Phuket Prawns

6 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb. tiger prawns, shelled (I think I had about 1.5 pounds - too much, really)
4 cloves garlic, finely diced
1/2 cup thinly sliced green bell pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
1/2 cup Thai basil leaves (I had to omit these, as the City of Leduc enacted a rationing of these goods. Just kidding. Seriously, there's nowhere in Leduc to get any of these)
2 tsp. curry powder
1/4 cup fish sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
3 tbsp. sugar

serve with steamed rice - I cooked 1.5 cups of Japanese sticky rice - enough to feed 4
***

Well, I busted out the Thai cookbook tonight. Actually, I busted it out last night, and took out the shrimp so they could thaw for tonight's meal. Honestly, it takes maybe 30 minutes. And most of that is just waiting for the rice to cook. Pre-cut the vegetables and your cooking time is down to about 5 minutes - if that. So wait until your rice is done before you start the shrimp and you are laughing.

Well, here are two memories I have of Phuket:

Yeah, that's Darcy's (he of TDWaterhouse-infamy) armpit. And just above and to the right is this hot Russian chick's bum-bum. Yeah, she was there good-looking but a little pale. Still, I'd wager a princely sum that the view to our left was way better than the view to our right. We had about three fifty-something year-old french women without their tops on and who were as brown and leathery as saddlebags.

That's Chef Jeremiah playing in the water. I look like one of those constipated kids who sits in the shallow end and piles sand on top of themselves, don't I? But I don't usually get constipated. In fact, we had the opposite problem our second night there...

Well, there are a few other things I remember. Like seeing that Israeli guy who was getting out of the tuk-tuk at his hotel with a latex-clad (Thai, female) nurse and a latex-clad (Thai, female) cop. Maybe he wanted to discuss Thai health-care and Thai law enforcement?


Back to Phuket. So, this dish is Phuket Prawns, and as mentioned above, you can cook it up in a snap! Mere minutes is all it takes.

Chef Jeremiah was, of course, nearly overtaken by the fish sauce. I mean, that stuff really assaults the ol' olfactory glands, but it sure adds flavour. Yum! And the oyster sauce, too! CJ hasn't cooked with that stuff for months. No question it was worth the wait.

The vegetables weren't overcooked - still crisp. With the shrimp being done maybe only 20 seconds too long. I often overcook those little crustaceans, so I was pleasantly surprised the way they turned out - not chewy at all. Even the sauce was done well, slightly sticky and a little sweet - and with just a hint of curry. Someone very wise once told me that it's all in the sauce... Darn well near perfect!

Here are the prawns (honestly, is there a cooler accent than that? The answer is "No", of course). But that's not the type of prawn you see below:

Day-um! Judging from the focus, Chef Jeremiah needs to upgrade his camera from the BlackBerry Curve 8330..

And the Jeremiah-sized serving:

Yeah, Chef Jeremiah and his crew even ate it with spoons. No farang here!

Grade: A solid 8.4 out of 10. It's a great quick dish.

Chef's Note: You won't see anymore photos from the Chef's kitchen. In fact, a move is imminent! Soon a new kitchen will be established in the Land of the Lutherans. So my little sous-chefs, don't fret if you don't see an update for a week...