Day 15 Hurry Curry or “Who needs to Hurry”
Day 15 Hurry Curry or “Who needs to Hurry”
“Oh, this one,” I thought to myself, “this will be easy.” And it very well might have been. That is until I couldn’t find condensed Cream of Shrimp soup. See, this is one reason that I am thankful for the Internet. Back in Peg Bracken’s day, it may have been shrimp or bust, but in today’s information-rich age I found that I could replace Cream of Shrimp with Cream of Celery and I KNEW I could find that. Dinner could be saved! However, I also wanted to get some chutney for this one as I didn’t have any for the Tuna Curry and Peg Bracken recommended serving it with chutney. Not only did I not want to go through and replace everything in the meal plan, but I felt it important to do this right. Right as possible, that is, given the lack of creamed shrimps.
This was one of those little moments when I was reminded of just how sparsely versed I am to the world of cooking. I even thought to myself “Peg, why include something that I would have no idea what to look for or where to find it? Isn’t the whole purpose to make cooking easier?” That’s when I could swear I heard her say, “In my day, people knew what chutney was.” So getting ready to head out to the store, I told my son to watch the shrimp as I went in search of these vague and undetermined items. My secret hope was that in this day in age there would probably be some pre-bottled version of this mysterious concoction known as “chutney.” My husband pulled in from work as I was about to leave at which point I informed him of my mission. “You’re home,” I said, “I am off to get cream of celery soup and chutney.” I lowered my voice slightly and asked, “What the heck is chutney anyway?” He chuckled, kissed my cheek, and promised to keep an eye on the shrimp for me.
So I get to the store and low and behold there was actually a can of Condensed Cream of Shrimp soup (Thank you, Campbell’s!) on the other hand there was no Chutney to be found. Oh, the Wal-Mart employees were great, and a valiant search was undertaken, but in the end, we couldn’t find any even though several people knew that there had been some in the past. The fruitless quest had caused our intrepid party of hopefuls to look everywhere from the Asian foods, condiments, to jellies before finally admitting defeat.
Just in case some of you are wondering why I didn’t simply take advantage of the aforementioned technological advances in this chutney debacle, I would like to say that I did attempt to look it up on my phone. This is where preparation is important: my battery died. Fortunately, I had brought backup along and my loving daughter looked it up on her phone. After figuring out what chutney really was we decided we were just going to wing it. I grabbed some cans of whole cranberries, raisins and off to fresh produce for a mango.
Alright, it’s confession time again. There I was holding a mango, with a sign in front of me clearly marked “Mango” and I still found myself asking my daughter, “Is this a mango?” After positive identification of the fruit in my outstretched hand, I proceeded to the checkout. Time to pay for my items and head back home. By now it is getting pretty late and the once full, plump shrimp cooked down to these tiny, pink, shriveled things. Not to be dissuaded, I threw together a chutney with the red peppers I already had at home and the mangoes, cranberries, etc. Heading into the kitchen to finish up the “Hurry Curry,” which had actually been a rather long process by this time.
Without further explanation here it is “Hurry Curry”
Hurry Curry
Ingredients 4-6 Servings
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup onion
1 tablespoon butter
1 can condense cream of Shrimp soup
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cooked shrimp or 7 oz can
1 cup of rice
Directions
Ok, begin by getting the rice started, no one wants to wait forever for the rice when everything begins to cool on the stove. Chop up the onions, this can be diced or uneven pieces or however you get it done soonest to stop the tears, or throw the onion in a food processor and let the machine work its wonders. After chopping the onions toss them into a double boiler or saucepan big enough for the soup with some butter and the curry powder. Cook these until transparent. Now add the soup and stir it till it is smooth and not lumpy, add the sour cream and the shrimp. Heat it until it is hot all the way through and serve by pouring this over the rice, serve with the chutney. Add a touch of flare by topping it off with a sprig of parsley and sprinkle on some paprika. If you do not have that greenery, skip it. DO NOT run back to the store, it is not important.
There you have it. I added a side of buttered carrots and corn to round out the meal and it was really good even if it was late served.
I am going to hunt for a chutney recipe that is easy and does not take forever to make. When I find one I like that works I will share it with all of you so that we do not find ourselves searching through aisle after aisle for stuff.
I have been blessed with a new phone that has a better camera than my old one. So when I revisit these meals I will have images to go with them. In the meantime, in keeping with the spirit of Peg Bracken’s era, my daughter has been drawing these delightful pictures.
Stay Tuned for the next installment of Misadventures in Cooking where we ask “Will she solve the mystery of this thing called “chutney?” What other panics lie in (the) store? Why didn’t the store have Chutney on hand? What other fun recipes are planned? Will there be the covering of desserts?
Please let me know what you think of this? Did you try it? What changes did you come up with? Please comment, rate, share. Have fun and always Flamingo.
