemongrass
• 1 tsp chopped kaffir lime leaves
• 2 tsp chopped cilantro stems
• 4 oz. sliced shallots
• 20 sliced garlic cloves
• 2 tsp shrimp paste

Yield about 10-12 tbsp

Instructions:

1. Get a mortar, pestle, and blender ready.
2. First, crush dried Thai chili, salt, and black pepper in the mortar.
3. Follow with galanga, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and cilantro.  Add those ingredients in the mortar and smash them with the pestle.
4. Then add shallots, garlic cloves, and shrimp paste and break these ingredients with the pestle until they become a smooth texture.   At this point, you can transfer the paste to the blender and use the blender to blend all the ingredients together

If you like this, you like

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Easy Panang Curry Beef (พะแนงเนื้อ)

Healthy Fusion Panang Curry (ผัดแพนงแบบไม่ใส่กะทิ)

Panang Chicken Curry with Winter Melon

As always, we make our healthy Thai recipes as healthy as possible.  Because each persons situation is fact dependent you will want to consider any special needs you might have with your doctor.  When in doubt, check it out, when it comes you your healthy.  If you have any ideas to improve our recipes, please let us know in the comments section below.  Shares, likes, and star ratings also help us immensely!  🙂