New in my Sacramento California location this month, from the freezer aisle, is Trader Joe’s ready-to-nuke Shrimp with Green Curry and Jasmine Rice. There are very few curries, chutneys and spicy savory Thai and Indian dishes which I don’t like, and I’m not averse to a spicy dish, but I don’t want a full assault on my taste buds from heat in any dish. I love red curry, green curry, yellow curry, you name it. My basic rule of thumb is that if I need to quickly grab a glass of milk to cut the effect of capsaicin in chili based dishes, my opinion is that it’s too hot and will mask delicate flavors. I was encouraged by this frozen entree because the package reads “It has some heat but isn’t overwhelmingly spicy and it has a little sweetness to cut that heat a bit.” The dish was beautiful, cooked quickly in the microwave, but unfortunately, for the entire 13 oz entree, it had only 4 shrimp, but for a $2.99 entree, this is acceptable. I assembled according to directions, took a bite, and … egads. My mouth was on FIRE. I tried several times to love this entree and kept going back for another forkful because I could taste the lime, the coconut milk, the curry, but that PEPPER — just too much. Every forkful made me shudder with the brackish overwhelming heat. I had to gulp some milk and into the trash it went. This dish is HOT for those who like mild to moderate dishes, and probably “just right” for those who like spicy curries. ONE TRAY / $2.99 / 12.3 oz 500 calories 13 g fat (saturated 8) 84 g carbs (fibre 6) 13 g protein
