Panang Curry

Panang curry is chicken simmered in a thick, peanut-enriched coconut curry until the sauce clings rather than pools. It is one of Thailand's richest, least watery curries, built to coat the meat in a thick glaze rather than swim in a bowl of broth.

What it really is

A curry paste heavy with dried chilli and roasted peanuts cooks down with reduced coconut milk — cooked longer and with less added liquid than a red or green curry — until the fat separates and the sauce thickens into something closer to a glaze than a soup. Chicken simmers in that reduced sauce until it's fully coated, and kaffir lime leaf, shredded fine, gets stirred through at the end for a sharp citrus note that cuts through the richness.

The sauce is reduced deliberately, not left thin by accident. Panang is judged on how thickly the sauce clings to the meat; a version that pools thin and separate on the plate has either used too much liquid or not simmered long enough to concentrate it.

How it is served

• Spooned thick over the meat, sauce clinging rather than pooling.
• With steamed rice, since the sauce is far too rich to eat with bread.
• As a main course, often ordered alongside a lighter, brothier dish for balance.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the peanuts and the fish sauce.
• Say that it's a thick, dry curry rather than a soupy one, since the name alone doesn't signal that to guests unfamiliar with it.
• Note if beef or tofu is offered as an alternative to chicken.