Thai Panang Curry (Chicken & Thai Aubergine)

🧾 Ingredients

• 250 g chicken (thin slices or bite-size)
• 25 g Panang curry paste (half a standard 50 g packet)
• 125 ml coconut milk (carton)
• 1–2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 small Thai aubergines (quartered)
• 1–2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1–2 tsp sugar (palm sugar best)
• 1–2 kaffir lime leaves (optional but recommended)
• handful Thai basil (optional)

Optional:

• sliced red chili (for garnish)

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🍚 Rice

Cook jasmine rice separately in rice cooker.

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🔥 Instructions

1. Fry the curry paste

• Heat oil in a pan or wok over medium heat
• Add curry paste
• Fry 1–2 min, breaking it up, until fragrant and sizzling

👉 Carton coconut milk is homogenized and has no thick cream layer to “crack” — so we use oil instead to fry the paste properly.

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2. Add chicken

• Add chicken directly into the paste
• Stir well to coat every piece
• Cook until mostly done on the outside (2–3 min)

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3. Add aubergines

• Add the quartered Thai aubergines
• Stir to coat with the paste
• Cook 1–2 min

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4. Add coconut milk

• Pour in the coconut milk
• Stir well to combine everything

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5. Season

• Add fish sauce
• Add sugar
• Add kaffir lime leaves (torn)

👉 Taste and adjust:

• more fish sauce = salt
• more sugar = balance

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6. Simmer

• Reduce heat to medium-low
• Simmer gently 10–15 min until aubergines are soft and chicken is cooked through
• Stir occasionally — the sauce should reduce and get thick and creamy
• If it’s too thick, add a splash of water
• If it’s too thin, simmer a few more minutes uncovered

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7. Finish

• Add Thai basil (optional)
• Turn off heat

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🍽️ Serve

• Spoon the creamy curry over jasmine rice (not soupy — it should cling to the rice)

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⚠️ Key Tips

• With carton coconut milk, always start with oil to fry the paste — no cream layer to crack
• 125 ml coconut milk is less than a can — the result is a thick, creamy coating, not a soupy curry
• Thai aubergines are small and cook faster than regular eggplant — quarter them so they absorb the sauce
• Let it rest 5 min off the heat — it thickens further as it sits

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🌱 Vegetarian Variation (Pulses instead of meat)

Replace the chicken with 200 g (drained weight) of any of these:

Pulse	Form	Prep	Notes
Red kidney beans	Canned	Drain and rinse, add at step 2 instead of chicken	Best match for panang — holds up in the thick sauce
Cannellini beans	Canned	Drain and rinse, add at step 2 instead of chicken	Creamy, absorbs the panang flavor well
Mung beans	Dry	Simmer 20–30 min in water first, then add to curry	Softens into the thick sauce
Chickpeas	Canned	Drain and rinse, add at step 2 instead of chicken	Firm and hearty

For dry mung beans: simmer in water 20–30 min until just tender before starting the curry, then use in place of chicken at step 2.

For canned beans: drain, rinse, and add at step 2. Stir gently — panang sauce is thick, so fold them in carefully.

Optional: add 100–150 g chicken (or tofu) alongside the beans for a meat+bean version.

Panang is a thick, clingy curry — kidney beans and chickpeas work especially well because they hold their shape and get coated in the sauce. Mung beans will blend in more.

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👍 Result

With chicken: Thick, creamy curry that coats the chicken and aubergines, rich panang flavor.

With pulses: Satisfying and filling — beans sit beautifully in the thick panang sauce, served over rice.