Illegal Curry Substitution

So tonight was a lesson in ingredient substitutions. I wish I could recommend the recipe tonight (Curry Shrimp and Snow Peas,) but I have no idea what that recipe tastes like. I’m sure it’s good. It sounds good. But, that’s not what we had to eat this evening. What we did have was the Chinese version of a Thai dish—mostly because Chinese ingredients are much easier to find at the grocery store next to my bank than Thai ingredients. That being said, our Chinese/Thai shrimp… thing… was really good.

So that you’ll understand the blog, I would recommend perusing the list of required ingredients. Go ahead, I’ll wait…

So you’ll notice that the recipe calls for Thai red curry paste, bean sprouts and fresh snow peas. If you’d been in my kitchen you would have noticed that I did not have Thai red curry paste, bean sprouts or fresh snow peas. I, in fact, have no idea what Thai red curry paste is or what it tastes like. I, however, do know that the spicy Chinese garlic sauce I have in my refrigerator is red, so certainly that made a perfect substitute. So, no biggie; we would then be treated to Spicy Chinese Shrimp and Snow Peas. Sounds great!

I also know that there exists no adequate or appetizing stand-in for bean sprouts.  I was actually aware of this fact before I went to the grocery store today, which is why half of the population of Randalls Neighborhood Grocer was looking for bean sprouts (frozen, fresh and canned.) No bean sprouts.  So, no biggie; we would then be treated to Spicy Chinese Shrimp and Snow Peas with no bean sprouts. Hopefully the bean sprouts were not an essential element, or I fundamentally changed the dish without knowing it.

I now know that sturdy snow pea does not withstand  steaming. The not-so-sturdy snow pea wholly succumbs to humidity and becomes the consistency of over-cooked spinach. Yum. So, yeah, that probably changed the recipe.  I probably should have waited the 10 minutes to thaw out the frozen snow peas instead of being woo-ed by the “steam in bag” siren call. Alas, limp snow peas.

In spite of the drastic change in the texture of the meal due to the deletion of the sprouts and the modification of the snow peas and in spite of the sauce substitution, I really liked our meal this evening. I would, one day, like to try the meal that Real Simple wanted us to eat, though. It sounds really tasty.

Oh yeah, what the hell is Thai red curry paste?