Slow cooked Panang rabbit curry

What do you get when you combine rabbit legs, vegetables, curry paste and coconut cream? A warming, slow cooked Panang rabbit curry guaranteed to having you coming back for more. 

I love a good curry. Indian, Malaysian, Australian… They are all good, but my all time favourite curries come from Thailand. Curries pair well with either prime cuts (faster cooking time) or tougher cuts (longer, slower cooking time). With a few bags of rabbit and hare legs left over from Jess’s rabbit pie the other night, I knew I needed a slow cooked recipe that would break down the connective fibres in the legs. I have had great success slow-cooking red curry with game meat so thought I’d switch things up tonight with a milder, nuttier Panang curry.

While I could have cooked the meat on the bone, which does add a bit more flavour, I decided to cut the meat off the bone tonight, and instead made a rabbit stock with the bones that I can use in another dish later on. 

I also added a sweet potato to the pot, which creates a rich, velvety smoothness and a slightly sweet flavour to the curry. 

Ingredients:

1.5kgs of boned rabbit and hare legs, diced

2 jars of Panang curry paste (I used Valcom brand, but any will do)
2 red onions diced
2 cloves garlic crushed
4 tbsp fish sauce
4 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
1 red capsicum 
2 Kaffir lime leaves, shredded
1 small sweet potato (kumara), diced
800ml coconut cream (2 cans)

Serve with steamed rice and chopped fresh spring onions or chives.

Method:

Preheat oven to 150C. Place a large pot or oven proof casserole dish (it needs to have a lid that goes with it) over medium heat on the stove top. Add both jars of curry paste and gently fry for 1 – 2 minutes. This is an important step, and unlocks some of the flavours in the spices. Add diced onions, crushed garlic and diced rabbit meat to the pot and stir through, thoroughly coating the meat in the curry paste. Cook for 2-3 mins. Add in other vegetables, fish sauce, and Kaffir lime leaves. Stir through coconut cream until well mixed.

Cover and place in oven and cook for 2 hours (note: the peanut butter has not been added at this stage).

Remove pot from the oven and mix through peanut butter, making sure all the lumps have been removed. 

Return, covered, to the oven for another 2 hours.

Approximately 40 minutes before you intend to serve, remove the lid, give a good stir, and then return to the oven without the lid. This will allow the curry to thicken slightly. 

As it has a lot of coconut cream in it, there will be a fair amount of oil on the top when you have finished cooking. I spooned most of this off, and then just gave the dish a thorough mixing before serving. 

Serve with some steamed rice and chopped fresh spring onions, or with some steamed green vegetables.