Beef Panaeng

During the recent Women's forum we visited the James Street Cooking School where, in groups of five, we cooked several dishes. Once the cooking was done we were ushered downstairs for a quick drink while the staff cleared and rearranged the tables. We then sat in our groups and ate what we'd cooked.

The Beef Panaeng was really something special; one of the best foods I've ever tasted. When we've cooked something like this at home, we've gone about it totally back to front (ie oil, fry spices, fry meat, add coconut cream). We started by "cracking" the cream - cooking some of it until it "splits" (took ages), then frying the spice paste in it, adding palm sugar, fish sauce and the rest of the cream (simmer 15 minutes). The beef was cooked separately and added at the end, just before serving, garnished with chillies, thai basil and lime leaves. It was absolutely delicious and went nicely with the Lime and Lemongrass Chicken Salad, the Fish Cakes and the Duck and Onion Soup. We were advised to put a bit of everything on our plate at once instead of serving up four separate courses.

 Lime and Lemongrass Chicken Salad

 Beef Panaeng

 Fish Cakes

 Duck and Onion Soup in the bowl. My presentation leaves a little to be desired!