Adventures in Getting Rid of Bean Sprouts (a.k.a. Curry Time)

Posted on: December 7, 2008

I have mentioned before the dilemma of too many bean sprouts + not enough time. They become bean sprout paste by day 3 or 4 for me, so the little buggers must be eaten stat. This usually means pho up the wazoo. Eventually, however, one gets all pho’d out. This (for me at least) is when it becomes Wok Time. So many possibilities for Wok Adventures! This particular adventure, however, was full of curry. Ah delicious curry.

So here’s now it went down. I chopped up all the essential bits: carrot, green onion, and tofu. Then I tossed the little bastards around in some sesame oil until they got all hot and bothered. At some point in there I added fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and a bit of garlic.

And here’s a random aside: There is absolutely nothing wrong with using lime from a lime-shaped plastic container! I read random recipes that specify how many limes to squeeze and all that rot. Not that I’m knocking fresh limes or anything, as they’re quite tasty, but my ideal for cooking is to make it everyday functional, and not “I’m going to the grocery store to buy a bunch of ingredients for one recipe I’ll make, then I’ll go back to eating crappy frozen food until the next time I try a recipe.” Which is maybe kind of a harsh, but I say that there’s nothing wrong with having very functional substitutes sitting around for everyday cooking. Kind of like garlic. I used to have moist garlic bits in a jar, but it ran out. So now I use garlic powder. I’d buy more moist garlic bits in a jar if I could figure out where they’re located, but dang it if they used to be in the produce section and now aren’t there any more! I swear the bastards are hiding from me! And I’d like to again clarify for the record that I am a fan of fresh limes. But sometimes fresh limes aren’t to be had, and then I’m a fan of convenience and substituting things I have for things I don’t.

But back to the curry at hand. As it turned out, it, quite appropriately, it wasn’t on hand. I had a can of red curry paste I’d planned on using. Apparently it had been sitting in my fridge far longer then it should have, as I looked at it and it had turned colors I’d rather not ever see enter my mouth. So that got chucked, and I instead dumped in a bunch of curry related seasonings, the most notable being curry powder, but also including coriander, turmeric, and garam masala. I.e., I added most of the ingredients used to make curry powder. D’oh! Anyhow, then came some chicken broth, some corn starch, and the ever illustrious bean sprouts!

Sprout curry

It was actually incredibly delicious. Which is a surprising thing to have happen when I dump a bunch of things in a pan. In other news, it also marks a progression in my sauce-making abilities. I’ve gone from ‘rather dry food in no sauce’ to ‘food floating in liquid’ to ‘food floating in liquid that also contains chunks of corn starch’ to ‘food lounging in sauce’. I have, indeed, had a sauce breakthrough. And it’s about dang time, I say.

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