Thai Beef Patties with Rice

Beef patties. Most of the time when you think of the beef patty, you automatically assume it’s for hamburgers. But the beef patty is an underrated culinary beast, you can build whatever flavor you want into it without having to worry about the meat drying out. Beef patties are also not a bad weeknight meal when you want something quick, easy, and relatively healthy.

Ground beef gets a bad rap in the food world sometimes because it can be fatty, but if you’re worried about it not being lean enough for you, you can always render some of the fat out or buy a leaner mixture of ground beef. I prefer just rendering the fat out and saving it for cooking down the line. How do you render fat out of meat? You can start cooking your meat at a lower temp at first and you’ll see a lot of the oil ooze out of the meat.

One of my favorite flavor profiles is the Southeast Asian/Thai profile. It has a rich flavor that blends all of the major taste buds: sweet, spicy, sour, bitter, and savory (umami). The nirvana of Thai cooking is being able to build all those flavors into your meal. I thin I’ve done it with this creation of mine.

So I decided to blend these two worlds together and make Thai beef patties in a delicious Panang Curry sauce. Panang Curry actually originates from the western parts of Malaysia, but it seems to have spread across that area of Southeast Asia. It usually has a peanut flavor profile included as well which gives it that delicious rich creamy flavor.

This beef patty is ridiculously easy to make, so easy that I literally made it on a Friday night in less than a hour.

Recipe – Thai Beef Patty with Panang Curry

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. Panang Curry paste
1 Cup of finely diced onion
2 Tbsp. Minced Garlic
3 Tbsp. Peanut Butter (or you can use peanut butter powder, your call, make sure if you use regular peanut butter is creamy and that it’s roasted)
1 Tbsp. Sugar (Optional if prefer it to have a mild sweetness)
1 Can of Coconut Milk
1 Tbsp. Butter
2 Cup of Chicken Broth
1 Pound of Ground Beef (85/15)
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Method

Step 1- In a large bowl, mix your ground beef, salt, pepper, 1/4 Cup of the diced onion ,1 Tbsp. of Peanut Butter and 1 Tbsp. of the curry paste together.

Step 2- Once it’s finely mixed together, form the mixture into patties (the patties shouldn’t be bigger than the size of a hamburger slider).

Step 3- In a large deep sauce pan, add your butter, the rest of your onions and garlic, once they start to sizzle, start adding your beef patties, allow them to brown on each side.

Step 4- Once your patties have browned, remove them from the pan, now add the rest of your curry paste, and peanut butter. If your mixture is drying out in the pan, add a touch of your chicken broth early.

Step 5- Once the curry mixture is well mixed in with the onions, add your chicken broth and allow it to simmer for a few minutes.

Step 6- Add in your sugar, stir for a minute so it mixes in well, then add your coconut milk (reduce the heat to medium low at this point.

Step 7 – Add your beef patties back to the sauce and allow them to simmer in the sauce for about 15 minutes (you can also add some green peas if you’d like to add some veggies to the mix.) You don’t want the sauce to be too watery or too thick.

Step 8- Check to see if your patties are cooked after 15 minutes, then serve over some fresh rice or noodles.

Enjoy!