I’ve tried to make this dish many many times using different methods and recipes. Each time I’ve not got it right sadly. I’m determined to get it right as having eaten the dish out it’s a beautiful representation of Thai cooking. I’m fascinated by all dishes from Asia and regions but I find Thai cooking the hardest for some reason.

Finally, I believe I’ve managed to crack it. Using a new recipe and method this dish tasted great 👍🏻. It’s nice to get that feeling back about being happy in the kitchen.

Using a recipe from the talented Jeremy Pang and his ‘School of wok’ cookbook this was an absolute pleasure to make. From making my own paste and using his ‘wok clock’ method it’s a brilliant dish to create.

Again, with most dishes from this region, the work goes into making the paste, and this penang curry is no exception. All the effort goes into the preparation. Plus if you use the ‘wok clock’ method this dish is simple to build. Jeremy’s ‘wok clock’ method is simple. It’s about organising your ingredients on a plate, starting at 12 o’clock in the order that you use them. Simple as that 👍🏻

Ingredients-

Curry paste =

2 tbsp of coriander seeds

1 tsp of cumin seeds

1/2 tsp of black peppercorns

10/15 dried chillies soak in warm water for 15 minutes then drained

1 brown shallot

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

2 lime leaves finely chopped

1 lemon grass stalk bashed then chopped

Thumb size piece of ginger finely chopped

Handful of coriander stalks finely chopped

1 tbsp of shop bought crispy onion bits.

Rest of the dish

4 chicken legs with skin on, however I did use 6 chicken thighs with skin and bone in

3 lime leaves

400ml of coconut milk

100ml of chicken stock

2 small potatoes cut into cubes

2 tbsp of fish sauce

1 tbsp of brown or palm sugar

Vegetable oil

1 red chilli finely diced and crispy onion bits to garnish.

Method =

Heat a frying pan as you need to dry roast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds and black peppercorns. Once the pan has started to smoke, add in your whole spices. Dry roast them until the kitchen is nice and fragrant.

Once they are nice and hot, remove them from the heat and place in a pestle and mortar. Grind the whole spices into a powder.

Add all the other ingredients – soaked chillies, like leaves, lemongrass stalks, garlic, ginger, coriander stalks, crispy onion bits, shallot and grind as well. This will take about 5 minutes but it’s worth it. You will be left with a fragrant beautiful paste.

Massage 3 tbsp of the paste into the chicken.

Set up your ‘wok clock’ in the order you would use them.

Heat a couple of glugs of vegetable. Once it’s hot, pan fry the chicken.

You want to brown the chicken. Once the chicken is browned both sides set aside.

Place a heavy based pan on the heat. Add two further good glugs of vegetable oil bring to a good heat. Add in the lime leaves and remaining paste.

Simmer the paste for 5 minutes. The kitchen will smell amazing and it will start to darken.

Add the coconut milk a little at a time, each time waiting for it to come to a simmer.

Once you’ve added in all the coconut milk add in your chicken stock. Again bring this to a simmer.

Once the dish is bubbling away add in your chicken pieces and potato chunks. Allow this to then cook for 35 / 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes or so add in the brown sugar and fish stock giving the pan a good stir.

The curry will smell and taste great at this point. Just for the photo below I dropped a couple of pieces of diced red chillies.

I set the pan aside for a couple of minutes and quickly stir fried egg noodles and tenderstem broccoli in groundnut oil.

To serve the dish more red diced chillies were added along with crispy onions.

Thank you for reading my ramblings. I’ve loved creating this dish ❤️

Credit to Jeremy Pang.