Authentic Thai Panang Curry

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1. 1Step 1: Add 1½ teaspoon fish sauce and oil to the pork and massage it in with your hands, separating the pieces that are stuck together as you mix.
2. 2Step 2: In a saute pan or a wok over medium high heat, reduce ¾ cup coconut milk until thickened and creamy. Stir in curry paste and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook the paste for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until coconut oil separates away from the paste. If the paste sticks to the pan, you can deglaze with a bit of the remaining coconut milk.
3. 3Step 3: Add palm sugar and torn makrut lime leaves and cook for a minute or so until the sugar is dissolved.
4. 4Step 4: Add the pork and quickly toss it with the curry paste, separating the pieces as much as you can. Once the pork is about 50% cooked, add the remaining coconut milk and stir for just one more minute, just until the pork is mostly cooked through, then turn off the heat. Do not overcook the pork or it will become chewy; it will continue to cook in the residual heat even after you turn off the heat. If it looks too dry, you can add a splash of water at this point.
5. 5Step 5: Stir in red peppers, if using. Taste and adjust seasoning with more fish sauce as needed. The amount of fish sauce you need greatly depends on how salty your curry paste is, which varies between brands.
6. 6Step 6: Plate, and if you have extra coconut milk handy, it's traditional to garnish panang curry with a little drizzle of coconut milk on top, but don't worry if you don't have any extra. Top with julienned makrut lime leaves and more red peppers as desired.
7. 7Step 7: Serve with jasmine rice, enjoy!
8. 8Step 8: In a dry skillet toast the cumin seeds over medium heat until they darken slightly and are aromatic and start to pop, 2-3 minutes; remove from the pan. Repeat with the coriander seeds.
9. 9Step 9: Add the coriander and cumin seeds into a coffee/spice grinder. Then cut the chilies into chunks and pour out the seeds, and add them to the grinder also. Grinde everything into a powder. Add the roasted peanuts and grind just until mostly fine.
10. 10Step 10: In a large mortar and pestle, add lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime zest, cilantro roots/stems and salt and pound into a fine paste. Add the shallots and garlic and pound into a fine paste, adding the dry spices once the shallots and garlic start to become wet to help absorb liquid.
11. 11Step 11: Pound everything into a fine paste, then add the shrimp paste and pound to mix.
12. 12Step 12: In a dry skillet toast the cumin seeds over medium heat until they darken slightly and are aromatic and start to pop, 2-3 minutes; remove from the pan. Repeat with the coriander seeds.
13. 13Step 13: Grind the cumin and coriander seeds until very fine using a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder.
14. 14Step 14: Add the roasted peanuts and grind until fine.
15. 15Step 15: Mix ground spices into the red curry paste and shrimp paste, if using a mortar and pestle, simply add the paste into the mortar and pound to mix.