When you run a sandwich blog, you get inspiration for new sandwiches from all sorts of places. Sometimes, I’ll get some random idea to invent a wacky sandwich or I’ll try a creative spin on something that already exists, and other times, I will write about an iconic or classic sandwich that has existed for much longer than I’ve been alive. Occasionally, I will be inspired to turn a dish that isn’t a sandwich into something that resembles a sandwich simply because I enjoy that dish so much. And this last scenario is the situation we’re in today.
What is this sandwich?
In this sandwich, we’re making a coconut curry and blending it with a chicken dog. What? None of that makes sense? Ok, I will sketch out my plan.
First off, I want to make it very clear that this is not a traditional food item or even a traditional Thai-style curry. I’ve never been to Thailand, where this curry style originates, and I am not claiming to be a curry expert by any means. This sandwich is simply meant to be a tasty homemade chicken sausage served inside of a bun with a slightly spicy, creamy sauce on top and a crunchy noodle topping to bring texture to the situation.
Also, I need to state that I am calling this a “chicken dog,” and it is also not a hot dog. Some people wouldn’t even call this a sandwich, but I personally think it is. The “dog” or chicken sausage in this situation is made from ground chicken meat that is shaped in a tubular fashion like a hot dog, but it’s unencased meat that is seared until lightly browned and flavorful. Then, we add a rich coconut curry sauce, which brings everything together.
You can consider the chicken dog to simply be a long, very nicely seasoned chicken meatball with a creamy sauce that’s just a little bit spicy poured onto the bun and then also on top of the sausage. Let’s get more into this curry sauce.
If you want to read a more educated take on the origins of curry from Thailand or South East Asia than I could ever come up with, you can read this Food and Wine article about The Story of Thai Curry.
What is panang curry?
Panang curry is a savory, fairly mild, somewhat sweet curry with its origins in Thailand. It is considered to be a variant of red curry, and it’s sometimes spelled Penang curry because it’s named after an island near Malaysia called Penang. Alternate English spellings that you could see are phanang and phanaeng but I typically just see panang on Thai menus that I’ve ordered from. You can read more about Thai curry on Wikipedia if you have extra time and need something else to read.
In my experience, at least in the United States, panang curry is fairly mild in spiciness, but you can make it spicy if you want to, and I have ordered it before when I was asked what heat level I would like. I am starting the name of my sandwich with “coconut curry” because I don’t want readers to think that I’m stating that my recipe is a traditional panang curry, but it does require a product called panang curry paste as one of the main ingredients.
Panang curry paste is made from dried chili peppers and other ingredients like lime zest, lemongrass, garlic, cilantro, and peanuts. The panang curry pastes that I’ve tried are very concentrated punches of flavor that have to be incorporated into other ingredients to mellow them out a little. Because they are so packed with flavor, they are a great way to create a very flavorful sauce/curry in just a few minutes.
Another main ingredient and the major liquid source in a panang curry is coconut milk. This is also a very easy ingredient to acquire in a grocery store, and it brings a bunch of creaminess to a recipe without actually adding dairy. These two ingredients almost form a perfect curry by themselves, but I think some brown sugar and fish sauce help round out everything into a great sauce to serve with chicken on rice.
But does a red/panang/coconut curry sandwich? I think it does. First, we need to make a vessel to put the meat and sauce into.
Homemade hot dog buns
Since we are making a sandwich with a whole lot of sauce, I considered two options. First, I could create something like a pita with a pocket, and then the sauce, veggies, and meat could be tucked inside. The other option I considered, and ultimately the one I went with, was to make some type of bread that only opened on one side so that the sauce could be tucked in and wouldn’t go all over the place. This immediately made me consider the humble hot dog bun.
I have shared my hot dog bun recipe a few times before. It’s my go-to split-top bun recipe that I shared most recently when I made lobster rolls and when I made a bunch of brats at the end of Summer last year. It’s an easy recipe that’s extremely similar to a hamburger bun recipe until it comes time to shape the dough.
You can buy a pan that is supposed to help you make split-top hot dog buns, but as long as you can visualize how wide you think a hot dog bun should be, just placing the dough logs close enough together so that they rise and touch will do the trick. I shoot for placing each rolled-out dough log about 1/2 to 3/4 inches apart, and as long as your yeast is healthy, they will rise together, push against each other, and get taller instead of wider.
Here’s my split-top hot dog bun recipe. Just leave off the egg wash and poppy seeds if you want plain buns. You can also reduce the number of buns that you make to make the buns slightly larger if you have larger sausages.
Split-top poppy seed hot dog or brat buns
A top split poppy seed hot dog or brat bun that is soft and squishy and ready for sandwiching. You should be able to get 7 brat-sized buns or 8 hot dog-sized buns out of this recipe.
Get RecipeA “chicken dog”
This is not a dog, and it’s also not a hot dog. You can probably source some chicken hot dogs, but my thinking here was that the coconut curry sauce would just slide off an encased meat dog, so I wanted a bumpy ground chicken “log” that might be able to hold on to some of the curry sauce as we dragged it into the bun. Basically, you could think of this chicken dog as a long meatball.
I used chicken thigh for this chicken dog, but you can just buy pre-ground chicken if you want. I like to buy thighs because I know they’re going to have enough fat so that the sausage stays moist and not dry. If you do buy pre-ground chicken, you might want to check the fat content and try not to buy the leanest variety that you can find. This recipe will also work with ground turkey if that’s what your store has. Use at least 90/10 if you’re buying ground turkey (that’s 90% lean and 10% fat).
To grind up your chicken meat, you can either use a dedicated meat grinder or an attachment for your stand mixer, or you can do what I did and cut the chicken into 1 to 2-inch cubes and pulse it in the food processor until it’s all chopped up.
After the chicken is ground, I added all the seasonings and mixed it all up until it was fully combined. It’s fairly important at this stage not to overmix the meat. This could make it tough. Because one of the ingredients is green (finely chopped cilantro), it will give you a good idea as to whether everything is mixed up pretty well.
Because I am not using a casing on this sausage, I end up using plastic wrap to help me get the chicken meat mixture into a tube shape. Just put a sixth of the meat into the middle of a sheet of plastic wrap and wrap it up, and shape it in a tube like a hot dog. You can wrap the meat, twist the ends, and roll it on the counter to help shape it.
Once all of your chicken dogs are wrapped in plastic wrap and shaped, place them on a plate or sheet pan and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to 3 or 4 days. When you’re ready to cook, you simply need to add a tiny bit of oil to a pan over medium heat and roll your sausage out of the plastic wrap and onto the pan.
Just like when you cook meatballs, this chicken dog will not stay in a perfect tube during the cooking process. The weight of the meat and the flat surface of the hot pan will turn the tube into a long, triangular, or square-shaped tube. But the sausage will still taste the same.
Coconut curry sauce
The coconut curry sauce is the meat of the sandwich, even though chicken is the actual meat. This sauce makes the flavors of this handheld really sing and it’s pretty easy to make. You do need to chop a couple of vegetables and grate some fresh ginger, but the whole sauce only takes about 30 minutes to make from the beginning to the full reduction phase.
Coconut milk
Coconut milk brings the creaminess to this sauce. It’s the only real liquid in the curry, so it helps to keep things thick and makes sure that the sauce really coats the chicken and sits in the hot dog bun without making everything super soggy (as long as you don’t let the chicken dog sit for a while).
Coconut milk is also what will help make sure the curry stays mild. My experience with panang curry paste is that it’s not super spicy, but coconut milk will make sure it stays that way.
Panang curry paste
There are several panang curry pastes that you can find online or in grocery stores. The sauce brings red pepper, lime zest, lemongrass, garlic, cilantro, peanuts, and various other spices into a very thick paste that you can add in small doses to turn coconut milk and vegetables into a flavorful sauce.
Extra curry sauce?
If you’re making these coconut curry chicken dogs, you’re going to have a whole lot of sauce left over. First, you could easily cook some chicken or pull off pieces of rotisserie chicken and turn that sauce into a main course for dinner with a bit of rice, or you can stash the sauce in the fridge for future sandwiches.
To warm up the sauce, you can either do that in a pot or the microwave. You just need to get the sauce hot and bubbly, and it’s ready to add to the chicken dog in the bun. If the sauce is too thick after spending time in the refrigerator, you can add just a splash of water to make sure it’s a slightly thinner consistency.
Fried wontons
These are optional, but not really.
The fried wontons in this sandwich are added to bring some big crunch. That’s a great reason to add things. These crispy bits aren’t traditional to whatever this combination of a handheld sandwich actually is, it’s just a way to create thin, long strips of crunchy goodness that would contribute to this “dog.”
I fried my wontons in a deep fryer because I had used it the night before during a burger and fries night that we hosted at our house. But if I were making this sandwich again, I would fry the wonton strips in a much smaller pot so that you don’t end up using as much oil.
WARNING: if you get these fried wontons crispy and add a touch of salt, they are very addictive. Fry more than you think you might need because you will be snacking on them.
Toast and steam the bun
The convenient thing about split-top hot dog buns is that they should have two different flat sides that you can toast up to give the soft bun a bit more consistency. For this sandwich, I like to cook it in the same pan as the chicken sausage dog if there is room. Be careful, though, you should wait until the sausage is pretty much all the way cooked so you’re not intermingling the bun with raw chicken.
Also, the buns will toast very quickly if the pan has been cooking the chicken dog for 10 minutes or so. Don’t loiter, or you’ll burn the exterior of the bun.
The sandwich blogger and his new sandwich friend
If you’ve been reading this sandwich blog for a couple of years, you probably know that I have been creating a video for each sandwich blog post that I write (I put them on Instagram and TikTok). This has been a difficult challenge for me since I’m not really a videographer or video editor. But I do enjoy learning new things.
I started out just filming and editing the video, selecting Instagram-friendly music, and putting some simple closed captions on the video with no voiceover. Maybe this is because I didn’t know how to do voiceover, but it’s mostly because I hate the sound of my own voice (although I’ve been getting used to it lately). Eventually, I learned a bit more about editing and started trusting myself a bit more to script some voiceovers and closed captions to go with the videos.
Because I shoot these videos and because some teenaged internet bullies on TikTok kept asking things like, “dat skibidi glizzy bussin y no vid of u eat?” I have also started filming videos of myself eating things.
It is my least favorite part of the process, but because I like challenges and change, it’s still not terrible. I guess I am growing more used to my voice, and also, I’m getting used to the fact that people out there are going to have to look at my face from time to time. That’s just how it is. Get yourself ready.
Anyway, here are three photos of my face and a very tasty coconut curry chicken dog.
Please enjoy. Keep scrolling for sandwich photos and the recipe.
Coconut curry chicken dog photos and recipe
I satiated my quest to make some coconut/panang-ish curry this week and turn it into a sandwich. I also made some pretty tasty chicken sausage and ate a whole lot of fried wonton strips.
Overall, I’d say that’s a good week. Here are a bunch of photos of my coconut curry chicken dogs, and if you scroll just a bit further, you can get the full recipe.
Coconut curry chicken dog
Super flavorful, savory, and slightly sweet coconut curry slathered on a chicken sausage brings big excitement to a hot dog bun. The crispy, crunchy wontons add extra texture to the already unified flavor bomb of a handheld sandwich experience.
Ingredients:
Fried wontons- 4 or 5 wonton wrappers (you might want to fry more for snacking)
- peanut oil or another vegetable oil (2 inches deep in a small pot or pan)
- a sprinkle of salt
- 1 pound chicken thighs or breasts (or one pound ground chicken)
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1⁄2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon sugar
- 1⁄4 teaspoon MSG (optional)
- 2 teaspoons cilantro, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil (split)
- 2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
- 1⁄2 onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons ginger, minced
- 2 tablespoons panang curry paste
- 1 tablespoon peanut butter
- 16 ounce can coconut milk
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 hot dog bun
- coconut curry sauce (from above)
- 1 chicken sausage (from above)
- fried wontons (from above)
- 1 teaspoon cilantro, finely diced (garnish)
Directions:
Fried crispy wontons: thaw wonton wrappers if needed. Slice the wrappers in long strips about a quarter-inch wide.
In a medium or small pot or pan, bring peanut or vegetable oil to 350 F (175 C).
Fry the wonton pieces in batches for 1 to 2 minutes or until they are starting to brown just a little. Carefully move the fried wonton pieces to a paper towel-lined plate or sheet pan and sprinkle salt on them while they are still warm.
Grind chicken and mix sausage: cut your chicken into 1 to 2-inch square pieces. Grind the chicken meat in a food processor in quick pulses (or if using pre-ground meat, unwrap).
Place the meat into a large bowl once it is ground. Add the salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder, sugar, MSG, and finely diced cilantro to the bowl with the ground chicken and mix well.
Form sausage: add a sixth of the meat mixture to the middle of a piece of plastic wrap and try to form into a long row of chicken sausage about 1-inch thick. Wrap the plastic wrap around the meat, helping to form a hot dog-shaped tube of meat inside of the plastic wrap. Place on a sheet pan or plate and continue doing the other 5 wrapped chicken sausages. Place the pan or plate in the refrigerator for at least an hour or up to 3 or 4 days. Remove from the fridge right before you plan to sandwich.
Coconut Curry Sauce: pour half of a can of coconut milk into a small bowl. Add 2 teaspoons cornstarch and whisk thoroughly. This is the thickening liquid.
Add a teaspoon of oil to a medium pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the diced onions and cook for 2 minutes, then add red bell peppers, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring often for 2 minutes.
After 2 minutes, add panang curry paste and peanut butter to the red pepper mixture and cook, stirring often for 1 minute.
Add the leftover 1/2 can of coconut milk to the pan. Stir everything in the pan well. Then add the bowl full of coconut milk and cornstarch (aka thickening liquid) to the pan. Stir everything well again.
Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes or until the sauce begins to thicken.
Add in brown sugar, fish sauce, and lime juice. Stir together well. Simmer for 5 more minutes. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper if you think it needs some.
Cook chicken sausage: Preheat a pan for 4 or 5 minutes with 1 teaspoon of oil in the pan. Carefully unwrap the chicken sausage from the piece of plastic wrap.
When the oil starts to shimmer, add the sausage to the pan and cook for 4 minutes. Flip to a second side and cook for another 4 minutes. Flip the sausage to another uncooked side and cook for another 4 minutes. At this point, the sausage should be pretty well-browned on most sides and should be cooked through, but if there seems to be another side that isn't browned or hasn't touched the pan, roll it to that side and cook it for at least an additional 2 minutes.
Warm curry sauce: if your curry sauce is straight from the fridge, you can add 5 or 6 tablespoons of sauce and microwave it or add five or six tablespoons per sausage sandwich to a small pan for a few minutes to warm it up.
Toast or warm bun: if you have a split top bun, you can toast it in the pan on each exposed side while the sausage cooks. If you have a traditional hot dog bun, you can microwave it or toast it in a toaster oven for a brief period of time just to soften it up.
Sandwich assembly: split the toasted bun and add a tablespoon or two of warmed curry sauce into the bun.
Then add the cooked chicken sausage and top it with more curry sauce. Sprinkle on some diced cilantro, and then add a small pile of crispy wontons.
Serve and enjoy.
Check back next week
If you read this on the day that I posted it, I should be on my way back home from a short trip to New York. Hopefully, I’ll have a sandwich lined up to write about! You’ll have to check back and find out.
Samer says:
wowowowow! ok! dang. i gotta try this one.
Shana says:
Skibidi!
Renee says:
I love what you’ve created here. That sauce looks sooo good…. I think I’ll try some vegetarian adaptation of this. “Good artists copy, great artists steal.”
On another note,
I honestly don’t understand why anyone would want to watch people cram food into their pie holes. I’ve always wondered why so many videos end this way? I find it off putting and I wish people would stop doing it. Don’t give in to the bullies!
(Not that you don’t have a lovely face, I just don’t need to see you eating your creations.)