Call your name…

I used to call these snow peas but somebody corrected me and said that the flat ones are snow peas and these sweet plump ones are snap peas and I’ve noticed that some people call them sugar snap peas.

I bought two packets at one of our supermarkets the other day and they were labelled as sweet pea…

I know that’s the baby in Popeye but it seems that it is a flowering plant and the seeds are not exactly edible. According to Wikepedia, “Unlike the edible pea, there is evidence that seeds of members of the genus Lathyrus are toxic if ingested in quantity. A related species, Lathyrus sativus, is grown for human consumption but when it forms a major part of the diet, it causes symptoms of toxicity called lathyrism.“

It seems that they do have stringless varieties now but the ones that I bought do not belong to any of those so I had to remove the string from each pod one by one…

I got the ingredients ready – finely chopped garlic and prawns…

…and two eggs.

I heated a bit of oil and when it was hot, I threw in the garlic and fried till it turned golden in colour. I was watching one of those cooking shows on television and the lady said that one must add the garlic to the oil while cold or it will turn bitter. That is utterly rubbish, I thought! Of course, it will be bitter if you burn it so keep stirring and make sure it does not get over-fried/burnt. Once you get the nice desired colour, throw in the wet ingredients – in this case, the prawns. That will instantly stop the cooking of the garlic and you will get the lovely fragrance and taste.

Stir a bit to cook the prawns and then add the snap peas. Add a bit of water to cook them, with a pinch of salt added, and simmer till it dries up. Then add the eggs and mix together well. Once the dish is done, remove it quickly from the wok onto a plate…

…and serve. Note that I did not add any msg or whatever sauce – I guess you can add those if you so desire but I thought it was nice and definitely sweet enough with the prawns and the peas…

…My missus used to cook this with bottled oyster sauce but we have stopped using that owing to the wheat content – it is not gluten-free and besides, there is msg in that.

There you have it! It is so very simple isn’t it? That’s the thing about Chinese cooking . It is very simple, just cut down on the oil, the salt and msg – you do not need those to come out with a really nice dish for your meal.