Consistency guarantees quality of home-cooked curry dish

Gordon Lum is known as a barbecue expert, but it’s not just his smoky ribs and kamado turkey that appeal to friends and family. His chicken Panang curry, for instance, is always amazing. The reason, says Lum, is consistency.

He weighs — yes, weighs — curry paste to ensure that exactly 0.12 pound goes into the pot. No more, no less. He uses one can of Mae Ploy brand coconut milk, which comes in the unusual size of 19 ounces. He precooks his deboned chicken thighs, but just by 70 percent, so that when he simmers it along with slices of bell peppers and onions, everything takes the same amount of time to cook. The end result is a curry with crisp vegetables and perfectly cooked chicken.

“I want people to know that if I take this dish to a potluck, it will taste the same in six months or a year,” Lum said. “If you cannot replicate a great dish, what’s the point?”

Lum knows a bit about delivering consistently good food. His father owned Lum’s Meat Center, where char siu ribs reigned supreme. Though the center has long been closed, Lum’s Char-Siu Sauce is still available on supermarket shelves.

Other touches that take Lum’s curry from good to superb: The macadamia nuts are grown in his garden, and he grinds them by hand with a mortar and pestle — “it gives me better control.” Not only are mac nuts a local food, they allow folks with peanut allergies to enjoy the dish, he said.

Kaffir lime leaves also come from his yard. But rather than simply crush the leaves to release their fragrance and flavor, Lum finely dices them. Time permitting, he layers the minced leaves with turbinado sugar and lets the mixture sit overnight, infusing the sugar with kaffir. Then there is his choice of chicken thighs over breast meat; the former is tastier, he said.

Lum’s recipe for Panang curry calls for breading the chicken before browning. The presence of the flour thickens the curry, a preference of local palates, as traditional Thai curry is soupy. He also makes it a practice to “bloom” the curry paste by searing it in oil for a minute before adding the other ingredients. This enhances the flavors of the curry.

When everything is finally bubbling away, it’s important to take care that the curry doesn’t burn at the bottom of the pot.

“Stand by it,” Lum recommends.

In trying my hand at this recipe, I hovered by the pot as it simmered away. No way was my curry going to burn after all that fine dicing, breading and blooming, the kind of touches that would never have dawned on me — with my hectic schedule, I’m a “time is money” kind of cook.

But I have to say, the extra steps were well worth it. Though I measured rather than weighed my curry paste, AND used store-bought mac nuts and kaffir leaves that I had frozen, AND had trouble par-cooking my chicken just 70 percent, AND still managed to overcook the veggies, the dish was plenty delicious.

Hats off to Lum. For all the exacting standards he holds himself to, his recipe works well for humble home cooks like me.

Gordon’s Hawaiian-Style Chicken Panang Curry

• 2 pounds boned chicken thighs
• Hawaiian salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Flour, for dusting chicken
• Vegetable oil to brown chicken, plus 1/4 cup to bloom spice
• 2-1/2 tablespoons (about 2 ounces or 0.12 pound) Panang curry paste (Mae Ploy Brand preferred)
• 1 bell pepper (any color), sliced
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 (19-ounce) can Mae Ploy coconut milk
• 3 finely diced kaffir lime leaves
• 2 tablespoons turbinado or raw sugar
• 3 tablespoons (about .065 pound) roughly ground macadamia nuts
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 4 to 5 Thai basil leaves (optional)

Rinse, then dry chicken. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper on both sides, then dredge in flour, shaking off excess.

Heat pot or Dutch oven on high and add oil. Sear chicken on both sides to a light golden brown (chicken should be cooked about 70 percent). Remove to paper-towel-lined plate and set aside until cool enough to handle. Cut into chunks.

Heat 1/4 cup oil in same pot and add curry paste, searing paste for 1 minute. Add chicken chunks and stir until chicken is coated with paste. Add bell peppers and onion until both are coated with paste.

Add coconut milk, kaffir leaves, sugar, nuts and fish sauce. Stir and bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer 10-15 minutes. Serve garnished with basil leaves if using. Serves 6.

Approximate nutritional information, per serving (not including salt to taste): 720 calories, 60 g total fat, 25 g saturated fat, 150 mg cholesterol, 350 mg sodium, 21 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 7 g sugar, 29 g protein

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Cooking tips

Gordon Lum’s pointers for delivering exceptional dishes:

>> Rinse meat in warm water, then cold, to remove slime, blood, bone dust and chips. Dry with paper towel. Marinades and spices will soak in better, and meat will taste cleaner.

>> Slice onions along the grain to keep them firmer when cooked.

>> Bloom spices, heating them quickly in oil to deepen fragrance and flavor.

>> Finely slice and dice kaffir lime leaves to maximize their vibrant flavor.

>> Par-cook and freeze chicken for future use in various dishes. Thaw what you need when it’s time to cook.

>> Tinker with a recipe until you arrive at something you like. When you do, write it down so you can be consistent.

Is there a cooking technique you’d like explained? Email food editor Joleen Oshiro at joshiro@staradvertiser.com. Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S.