78¢ x 4 = $3.12
Since I’ve been brushing up on my Thai cooking skills lately, I thought I’d precede any recipes I’ve got up my sleeves with a word on curry paste.
A lot of recipes ask that you make your own paste from scratch. While I have done this I don’t really recommend it unless you’re feeling adventurous. It takes more time and more money, and me…? Well, I’m lazy and poor, so that just won’t work.
For a long time I was a sucker and bought Thai Kitchen’s brand of curry paste. It’s not bad, just an unnecessary expense if you’ve got a decent Asian market in your neighborhood. These small 4 oz. jars go for around $3 to $3.50 at most supermarkets, but I can also get 4 oz. cans of Maesri curry paste for 78¢.
Seventy-eight cents!!
At first we thought, “There’s no way we can use a whole can at once.” Lucky for us, we were recovering suckers and had a few Thai Kitchen jars in the fridge waiting to be used, washed and filled with new curry paste.
I vividly remember the first Asian market I ever set foot in, and it blew my mind. It was Kanya Market back home in Redding, and I wanted to learn how to make sushi but was discouraged by the prices at Safeway.
After that day, I vowed to never buy Asian ingredients in an American supermarket again– the mark-up is insane on even the cheapest of things. Things like coconut milk, sauces and rice noodles are twice, sometimes triple the price.
We just went on a grocery trip today and spent $15. What’d we possibly drive out to SE 82nd to spend $15 on? 12 cans of coconut milk, 4 cans of curry paste and 1 package of wide rice noodles.
Score!
5 Comments so far
I love those little cans of Thai curry paste! We don’t have the yellow at our store, which is unfortunate because massaman curry is my favorite. I have tried the green curry paste in the can, and it was ok, but the red is my favorite. I like to make a coconut noodle soup with the curry paste and some lime and vegetables.
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November 20th, 2009 @ 1:42 pm
Rice and curry is great, but there is something extra warming about eating noodles with your curry.
Red is my fave, too :) I don’t even know when we’ll crack open that can of yellow because I’m such a red curry junkie, hehe.
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Did you go to Fubonn? I’ve never been and really want to visit sometime since curries, rice, and noodles rule my kitchen!
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November 20th, 2009 @ 1:37 pm
Yes, that’s exactly where we go! It’s huge and amazing– they even have a freezer aisle dedicated to vegetarian/vegan meats (like shrimp, fish balls, etc). Makes me squeamish, but a true testament to their selection. They also have vegetarian oyster/fish sauce and more variety of curry paste than you can shake a rice noodle at.
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Mmm, want green curry now. I just want to say, I LOVE the light in these photos.
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