A long, long time ago in Atlanta, a young girl who hated Thai food fell in love with her first Thai dish. Panang curry. Sweet. Spicy. Pink-ish red-ish oh my god delicious. It may not be an epic story, but as a college freshman at Georgia Tech, I was tethered to campus by the August heat and MARTA, a Atlanta's pathetic public transportation system. Tech Square, an extension of the main campus, is located just over the 5th Street bridge in midtown. Nestled against the Georgia Tech hotel and conference center is a hip little chain restaurant called Tin Drum Cafe. They offer an interesting mix of Asian-inspired dishes, from Pad Thai to Singapore Rice Noodles to Japanese Katsu. The walls are whitewashed acoustic nightmares, and the voices of urban professionals, professors, and engineering students can reach overwhelming levels during busy hours. This is the place where, staring at a giant print of a sumo wrestler, I first experienced the magnificent blend of spices known as panang. Since then, I have discovered many types of curries, but panang remains my all time favorite. Below is an easy to follow recipe, and though I do not admit to perfectly recreating Tin Drum's delicious panang curry dish, it's enough to satisfy my cravings. Unfortunately, no pictures again. I will work on taking photos before I devour every morsel of food.
Easy Peasy Panang Curry
3-4 large strips of bulgogi-style cut steak (I get this at Super H Mart, but you can use any type of meat. Tofu is good too. I may do a post on just making fried tofu.)
1 Red Bell Pepper, sliced into strips
1 large broccoli crown, cut into smaller pieces
Handful of Green onion, chopped
Small handful of Taiwanese basil leaves
Maesri brand can of panang curry paste
2 cans of coconut milk
1/3 cup chicken broth
Pour broth and coconut milk into a large pot and bring to a gentle boil. Mix in almost all of the can of panang curry paste slowly while it is heating up (add more or less curry paste to taste. I prefer a flavor explosion.) Add green onions and broccoli. Allow broccoli to cook 8-9 minutes. During this time, broil the beef in a shallow pan for 5 minutes. Allow the meat to cool and cut into 1 inch pieces. Add the pieces of beef, red bell pepper, and taiwanese basil leaves, and cook for another 3-4 minutes. When broccoli is soft but firm, remove the pot from the heat and allow the curry to cool and thicken for a bit. Serve over jasmine rice.
