Some like it hot and some do not

What shall I make for dinner tonight....I talk to myself from time to time asking questions about what food sounds good to me at the moment.  Shrimp, that's what it will be, a shrimp dish.  So, the hunt began to find something different to do with shrimp besides, grilling, broiling or serving it over pasta.  My search concluded with a lovely Thai flavored dish of shrimp over basmati rice.  As usual, I could not stick with the recipe as written so I put a little twist on it.  Right from the start I knew I had to change it up a bit as it began with heating peanut oil and serving it with peanuts.  Having a fierce allergic reaction to peanuts and peanut oil, I stay as far from them as possible.  This brings up a very important point that I hope you can adopt as it will make for more interesting meals and less frustration.  The more you cook and the more you study about foods and sometimes just your personal taste, you will realize that you don't have to make a recipe word for word.  Half the fun of cooking something is changing it up, making it your own and having it taste divine.  So, don't get discouraged if you see a recipe that looks wonderful, but there are ingredients in it that you don't like or don't think you like...change it up!  You can always make substitutions.  If you ever wonder if one ingredient would work for another or you could use a different herb or spice, send me a note and I'll tell you what I know about it.  Maybe that will help you decide you can make something extra special and have it be your OWN creation.

Once again, another Food Network chef was my hero on this dish.  This originated from Tyler Florence in his book Tyler's Ultimate.  I did make several revisions which I will share in my next post.  Today, I will show you some of the first ingredients that go into this dish and then the final product and see if you know what all the ingredients on the cutting board are. 

What do you think these four items are?

...and the finished dish...

I'll be back later with the answers to the four ingredients and the step by step of this dish...remember some like it hot and some do not!

Bon Appétit!