Panang Curry with Chicken

Last week, I attended a cooking class which was arranged by my company.  It was very nice and fun learning/cooking with my colleagues.  The chef, Jamie at The Gourmandise School, taught us how to cook Thai cuisine as well as use proper cutting techniques.  I love Thai food but have never tried making it at home.  I’m surprised how easy it is to make Pad Thai and Panang Curry with chicken.  After the class, I made those two dishes again for my family and everyone loved it.  Below is the recipe for Panang Curry with Chicken from the cooking school.  I will publish the recipe for Pad Thai in my next post.

Ingredients:  (Serves 4)

1 can	Coconut milk
1 Tbsp	Vegetable oil
¼ cup	Panang curry paste
2 Tbsps	Fish sauce
1 pound	Boneless skinless chicken breast
½ cup	Chicken stock
2 Tbsps	Brown sugar
3	Kaffir lime leaves
½ cup	Thai basil leaves

Directions:

1. Cut chicken breast into cubes. (picture 1)
2. Separate coconut cream and milk from can and place cream in medium saucepan along with vegetable oil and curry paste.  Heat over medium high and cook for 2 minutes.  Stir constantly. (pictures 2-4)
3. Add remaining coconut milk, chicken stock, sugar, fish sauce and Kaffir lime leaves.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  (pictures 5-9)
4. Add chicken and simmer until just cooked.  Taste for seasoning.  (picture 10)
5. Slice basil leaves and add in to chicken curry.  (picture 11)
6. Serve over white rice.  (picture 12)

Notes:

• I simmered the chicken for 45 minutes and also added potatoes.
• I found it hard to purchase all ingredients, especially the Kaffir lime leaves.  Kaffir lime leave is highly aromatic and provides a light citrus flavor.  I would not want to omit this ingredient.  One of my co-workers has a little bush, he was nice enough to give me some leaves.
• All ingredients can be found in Thai supermarkets.  I purchased mine in a Chinese/Vietnamese supermarket.