**Flavor Balance: The Key to Perfect Panang Curry**

When it comes to cooking Thai cuisine, one of the most important aspects is achieving flavor balance. This is especially true when making Panang curry, a rich and creamy dish that combines sweet, sour, salty, and spicy flavors. In this article, we'll explore the secrets behind creating a perfectly balanced Panang curry, from seasoning to serving.

**The Order of Seasoning**

To achieve flavor balance, it's essential to season your dish in a specific order. According to chef [name], "the order of seasoning is start with salty, then go to sweet, and finally go to acidic." This means that when cooking your Panang curry, you should first add salt, followed by sugar, and then acidity from ingredients like tamarind paste or citrus juice.

**The Importance of Acidity**

Acidity plays a crucial role in balancing the flavors in Panang curry. Tamarind paste is a key ingredient in many Thai curries, including Panang. This fruit-based paste has a tangy, sour flavor that adds depth and complexity to the dish. However, it also contains sweetness, which helps balance out the acidity.

**Choosing the Right Spices**

When making Panang curry, you'll need to choose the right spices. Chilies are an essential ingredient, but not all chilies are created equal. For Panang curry, red Serrano chilies are a good choice. These chilies have a moderate heat level and add a nice depth of flavor to the dish.

**Cooking the Chicken**

Before adding vegetables and serving, you'll need to cook the chicken. The chicken should be cooked until it's opaque on the outside and halfway cooked through. This ensures that the flavors in the curry penetrate deep into the meat.

**Adding Vegetables**

Vegetables can add texture and flavor to your Panang curry. Choose a combination of vegetables that complement each other, such as bell peppers, onions, and bamboo shoots. Add these vegetables towards the end of cooking time so they retain their crunch and flavor.

**Thai Basil: The Aromatics**

Thai basil is an essential herb in many Thai dishes, including Panang curry. Its unique aroma and flavor add depth and complexity to the dish. Choose fresh Thai basil leaves with a purple stem and a licorice-like fragrance. Use these herbs towards the end of cooking time so their flavors don't overpower the dish.

**Tasting and Adjusting**

One of the most important steps in making Panang curry is tasting and adjusting the seasoning. Run a spoon through the curry to check if it's thick enough, or if the flavors need balancing. If the curry needs more salt, add a pinch; if it needs more acidity, add a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

**Serving with Jasmine Rice**

Finally, serve your Panang curry over steaming hot jasmine rice. This is where the magic happens – the fragrance and flavor of the curry are amplified by the scent of cooked jasmine rice. If you prefer to smash the rice into the curry or mix it in, that's okay too.

**A Word from the Chef**

For our chef, making Panang curry is a labor of love. "I've always wanted to do this on camera," they say with a smile. And judging by the way the dish turns out, it's clear that their passion and expertise shine through in every bite. Whether you're a seasoned chef or a beginner cook, follow these tips and secrets to create your own delicious Panang curry at home.

**The Verdict**

Panang curry is a dish that requires patience, skill, and attention to detail. But with the right techniques and ingredients, it's easy to create a truly unforgettable meal. Whether you're cooking for yourself or sharing with loved ones, this recipe is sure to impress. So go ahead, give it a try, and taste the magic of Panang curry for yourself!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys I'm jet Tila and this is ready jet cook where I take the mystery out of Asian cuisine by showing you how to make some of my favorite dishes from shop to finish but before I get into today's recipe y'all are gonna take a moment and subscribe right now - and curry is the ultimate comfort food in Thailand but for me it's also got a touch of romance let me show you so in making curry don't be scared to buy premade curry paste I do it all the time all the base flavors are here and the experts are doing it cuz they've been doing it for a hundred years everyone's talking about making their own pace but dude leave it to the pros so you can't make curry without coconut milk trust me when I tell you don't shake the can you'll find out why when we get into the kitchen so before we check out I need some Thai lime leaves also known as a recruit they come fresh frozen or dry they're not just any lime leaf off any tree so if you can't find them just use some lime zest because these are an essential flavor in Thai cooking but I'm gonna bring my wife Ali into the kitchen she'll show you how to cook these dishes all right guess which one of your favorite dishes were making now in my very favorite a my very very very it's my very very very favorite its Canaan curry oh yes thinking meaning you are correct so I'm gonna kind of get into it let's get into it and then we should tell the story of the significance of this dish because this really is the dish that brought us together you know right alright Panang curry since you know this dish so well do you mind prepping some of the vegetables of course excellent and I'm going to talk to our friends about the two most important ingredients in Penang curry one is coconut milk and the other one is curry paste now with coconut milk grandma always said do not shake the pan of coconut milk why tearing out ally and friend if you don't shake the can of coconut milk you get this amazing layer of undisturbed coconut cream and we're gonna need to use this coconut cream almost like frying oil or frying fat like you would use butter that's coconut heaven right there I use that in a lot of different things you can use it in desserts I use it my chia pudding recipe I love that stuff so to start the curry we're gonna take that amazing coconut cream at the top and use it like frying oil I mean this is basically just pure coconut oil and a lot of people try to buy the stuff separately you don't need to every can has some anytime you see a good coconut milk from Thailand you're good to go because you have at least 13% to 19% coconut oil now trying to get too nerdy I just did whatever so I'm using the coconut cream like oil so the paste goes right in I want to work this together similar to a roux the coconut oil is the fat which helps really kind of fry and caramelize the pace smells amazing it does because what paste is basically is all these fresh herbs that we use in Thai cooking right Thai lime leaves garlic shallots chilies people are like how long do I cook this curry paste because I don't know if I'm gonna burn it I don't know if I'm cooking it enough it should look like really tight peanut butter and you want to see a little bit of oil coming out of it so that's about the consistency it should be a nice kind of paste all right Ally so you're slicing some onions there but I have a few onions caramelize those and then next you've got a little bit of this tie line leaves I do can you throw those in please you got it great because what we're really trying to do is build build build flavors but that's one of the things that I love about your Panang curry is like a carnival of flavor in your mouth a carnival I love the flavor carnival this is about the time when it looks like it's about to stick to the pan it looks super dry you're gonna have the rest of your coconut milk so we should talk about kind of the significance of this dish people might not know but Ally Tila was an amateur dog trainer I'm not trying to out you or anything he is the crazy dog lady yeah so I did a magazine a national magazine article how to make Panang curry we kinda really know each other that well and then you made this cool little video with all these call-outs of making curry like don't shake the can I'm making Penang I was really much to flirt with you isn't it I really wanted to steal your mousse okay that's really what it was that's all it was well the truth is I H opening with some roti and I was like I have to marry this man immediately oh hey why it all worked out but I mean I knew immediately it was like lightning activating all these dudes you're gonna make I'll give me a hard time all right let's I get super to cheese Baldy so you want to do the J cut yeah see you practice that J cut the J cap well I'm reducing cuz all I'm doing here just so you know is redo seeing this curry until it's thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and I'll show you that JK I also used to take cooking classes jet was my cooking instructor uh she was the cute one and the JK wasn't creepy yeah I are you were a young professional taking cooking classes you weren't at culinary school I just want to be very clear okay please JK so this was one of the first things that you've taught us in the knife skills okay yeah Oh roll it out right right right coming in from one side you're rolling around the seed pod I remember all right I'm gonna give you one more culinary test could you please cut that into bat to net remember what that to net I do I do that to nets are basically just a french fry cuts about a quarter-inch wide and they hold up really well in curry curry is also a really great place to use up any vegetables that are hanging out in your fridge so carrots broccoli we're gonna use zucchini today it really is one of those dishes that is a let me clear out all the great vegetables that are left over in my fridge do you mind while I cut some chicken sharing awesome so just keep that moving don't let the curry stick to the bottom of the pan and you'll be good to go her chicken we're using chicken breast here I want to take the chicken breast cut with the grain first into about two inch wide blocks and then I'm gonna cut the chicken against the grain into small little tiles this really is a great cut for just about any Asian application stir-fry a curry like this a soup this is the right way to cut protein for the Asian kitchen right here if you could put the chicken in very nice now again I'm just simmering this curry for a few reasons a to reduce it into a thick sauce and B to really cook that chicken through and that won't take long because we cut it into nice thin planks so seasoning alle test what are the five Thai flavors hot sour salty sweet mommy umami wow you went with a fancy word yeah savory or umami exactly so I'm gonna season two all this five flavors await a follow up what's the Thai word for hot sour salty sweet umami in perfect balance word I think of every time I think of you yeah oh god you're gonna be in front of all these babies are you seriously alright I'm embarrassed now yes young yes exactly correct so I need to season this for the UM and this is how to do it first crucial ingredient is fish sauce which is salty and savory next sugar to balance it out I think there's a misconception people think Thai food is super sweet it's not overly sweet well what are your tips to people though on when do you have a dish that's achieved flavor balance yeah you know what I think yeah it's a great question how about I answer that bike I can teach people how to season for like the order of seasoning and the order is start with salty because we all know what that flavor profile is right so taste it okay it salty enough then go to sweet just like I've done because we know what the balance between sweet and salty is and then go to acidic all right and for this I'm gonna be using tamarind paste which is a fruit that grows all over the world it has a very kind of tangy sour flavor but it has a sweetness so kind of like plum and the heat comes from the chilies that are in the curry paste already chilies are so these are red chilies they're not crazy hot like Thai chilies they're probably close to like red Serrano Chili's so the chicken as you can see is a pretty much half way cooked through it's opaque on the outside I want to marry my vegetables in now I mean this could be any combination of vegetables that you like do you want to help me out and pick a few basil leaves yeah where that right in there this is Thai basil you can identify Thai basil because it kind of has purple stem uh-huh and it smells like licorice no nice yeah yeah has like a anise flavor to it and just hold right just hold and that's it I think there's only one way to know if this is delicious they eat it if it tasted so let's get some spoons take a taste I'll take a taste this is my happy place mmm I mean describe it right creamy from the coconut balance heat and savoriness I mean and all the spices spiciness is so good yeah it's warm so so good and here's the way you tell if the curry is actually thick enough you run a wood spoon through the curry you draw a line and if the curry holds its place and doesn't run across that line it's thick enough to serve that's why they call it coats the back of the spoon so it's like if you're making a creme anglaise it's an OP a right oh you gotta get and Frenchie on me yes exactly right in French we called it a nap Pape and you know for us mortals that don't make it just coats the back of a spoon so this anyway I can't be as good as you and then you know I'm gonna add bamboo shoots right to the end because can bamboo shoots really are already cooked and they really kind of take up the flavor of whatever you cook them in so I'm gonna add them right here and that's it I'm just making sure that chicken is cooked through the sauce looks like it's pulled together the vegetables or have a good snap to them they're not too raw I'm gonna bowl it up and let's taste it I like to finish with a little bit of the tie line these I think it looks awesome and it gives that real lemony pop so fragrant mmm all the way through Oh cheers Ally I've always wanted to do this on camera let's give that a taste jasmine rice is the way to enjoy Panang curry in my humble opinion so a little bit of create a little bit of rice you could even do it the other way we could actually take the rice smash it into the Penang or you can go the other way but it's kind of not complete without that kind of fragrant jasmine rice so delicious here goes the flavor carnival it kind of tastes like everything you love about a time man right yes it's got all those basil notes those savory notes if there's a me coconut and it's non-dairy I think a lot of people freaked out but it's totally non-dairy oh so good there it is I love it I knew I married you for a reason besides the fact that you're just an amazing human being you gotta stop this is gonna get me all embarrassed and you can't do this in front of all these people why not because it makes me in there so Ines got her engagement chicken but we've got our date worthy marriage making Panang curry I hope you enjoy trying this one out for someone that you love tell us what you think right down there and make sure to subscribehey guys I'm jet Tila and this is ready jet cook where I take the mystery out of Asian cuisine by showing you how to make some of my favorite dishes from shop to finish but before I get into today's recipe y'all are gonna take a moment and subscribe right now - and curry is the ultimate comfort food in Thailand but for me it's also got a touch of romance let me show you so in making curry don't be scared to buy premade curry paste I do it all the time all the base flavors are here and the experts are doing it cuz they've been doing it for a hundred years everyone's talking about making their own pace but dude leave it to the pros so you can't make curry without coconut milk trust me when I tell you don't shake the can you'll find out why when we get into the kitchen so before we check out I need some Thai lime leaves also known as a recruit they come fresh frozen or dry they're not just any lime leaf off any tree so if you can't find them just use some lime zest because these are an essential flavor in Thai cooking but I'm gonna bring my wife Ali into the kitchen she'll show you how to cook these dishes all right guess which one of your favorite dishes were making now in my very favorite a my very very very it's my very very very favorite its Canaan curry oh yes thinking meaning you are correct so I'm gonna kind of get into it let's get into it and then we should tell the story of the significance of this dish because this really is the dish that brought us together you know right alright Panang curry since you know this dish so well do you mind prepping some of the vegetables of course excellent and I'm going to talk to our friends about the two most important ingredients in Penang curry one is coconut milk and the other one is curry paste now with coconut milk grandma always said do not shake the pan of coconut milk why tearing out ally and friend if you don't shake the can of coconut milk you get this amazing layer of undisturbed coconut cream and we're gonna need to use this coconut cream almost like frying oil or frying fat like you would use butter that's coconut heaven right there I use that in a lot of different things you can use it in desserts I use it my chia pudding recipe I love that stuff so to start the curry we're gonna take that amazing coconut cream at the top and use it like frying oil I mean this is basically just pure coconut oil and a lot of people try to buy the stuff separately you don't need to every can has some anytime you see a good coconut milk from Thailand you're good to go because you have at least 13% to 19% coconut oil now trying to get too nerdy I just did whatever so I'm using the coconut cream like oil so the paste goes right in I want to work this together similar to a roux the coconut oil is the fat which helps really kind of fry and caramelize the pace smells amazing it does because what paste is basically is all these fresh herbs that we use in Thai cooking right Thai lime leaves garlic shallots chilies people are like how long do I cook this curry paste because I don't know if I'm gonna burn it I don't know if I'm cooking it enough it should look like really tight peanut butter and you want to see a little bit of oil coming out of it so that's about the consistency it should be a nice kind of paste all right Ally so you're slicing some onions there but I have a few onions caramelize those and then next you've got a little bit of this tie line leaves I do can you throw those in please you got it great because what we're really trying to do is build build build flavors but that's one of the things that I love about your Panang curry is like a carnival of flavor in your mouth a carnival I love the flavor carnival this is about the time when it looks like it's about to stick to the pan it looks super dry you're gonna have the rest of your coconut milk so we should talk about kind of the significance of this dish people might not know but Ally Tila was an amateur dog trainer I'm not trying to out you or anything he is the crazy dog lady yeah so I did a magazine a national magazine article how to make Panang curry we kinda really know each other that well and then you made this cool little video with all these call-outs of making curry like don't shake the can I'm making Penang I was really much to flirt with you isn't it I really wanted to steal your mousse okay that's really what it was that's all it was well the truth is I H opening with some roti and I was like I have to marry this man immediately oh hey why it all worked out but I mean I knew immediately it was like lightning activating all these dudes you're gonna make I'll give me a hard time all right let's I get super to cheese Baldy so you want to do the J cut yeah see you practice that J cut the J cap well I'm reducing cuz all I'm doing here just so you know is redo seeing this curry until it's thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and I'll show you that JK I also used to take cooking classes jet was my cooking instructor uh she was the cute one and the JK wasn't creepy yeah I are you were a young professional taking cooking classes you weren't at culinary school I just want to be very clear okay please JK so this was one of the first things that you've taught us in the knife skills okay yeah Oh roll it out right right right coming in from one side you're rolling around the seed pod I remember all right I'm gonna give you one more culinary test could you please cut that into bat to net remember what that to net I do I do that to nets are basically just a french fry cuts about a quarter-inch wide and they hold up really well in curry curry is also a really great place to use up any vegetables that are hanging out in your fridge so carrots broccoli we're gonna use zucchini today it really is one of those dishes that is a let me clear out all the great vegetables that are left over in my fridge do you mind while I cut some chicken sharing awesome so just keep that moving don't let the curry stick to the bottom of the pan and you'll be good to go her chicken we're using chicken breast here I want to take the chicken breast cut with the grain first into about two inch wide blocks and then I'm gonna cut the chicken against the grain into small little tiles this really is a great cut for just about any Asian application stir-fry a curry like this a soup this is the right way to cut protein for the Asian kitchen right here if you could put the chicken in very nice now again I'm just simmering this curry for a few reasons a to reduce it into a thick sauce and B to really cook that chicken through and that won't take long because we cut it into nice thin planks so seasoning alle test what are the five Thai flavors hot sour salty sweet mommy umami wow you went with a fancy word yeah savory or umami exactly so I'm gonna season two all this five flavors await a follow up what's the Thai word for hot sour salty sweet umami in perfect balance word I think of every time I think of you yeah oh god you're gonna be in front of all these babies are you seriously alright I'm embarrassed now yes young yes exactly correct so I need to season this for the UM and this is how to do it first crucial ingredient is fish sauce which is salty and savory next sugar to balance it out I think there's a misconception people think Thai food is super sweet it's not overly sweet well what are your tips to people though on when do you have a dish that's achieved flavor balance yeah you know what I think yeah it's a great question how about I answer that bike I can teach people how to season for like the order of seasoning and the order is start with salty because we all know what that flavor profile is right so taste it okay it salty enough then go to sweet just like I've done because we know what the balance between sweet and salty is and then go to acidic all right and for this I'm gonna be using tamarind paste which is a fruit that grows all over the world it has a very kind of tangy sour flavor but it has a sweetness so kind of like plum and the heat comes from the chilies that are in the curry paste already chilies are so these are red chilies they're not crazy hot like Thai chilies they're probably close to like red Serrano Chili's so the chicken as you can see is a pretty much half way cooked through it's opaque on the outside I want to marry my vegetables in now I mean this could be any combination of vegetables that you like do you want to help me out and pick a few basil leaves yeah where that right in there this is Thai basil you can identify Thai basil because it kind of has purple stem uh-huh and it smells like licorice no nice yeah yeah has like a anise flavor to it and just hold right just hold and that's it I think there's only one way to know if this is delicious they eat it if it tasted so let's get some spoons take a taste I'll take a taste this is my happy place mmm I mean describe it right creamy from the coconut balance heat and savoriness I mean and all the spices spiciness is so good yeah it's warm so so good and here's the way you tell if the curry is actually thick enough you run a wood spoon through the curry you draw a line and if the curry holds its place and doesn't run across that line it's thick enough to serve that's why they call it coats the back of the spoon so it's like if you're making a creme anglaise it's an OP a right oh you gotta get and Frenchie on me yes exactly right in French we called it a nap Pape and you know for us mortals that don't make it just coats the back of a spoon so this anyway I can't be as good as you and then you know I'm gonna add bamboo shoots right to the end because can bamboo shoots really are already cooked and they really kind of take up the flavor of whatever you cook them in so I'm gonna add them right here and that's it I'm just making sure that chicken is cooked through the sauce looks like it's pulled together the vegetables or have a good snap to them they're not too raw I'm gonna bowl it up and let's taste it I like to finish with a little bit of the tie line these I think it looks awesome and it gives that real lemony pop so fragrant mmm all the way through Oh cheers Ally I've always wanted to do this on camera let's give that a taste jasmine rice is the way to enjoy Panang curry in my humble opinion so a little bit of create a little bit of rice you could even do it the other way we could actually take the rice smash it into the Penang or you can go the other way but it's kind of not complete without that kind of fragrant jasmine rice so delicious here goes the flavor carnival it kind of tastes like everything you love about a time man right yes it's got all those basil notes those savory notes if there's a me coconut and it's non-dairy I think a lot of people freaked out but it's totally non-dairy oh so good there it is I love it I knew I married you for a reason besides the fact that you're just an amazing human being you gotta stop this is gonna get me all embarrassed and you can't do this in front of all these people why not because it makes me in there so Ines got her engagement chicken but we've got our date worthy marriage making Panang curry I hope you enjoy trying this one out for someone that you love tell us what you think right down there and make sure to subscribe\n"