Beef panang curry recipe

• Serves 4
• 15 mins to prepare and 25 mins to cook
• 545 calories/serving

Ingredients

For the Panang paste

• One shallot, chopped.
• Four garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• One red chili halved and deseeded
• Two sticks of lemongrass, trimmed and roughly chopped.
• 1 tsp chili flakes
• One whole star anise
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• Two green cardamom pods, crushed to release inner black seeds only
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp ground white pepper
• Four dry kaffir lime leaves
• One lime, juice only

For the curry

• 100g unsalted peanuts, shelled
• 1 tbsp groundnut oil
• 400ml tin coconut milk
• Four dried kaffir lime leaves
• 2 tbsp palm sugar or light muscovado sugar
• 2-3 tbsp fish sauce, to taste
• 500g sirloin steak, trimmed of noticeable fat and finely sliced
• One lime, juice only.
• Handful basil leaves (preferably Thai basil, but the standard is acceptable)
• One red chili, finely sliced
• steamed rice to serve

Method

1. To make the Panang paste, pound all the ingredients together in a large pestle and mortar for at least 5 mins to form a paste.
2. Alternatively, use the small bowl of a food processor and pulse-chop until relatively smooth paste forms, stopping regularly to scrape down the bowl.
3. To make the curry, put the peanuts in a dry frying pan and toast over low heat for a few minutes, shaking the pan often until golden and fragrant.
4. Let them cool, then roughly chop or crush them in a pestle and mortar.
5. Put the oil in a wok or large, deep-sided frying pan and set on low-medium heat.
6. Add the Panang paste and cook, often stirring, for 5 mins until fragrant and sizzling.
7. Add the coconut milk and lime leaves and increase the heat.
8. Bubble down for 2-3 mins until slightly thickened. Stir in the sugar and 2 tbsp fish sauce and continue to simmer for 5 mins to reduce the sauce.
9. Add the steak and cook for 2-3 mins more until it no longer looks pink and raw.
10. Add the lime juice, taste the curry and add a further tbsp of fish sauce if it needs more salt.
11. Remove from the heat and scatter with the peanuts, basil leaves, and sliced chili. Serve hot with steamed rice.