Instant Pot Thai Panang Curry (With Beef)

Instant Pot Thai Panang Curry (With Beef) recipe. Hot, sour, salty, sweet Thai Panang Curry, ready in about an hour.

It's a cold winter evening, and I am craving a spicy Thai curry to warm me up. I've got a jar of panang curry paste from my local Asian market and a flat iron steak from my friends at Certified Angus Beef, so it is time to make a Thai Beef Panang Curry.

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil
• Shallot
• Fine sea salt
• Coconut milk
• Panang curry paste
• Flat iron steak (chuck
• Chicken broth or water
• Fish sauce
• Soy sauce
• Brown sugar
• Fresh lime juice

See the recipe card for quantities.

How to make Instant Pot Thai Panang Curry

Sauté the shallot: In an Instant Pot set to sauté mode - high, heat the vegetable oil until it starts to shimmer. Stir in the shallot, sprinkle with ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, and sauté until the shallot starts to soften, about 3 minutes.

Fry the curry paste: Scoop the cream from the top of the can of coconut milk and add it to the pot, then stir in the curry paste. Cook, stirring often, until the curry paste darkens, about 5 minutes.

Pressure Cook for 12 minutes with a Natural Release: Sprinkle the sliced beef with ½ teaspoon of fine sea salt, then add the beef to the pot and stir to coat with curry paste. Stir in the rest of the can of coconut milk, chicken stock, fish sauce, soy sauce, and brown sugar. Lock the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 12 minutes. Let the pressure come down naturally, about 20 minutes.

Finish the curry: Unlock the pressure cooker and stir in the lime juice. Ladle the curry into bowls, and serve with Jasmine rice, passing the other garnishes at the table to sprinkle on top.

Substitutions

Coconut milk: I use full-fat coconut milk for this recipe because I want the coconut cream from the top of the can to help fry the curry paste. (See the tips and tricks section for details.)
Curry Paste: Panang curry paste is easy to find in my local Asian grocery stores. (I like the Maesri brand, and Mae ploy is also high quality.) If you can't find parang curry paste, Thai red curry paste is an acceptable substitute, but it does have a different flavor profile.
Beef Options: Flat iron steak is a specific muscle from the beef chuck shoulder, a single boneless muscle that is easy to slice into thin strips. (Blade steak is the same cut - Flat iron steaks are technically "top blade steaks.") Any cut of boneless chuck shoulder will work. Or, you can move to the cow's rump and substitute bottom round instead.
Other Proteins: If you want to branch out from beef, chicken thighs and pork shoulder will also work in this recipe.
Onion for Shallot: If it's easier for you, substitute a small onion for the shallot. Shallot has a slightly different flavor, but onion is close enough for this recipe.
Cut the heat: I like my curry with a lot of kick, so I use a whole 4-ounce can of curry paste, which is ½ cup of paste. If you want to cut the heat, use ¼ cup of paste - half a can. That said, panang curry is not that hot to begin with; it's on the sweeter side of Thai curries, so it's a good one if you're not into heat.
Traditional ingredients: I'm substituting brown sugar for the traditional palm sugar; if you have palm sugar, use it instead. Also, this recipe usually has a couple of kaffir lime leaves in the pot while it's cooking, but they are hard for me to find, so I skip them in the pot and sliver up some Thai basil to sprinkle on top as a garnish.
Vegetables: Looking for some green in your curry? Add a handful of green beans cut into 1-inch lengths or a bell pepper cut into 1-inch strips.

Equipment

A 6-quart pressure cooker

Scaling

This recipe doubles easily in a 6-quart pressure cooker; scaling up past that needs an 8-quart pressure cooker. Cut all the ingredients in half, and this recipe will fit in a 3-quart pressure cooker. The cooking time does not change; it takes the same amount of time to cook each piece of beef, no matter how many are in the pot.

Storing Leftovers

Thai curries make great leftovers. For lunches, I store them with some rice in 2-cup containers and refrigerate them for a few days or freeze them for up to 6 months.

Tips and Tricks

• Don't shake the can of coconut milk - you want the solid layer of cream on the top to stay separate from the liquid underneath. That lets you fry the coconut cream with the curry paste, then add the liquid later. (If you forget, or your coconut milk is mixed and doesn't have a layer of cream on top, skip the cream in the "fry the curry paste" step and stir the whole can into the pot in the "pressure cook the curry" step.)
• Curry paste from a can is a shortcut, but it's one Thai home cooks use all the time, so I don't feel bad about taking advantage of the canned curry pastes.

What to Serve with Instant Pot Panang Curry

Serve with jasmine rice to soak up all the delicious juices. (If I want to eat healthily, I make my Pressure Cooker Brown Jasmine Rice). I also serve the curry an assortment of toppings - sliced hot peppers, slivered kaffir lime leaves or Thai basil leaves, crushed peanuts - for diners to sprinkle on their bowl of curry.