Served with some simple steamed rice, this fragrant Thai Panang Curry with Prawns (Shrimp) is quick and easy but filled with all the flavours of an authentic Panang curry.
Love Asian flavours as much as me? Try these Salt and Pepper Prawns or this Lime Coconut Chicken.
Table of contents
Why you’ll love this
- Quick and easy to make
- A creamy, spicy sauce
- Big juicy prawns / shrimp – or sub with other proteins.
You can serve this Panang curry with chicken too or even tofu to keep it vegetarian.
What is Panang curry
Panang curry has a thick sauce and is similar to a Thai red curry but with slightly more tang to it. It has a sweet and sour flavour to it and includes peanuts (or often peanut butter), unlike a red curry.
Your local Thai restaurant likely has Panang curry on the menu and that’s exactly where I first came across it. Complex but balanced, the sauce is creamy and a little spicy with notes of peanut and coconut.
Panang curry paste
For this recipe, I keep things simple with a store-bought Panang curry paste. Most grocery stores should stock it in the international section, but you can (and I have) made panang curry using a red curry paste as well.
Panang curry is big on tangy ingredients like lemongrass, ginger, galangal, lime and citrus. Even with all that, it’s balance out by the creaminess off peanuts and coconut.
While making a curry paste from scratch is very satisfying but it does take a large array of ingredients, many of which are often not readily available so a store-bought paste makes life a lot easier, however, I find all store-bought curry pastes need a bit of oomph, so I always add a bit more onion and garlic at the very least.
Ingredients
- Panang curry paste: if you’re in a real bind, you can use red curry paste and it will be a close substation. Add a little very finely chopped lemongrass to get a little more tang in the sauce. You can swap the panang curry paste for green curry paste too.
- Prawns / shrimp: I prefer to shell my own raw prawns as they have a much better texture than those that have been pre-shelled, then frozen for sale. You can swap these out for chicken, tofu or even beef.
- Vegetables: My favourite veggies in this curry are beans, capsicum (bell pepper) and bean sprouts. Tinned bamboo shoots also work great and you can add other things like carrot too.
- Fish sauce: Absolutely essential to Thai cooking, fish sauce has a pungent smell but that dissipates once it’s in your sauce. It not only adds salt but also umami.
- Coconut milk and cream: The typical coconut flavour in a Thai Penang curry comes from the coconut milk and cream. Coconut cream is on the thicker side, perfect for this thicker style curry.
- Palm sugar: This is the type of sugar used in Thai food. It comes in block form and you grate the amount you need. While it stores well, you can use brown sugar in it’s place if you don’t want to buy it especially just don’t pack the measure as brown sugar is far sweeter.
- Peanuts: Raw peanuts would be used in an authentic Penang curry, but many use a natural peanut butter to simplify things. I prefer raw peanuts that I toast first for added nutty flavour.
- Kaffir lime leaves: These fragrant leaves are quintessential in south-east Asian cooking and often come in packs where fresh herbs are kept in grocery stores or Asian stores. With a really unique flavour it’s best not to use a substitute but if you really can’t get them use a bruised lemon grass stalk or a few peelings from a lime.
Love Thai food? Check out my Essential Thai Ingredients.
How to make prawn Panang curry
Before you start:
Prep all your ingredients at the start as this moves quite quickly. If you’re serving rice with it, you’ll likely want to get that started first. Toast the peanuts in a dry pan over medium heat until they start turning golden.
- First you’ll grind the peanuts to crumbs, then add onion, curry paste and spices and blend it together.
- Heat a pan with some oil, then add the curry paste mixture. Fry that stirring often until fragrant then pour in combined coconut milk and cream (photo 1). Bring it to a boil and allow it to thicken for a couple of minutes.
- Add the beans and capsicum (photo 2) and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Now add the prawns (photo 3) and again, cook 2-3 minutes until starting to turn opaque.
- Add the remaining ingredients (photo 4) cooking another few minutes before it’s done.
- Have a last taste test to make sure the balance is right – a little more fish sauce for saltiness, sweetness if it’s too savoury or lime juice if it needs a bit of zing.
- Remove the kaffir lime leaves before serving.
If you’re using chicken, add it when the vegetables go in.
Tips and tricks
- Shell the prawns yourself: I know it’s not for everyone but I promise, prawns / shrimp with their shells on when you buy them will always have a much better texture than those already shelled. As most are frozen before they’re sold, the shells protect that delicate meat when freezing. Shell them ahead of time, to save time when cooking this dinner.
- Serve it with: Plain steamed rice works best but add some wedges of lime and a sprinkle of fresh herbs like coriander (cilantro) or Thai basil. Some whole toasted peanuts are also great for some crunch.
- Full fat coconut milk and cream: Full fat will give the best flavour and thicken up nicely.
- Kaffir lime leaves: Give these a scrunch before you add them in as it will release their fragrant oils. Any leftover kaffir lime leaves will keep in the freezer well, so no need to throw away the ones you don’t use.
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I present to you Thai Panang Curry with Prawns. It’s great served with a 3 ingredient flatbread to mop up all that juice too. Now ‘curry-up’ and give it a try (aaah, yep that just happened). Enjoy!
If you try this prawn Panang curry recipe, make sure to come back and leave a rating and comment below. I love hearing from you.
More Asian flavours you’ll love
- Thai Satay Chicken
- Thai fish cakes
- Crispy Asian Chilli Beef Mince
- Honey Pepper Pork Stir Fry
- Thai green chicken curry
- Thai green curry paste
- Turkey San Choy Bow
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Thai Panang Curry with Prawns (Shrimp)
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup unsalted peanuts
- ⅓ cup Panang Curry paste
- 1 small red onion, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp ground white pepper
- 1 ½ tablespoons peanut or coconut oil (notes 1)
- 1 ½ cups coconut milk (375ml) (notes 3)
- 1 cup coconut cream (250ml) (notes 3)
- 1 medium red capsicum (bell pepper), sliced
- 1 cup green beans, trimmed, fresh or frozen
- 1.2 kg raw prawns, shell on (or 600g prawn meat) (2.5lb shell on / 1.3lb shelled) (notes 2)
- 1 tablespoon grated palm sugar (notes 1)
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce (notes 1)
- 4-5 kaffir lime leaves, scrunched (notes 4)
- 1 handful of bean sprouts
- steamed rice, sliced red chilli and wedges of lime, to serve
- Fresh coriander (cilantro) or Thai basil, to serve
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Instructions
- Toast the peanuts in a dry pan over medium heat, stirring often until turning golden.
- Grind the peanuts to crumbs in a blender or spice grinder. Add the curry paste, onion, pepper and coriander and 1 tablespoon of water and blend to combine.
- Heat the oil in a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the curry paste mixture to the pan. Cook stirring often for 2 minutes until fragrant.
- Add the combined coconut milk and cream. Stir to combine, then bring to a boil for a couple of minutes until slightly thickened,
- Add the beans and capsicum and bring back to a simmer. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add the prawns and cook for 2-3 minutes until starting to curl up and turn white.
- Add the rest of the ingredients – palm sugar, fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves and bean sprouts. Stir and cook for a further 1-2 minutes until the prawns are fully cooked.
- Add a little water if you want to thin out the sauce, then taste for seasoning. Add a dash of fish sauce for saltiness, little more palm sugar for sweetness or a squeeze of lime for zing.
- Remove the kaffir lime leaves then serve immediately over rice. Add lime wedges, sliced chilli and herbs.
Notes
- I use an Australian standard 20ml tablespoon (= 4 teaspoons worldwide).
- Shell the prawns yourself: I know it’s not for everyone but I promise, prawns / shrimp with their shells on when you buy them will always have a much better texture than those already shelled. As most are frozen before they’re sold, the shells protect that delicate meat when freezing.
- Full fat coconut milk and cream: Full fat will give the best flavour and thicken up nicely.
- Kaffir lime leaves: Give these a scrunch before you add them in as it will release their fragrant oils. Any leftover kaffir lime leaves will keep in the freezer well, so no need to throw away the ones you don’t use.
- Serve it with: Plain steamed rice works best but add some wedges of lime and a sprinkle of fresh herbs like coriander (cilantro) or Thai basil. Some whole toasted peanuts are also great for some crunch.
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8 Comments on “Thai Panang Curry with Prawns (Shrimp)”
So happy to find this recipe! Absolutely the right ingredients and a total flavor explosion. Now we can make our own and not spend $$$$ at restaurants. Thank you for posting this recipe. Suggestion- on step 3 of the directions you might add something like “….add curry paste mixture to the pan…” for clarification of the step.
So happy you love it, Mary Ann. Thanks for that note – I’ve updated the recipe card to suit 🙂
Ooo this curry looks and sounds irresistible and so inviting – even not-a-huge-curry-fan as I – must admit. You certainly had me at shrimp! 🙂
Shrimp are one of my favourite ‘meats’ or proteins to use in curries.
Such a delicious curry. Better than many restaurant Panang Curries I’ve had. And! So very easy. This will become a regular in our household ☺️
Thank you so much Kristy, that makes my day.
Shrimp curry is my favorite kind of curry. I also loved that this recipe calls for bamboo shoots. I used to eat that all the time growing up, definitely going to be a keeper!
It’s very delicious. I love that little crunch bamboo shoots adds 🙂