Thai Chicken Panang Curry – 13sp including rice

I recently visited my first ever Thai restaurant (having avoided them as a Weight Watcher because of the whole full fat coconut milk danger) and was absolutely bamboozled by the menu. Not wanting to get something I’ve tried before I decided to go for the Panang Curry as it was described as a dryer curry than your regular Thai red curry (so I assumed less fatty coconut milk). What a revelation it was, it was truly amazing!! Full of gorgeous flavour, not too saucy and so moreish it was unbelievable. As soon as I finished I knew it has to go straight to the top of my list of recipes to make Weight Watchers friendly.

I gave it a whirl last night for the first time and I was thrilled when I sat down to eat it and it tasted almost exactly the same as in the restaurant! It’s actually quite a simple curry to make with limited ingredients. The only thing that I found difficult to get hold of was the curry paste itself. Big Tesco’s usually do it and I have since found out that some of the Chinese supermarkets sell it but for easiness I bought it online from amazon. The tub is HUGE and is actually quite cheap so good value for money in my opinion. If you are feeling adventurous you could try and make your own paste but I didn’t have the time!

Ingredients

Serves 2 = 13sp (previously 11p) each including rice

2 tbsp Panang curry paste (if you can’t get any you could do it with red Thai curry paste, the texture will be the same but the flavour won’t)

200ml light coconut milk (half a tin)

2 x 165g chicken breasts, diced

2 peppers, roughly diced into large chunks

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp soft brown sugar

4/5 kaffir lime leaves (fresh if you can find them, I got some in Tesco in the fresh herb section)

Pack of green beans, trimmed

80g basmati (or jasmine) rice

1 lime, quartered

Handful of basil (Thai Basil if you can get it) (Optional), shredded

Method

Take a large frying pan and add the coconut milk. Once it has warmed slightly, add the curry paste and fry for a few minutes on a medium heat until the aromas start to release. Add the chicken and peppers, stir to coat with the paste mixture and fry until cooked through (about 10-12 minutes). During this time the coconut milk will reduce a little so the sauce has a dryer consistency. If you think the pan is getting a little dry, add a little splash of water.

Pop the rice on when the chicken starts to cook.

Once the chicken has cooked through add the fish sauce, sugar and kaffir lime leaves and cook for another few minutes.

Meanwhile, pop the green beans in a microwaveable bowl, pour over 1 tbsp of water and microwave for 2 minutes. Drain and then add to the curry. Stir in the green beans and simmer for another minute.

Finish with the juice of ¼ of the lime and stir through some fresh basil (Thai basil if you can get it).

Serve the curry on top of the rice with a quarter of lime for squeezing.

Enjoy!