Diwaker Agarwal cooks Panang Curry with Tofu

I have always been a huge admirer of Thai food especially Panang Curry. Being a vegetarian this recipe uses lots of vegetables and tofu for protein.

As all of my other recipes, I have tweaked this recipe over and over again before I was able to get the perfect balance of heat to sweetness and crispness of the vegetables.

Since I have kids who do not eat spicy food, I split the recipe into 2 parts where you can take the servings for kids out and then adjust the remaining for adults who can tolerate medium spicy food.

Servings: 8

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg extra firm tofu
• 1 cup red onions
• 1 cup red peppers
• 1 cup green peppers
• 1/2 cup bamboo shoots
• 1/2 cup water chestnuts
• 7 teaspoons panang curry paste
• 2 cans coconut milk ( I strongly recommend Chaokoh brand)
• 1 tablespoon palm suger (alternatively light brown sugar)
• 2 cups thai basil leaves julienned
• 20 leaves kafir lime leaves (very finely julienned)
•  salt & pepper to taste
•  jasmine rice

Cooking Steps:

• Before you start to prep any of the vegetables, we need to wash and press the tofu.
• You could use
• Heat up a 5 quart pan and add 1/2 can of coconut milk and cook it on high heat for 5 minutes. Stir continuously so that it does not burn. It will start to thicken up and secrete oil.
• Add all of the panang curry paste to it and cook for another 2 minutes.
• Now leave 2 portions of this paste in the pan and set aside the remaining 5 portions for future use.
• Add all chopped vegetable and give it a quick stir and cook for 2 minutes.
• Add remaining coconut milk and cook on high. 
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Add palm sugar. If you do not have palm sugar you can substitute it with light brown sugar.
• Once the liquid start to boil add of the kafir lime leaves and let the curry simmer for 10 minutes.
• Now add the chopped thai basil to the curry. If you cannot find thai basil, you can substitute it with regular sweet basil. Although, thai basil will give you the best and authentic taste.
• If the curry is too thick you can adjust the consistency using hot water. I will recommend adding water little by little.
• Now you take the kids portions out and add the remaining curry paste that we put aside in step 4.
• Serve immediately over jasmine rice.
• Enjoy.