No Thai cuisine is complete without a Panang Curry recipe. Also spelled Penang, Panaeng, Phanang or Phanaeng Curry, this red curry dish is a sweet and spicy stir fry that uses a red chili paste made from herbs and spices to create an exotic, very sought after dish for all Thai food enthusiasts.

Panang Curry originates from the west facing city island of Malaysia called, Penang. With its welcoming rich, creamy, spicy and sweet flavors, Panang is a very popular dish for Westerners not fully submerged into Thai food.. yet.

A Fast & Easy Authentic Panang Curry Recipe

Panang Curry can be made with beef, chicken, or pork. I’ve also fully enjoyed it made with shrimp as well. Because we’re shooting for low carb Thai catered to a ketogenic diet, this recipe uses pork belly.

The end result is not meant to be dry, nor soupy, so try to aim for a tender and moist finished result. Like in the picture below.

If You Want To Make Paste From Scratch

Making the Panang Curry paste from scratch takes a bit longer. Most local Thai spots do it with a good red paste like we do it here (using Mae Pranom red chili paste).

This is another one of those recipes, much like the Khao Soi Gai, where you can use the many spices and herbs it takes to make a Panang curry paste, or you can simply use the Thai Chili Paste made from fresh herbs to attain an almost identical, and far easier and faster way to create the Panang Curry. That’s how we did it in this recipe.

In the future, I’d like to master the from-scratch Panang as well. If you want to create it from scratch, I’ve included a red curry paste recipe at the bottom of this post. Now let us get on with this tasty Pork Panang Curry!

Step 1. Prep Pork and Panang Curry Ingredients

Pork Panang Curry Ingredients

• Pork belly, 200g
• Small eggplants, 3-4p
• Red Thai Curry Paste, 2 tbsp
• Coconut aminos, 4 tbsp
• Fish sauce, 1 tbsp
• kafir lime leaf, 3-4 leaves
• Thai Sweet Basil, small handful
• Coconut oil, 1 tbsp

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Step 2. Slice Chilis, Eggplant, Herbs

Slice the eggplant into thin slivers, then slice, then slice the chili peppers in a diagonal fashion as you can see in the image below.

Once sliced, you can scrape the sides of the chilis to de-seed them. This is an optional step I like to do. If you like the FIRE, feel free to leave them in. They make it spicy with or without the seeds. If you’re not an acclimated “falang” like I am, then I’d suggest to keep it to two chili peppers, max. You can always add more.

After you’ve de-stemmed the kafir leaves, slice them as well. You can toss the stems because we’ll only be using the kafir leaf, not any of the leaf’s stem.

Set these aside as you prepare the saute pan for what is next, the coconut oil, curry paste, and pork.

Step 3. Panang Curry Paste

We’re using the Mae Pranom brand Red Thai Chili Paste. Everyone in Thailand uses this one it seems, so I’d recommend it for your Thai cooking as well. However, there are many other just as good red chili pastes out there. I’ve never been disappointed with any of them. Just make sure they’re all natural and Thai.

To start the curry paste process, put the coconut oil on the stovetop pan over medium heat. After a minute or two, once the oil is getting hot, add the red chili paste. Stir this combination of chili paste and coconut oil around a bit and let it cook. Once it gets pretty hot, add the sliced pork belly pieces.

Step 4. Add the pork

Once the chili paste is starting to sizzle, add the sliced pork belly pieces in.

If this were a Panang Chicken recipe, you’d add the chicken here instead.

Next, stir the pork into the sauce.

Keep stirring around, then let this cook over medium to high heat before adding the rest.

Step 5. Add the eggplant, fish sauce, coconut aminos, water

In order of sequence, add the eggplant slices in first.

These need to be cooked the most, so you want those in right away at this point.

Once the eggplant has been placed inside, and you’ve stirred it around enough to have a light coat of curry spice, add in the rest: water, fish sauce, coconut aminos, then the herbs at the end.

The order of sequence doesn’t matter with these.

To clarify one more time, at this step you are adding three things.

• water
• fish sauce
• coconut aminos

Let this combination of greatness cook for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pork is cooked through.

This is what the final result will look like. Once it looks like the image below, the pork or chicken should be cooked all the way through, and then you just need to add the chopped chilis and herbs.

These are the final additions added to the curry at the very end:

• sliced kafir lime leaves (or kafir lime zest)
• sliced chili peppers
• whole Thai Sweet Basil leaves

That’s it!

Then serve.

In case you’re wondering, Ling is the one who does all the magic both in the kitchen and with the garnishing. She taught me how to chop down banana leaves to use them for plating and for cooking. We have a “khi bam” recipe that is actually cooked entirely over an open flame or stove top, using banana leaf. They’re biodegradable. They make cleanup MUCH easier, and they’re everywhere, available to everyone. I love banana leaves.

Thai Pork Panang Curry is Finished.

We hope you enjoy the Panang!

I wouldn’t call this dish the most picturesque of all the low carb Thai recipes we’ve created, but the taste is fantastic.

Thanks for checking out our recipe, and if you make it, please let us know!

Here’s one last shot.

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Bonus: Thai Panang Curry Paste recipe

Here’s the bonus I promised up above. The very best red Panang Curry paste will always be made from scratch. So, now that I present this ingredient list to you, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can always snag a mortar and pestle and try to make it from scratch! Homemade Thai pastes and sauces are the best. Here’s what you need to make it.

• 1 stalk fresh lemongrass, smashed and sliced
• 2-3 sliced fresh garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp sliced fresh ginger
• 1 sliced red chili
• 1 tsp coriander root (ground in mortar and pestle)
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp organic palm sugar (or try to replace with some fresh stevia tea)
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• Himalayan or Sea Salt to taste

To make this, you need a mortar and pestle.

Mortar and Pestle

You first have to pound all the ingredients in this curry paste ingredient list minus the fish sauce. As it gets pasty, add a tablespoon of fish sauce, keep pounding and then taste test. Keep adding fish sauce until your desired taste is acquired.

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