Panang-Style Beef Curry

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb Ground Beef
• 1 can (400mL) Coconut Milk
• 1 Red Chilli Pepper
• 1/2 cup Red Curry Paste
• 4 tsp Peanut Butter
• 3/4 cup Jasmine Rice
• 2 tbsp Cilantro
• 1 Sweet Bell Pepper
• 1/2 Onion
• 1 tbsp Garlic Puree
• 1 oz Peanuts, chopped
• 1/2 tbsp Soy Sauce
• 2 tbsp Mild Curry Paste

Method

This is a straightforward pan-frying curry built on a base of curry-paste and coconut milk. The texture depends on cooking the aromatics and pastes fully before adding the coconut — if you skip this step, the raw paste flavours dominate and the sauce lacks cohesion.

Start your rice-cooking first. Rinse 180g jasmine rice under cold water until the water runs clear, then add to boiling salted water at a 1:1.5 ratio. Cover, reduce to the lowest heat, and leave undisturbed for 12 minutes. The residual steam will finish the grain. While this cooks, prepare your veg: halve and deseed the red chilli, slice it thin (leave the seeds in if you want genuine heat — the placenta carries most capsaicinoids), cut the bell pepper into 2cm dice, and roughly chop the onion. The cilantro can be chopped now or left whole and scattered raw at the end.

Set a large non-stick pan or wok over medium-high heat. Once it's hot enough that a bead of water skitters across the surface, add 1 tablespoon of groundnut oil, then the 225g ground beef. Break it into small pieces as it browns — you want no visible pink within 4 minutes, which means the proteins have set properly. Add the garlic purée and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant. This short window prevents the garlic from charring and turning bitter.

Now add the onion and bell pepper. Stir every 20 seconds or so until the vegetables begin to soften at the edges — about 2 minutes. This asian-cuisine technique keeps them with a slight bite, not collapsed. Add both curry pastes (the mild and the red), the soy sauce, and the peanut butter. Stir constantly for 1 minute. You're looking for the oil to separate slightly from the paste and the smell to become toasted and complex — this is emulsification beginning as the fat in the paste disperses. The peanut butter adds richness but also body; it will thicken the final sauce.

Pour in the 400ml coconut milk and stir well. Simmer for 2–3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens just enough to coat the back of a spoon. Taste and adjust salt and heat with extra chilli or soy.

Fluff the rice with a fork, fold in half the cilantro, and divide between bowls. Top with curry, scatter the chopped peanuts and remaining cilantro over the surface. The raw herb cuts the richness of the coconut and provides textural contrast.