little OT: Thai food (was: request: thai green beansthai)

[Guest guest]

> Since my fabulous homemade green curry paste contains shrimp paste, I

> will not post it here. If anyone is interested just send me an e-mail

> and the recipe will come your way.

>

> This reminds me when I took a strict vegetarian friend of mine to my

> favorite Thai restaurant. I had eaten there many times, always

> " vegetarian " or so I thought. After my friend send the 3rd dish back,

> because it was not vegetarian in her eyes, I realized that every Thai

> curry paste contains some kind of shrimp etc, and every curry dish

> probably has some fish sauce (made from anchovies). So if you want to be

> a strict vegetarian, you might be out of luck with most Thai food.

>

> Eruna

 

 

Are you sure all curry pastes have shrimp? I'm highly allergic to

shellfish and have never had a problem with eating Thai.

 

This is so depressing. I love Thai food and now I may have to give it up

because of this fish business.

[Guest guest]

At 05/09/2002, Dementia wrote:

>Are you sure all curry pastes have shrimp? I'm highly allergic to

>shellfish and have never had a problem with eating Thai.

>

>This is so depressing. I love Thai food and now I may have to give it up

>because of this fish business.

 

 

I've a can of Maesri brand green curry paste. It lists the ingredients as

40% chili

25% garlic

15% onion

15% spice <--------- not listed

5% salt

 

It doesn't taste like ground dried shrimp but who knows.

 

The only sure thing is that " Vegetarian " doesn't mean the same thing to all

cultures.

 

pat

[Guest guest]

On Thursday, May 9, 2002, at 09:13 , Dementia wrote:

 

> Are you sure all curry pastes have shrimp? I'm highly allergic to

> shellfish and have never had a problem with eating Thai.

>

> This is so depressing. I love Thai food and now I may have to give it

> up

> because of this fish business.

 

Dementia,

 

If you are preparing your Thai food at home, of course you can choose a

vegetarian recipe both for the paste as well as for the curry. The

cookbook " Thai Vegetarian Cooking " by Vatcharin Bhumichitr, 1991 comes

to mind. However, when you buy a commercial paste you need to read the

labels. The Mae Ploy Brand (which is my favorite for store bought curry

paste) does contain shrimp paste in their green, yellow and red curry

paste (I just double checked).

 

I also just checked the green curry paste of the Maesri brand. It does

not say shrimp paste on the label, however, I never liked that brand (it

is too oily for me), although the label does not mention any oil or

similar ingredient...

 

The Thai Kitchen brand claims not to have any artificial colors, no

preservatives or additives. Does not specify shrimp paste (unless it is

included as a spice).

 

So the Maesri and the Thai Kitchen brand might work for you, if you are

not able to prepare a vegetarian paste from scratch.

 

As far as eating Thai food in a restaurant, that might be a different

story. After that experience with my friend I realized that to them

vegetarian equalled no meat in the dish - at it's very best. Before

ordering I talked to the staff (which I knew) that my friend was very

vegetarian, and asked to only serve her appropriate food. When ordering

the dish I would again emphasize: this dish is 100 % vegetarian, isn't

it? I know they were not trying to deceive her, it's just their

perception of what is vegetarian, and what's not.

 

So Dementia, sorry to disappoint you, but if you are ordering any Thai

curry in a restaurant, unless it is a vegan Thai restaurant, you will

most likely get both shrimp paste since a lot of restaurants either use

the Mae Ploy Brand or add some of it to their own homemade paste. And

the fish sauce (made with anchovies) is a given.

 

The good news is that once you learn to prepare the pastes at home, you

will have much less desire to eat the curries in a restaurant. They

taste much fresher and have much less fat. The paste are very easy to

prepare once you have hunted down all the ingredients e.g. kaffir lime

leaves etc.

 

Hope this helps. Warmest regards,

 

Eruna