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1
Pound the panang paste ingredients in a mortar in order of hardness — dried chillies, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime zest, coriander root, garlic, shallots, shrimp paste — until a smooth paste forms, working each ingredient fully before adding the next so that each layer is broken down and ready to receive what follows rather than simply sitting beside it. Add the roasted peanuts last and pound until fully incorporated, so they bind into the paste as fat and body rather than remaining as gritty specks that will never fully absorb the surrounding aromatics. The paste is ready when it is homogeneous, with no visible peanut pieces and a pronounced nutty fragrance.
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2
Place the coconut cream in a wok over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until it separates and the oils rise visibly to the surface — this is the point at which the coconut cream stops being a liquid and begins to behave like a fat, so that the paste added in the next step fries rather than steams, which is what gives the curry its depth. The cream is cracked when the liquid is glossy, the solids have begun to fry in their own fat, and the smell shifts from sweet to toasty.
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3
Add the panang paste to the cracked coconut cream and fry, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes, keeping the paste moving so it toasts evenly without scorching against the wok — scorched paste turns bitter and cannot be corrected later. The paste is ready to proceed when it is deeply fragrant, has darkened slightly in colour, and the oil has begun to pool around the edges of the paste mass.
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4
Add the beef slices and stir to coat each piece fully in the paste, so the beef takes on the aromatics from the first moment of contact rather than simply cooking beside them. Cook until the beef is sealed on all surfaces and no raw grey colour remains visible.
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5
This is where the dish lives or dies. Add half the coconut milk (100 ml) and allow it to reduce by approximately one third before adding the remainder, so the sauce builds body and richness progressively rather than staying thin and split. With each addition, stir to integrate and hold the heat steady so the milk reduces actively; the sauce is ready when it is thick enough to coat a spoon, clings to the beef slices, holds a slight mound when spooned, and shows a deep orange-red gloss with no watery pooling at the base of the wok.
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6
Season with fish sauce and palm sugar, tasting as you go and adjusting until the sauce reads sweet-savoury with the fish sauce providing salt and depth rather than dominance — Phanaeng carries more palm sugar than red curry, and the sugar is what softens the paste's heat and rounds the sauce rather than simply making it sweet. The balance is correct when neither element leads alone.
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7
At the last possible moment before plating, chiffonade the kaffir lime leaves into the finest possible ribbons and scatter them directly over the surface of the plated curry, cutting them only now so that the sharp, citrus fragrance is at full strength when the dish reaches the table, since that aroma is volatile and dissipates within minutes of cutting. The finish is correct when the leaves release their fragrance immediately on contact with the heat of the curry.