what does green thai curry paste /sauce generally contain?

[Herbsman.]

I think I've been poisoned. I never thought this much pain could come from eating food. At Sibila's restaurant in Birmingham, I ordered a dish that came with vegetables in thai green curry. I'm allergic to nuts and I seem to remember that a lot of thai dishes contain peanuts, so I suspected that this dish might do. I checked with the waitress, who in turn checked with the chef. She came back and said it contained no nuts, but after eating it I feel like I've been poisoned - exactly the same as when I once ate peanuts... so, anyone know if thai green curry normally contains peanuts or peanut oil?

 

[*Miss*Sparkle*]

I hope you are feeling better soon.

My recipe for thai curry paste uses groundnut oil, and a spot of googling tells me that groundnut oil is another name for peanut oil.

 

[toggle]

even if the dish didn't contain nuts, ti's possible that they aren't careful about cross contamination from other dishes that contain nuts.

Another thing, is that green curries usually contain fish sauce and shrimp paste. I know people that can't get thai food in restaurants because they have fish or shellfish allergies.


The peanut oil probably wasn't the cause, unless they were using a good quality oil. it is unlikely they would have been using a cold pressed peanut oil and not known what it was. The usual way of manufacture stops the oil being an allergen.

 

[Cid]

It's possible you're one of the samll percentage of nut allergy sufferers who are allergic to coconuts (coconut milk is a main ingredient of thai green curry).

Get well soon mate...

 

[Herbsman.]

I'm not sure about that. I thought I was allergic to coconut before, because it used to make me ill when I was a kid (it made my throat hurt a lot). But I've made curries with creamed coconut in them, and they didn't make me ill.

 

[Herbsman.]

Perhaps it was the rice. Maybe it's been stored, and reheated. Rice = many small grains = large surface area = much more space for bacteria to stick to

 

[vipper]

What about lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves or other spices that aren't so common in our diet?

 

[Errol's son]

Cardomon seeds?
Nutmeg?

Also, if it not a top quality establishment they may use a ready-made curry paste. Many pastes in Wing Yip and other Asian grocers only have the ingredients written in Thai.

Thai labels don't mean much to a Mandarin or English or Vietnamese-speaking chef

 

[Herbsman.]

It's a veggie / vegan place so they will have checked to make sure it doesn't contain any animal bits

 

[Herbsman.]

I'm shitting liquid by the way, and have been in pain since at least 3.30 pm

 

[fractionMan]

Could have been the fish sauce. It's pretty hard to find any thai curry paste without it, apart from the yellow one.

 

[Herbsman.]

There'd be no fish sauce in it, see comment above

 

[toggle]

That's not an allergy mate, that's food poisoning.*

pint glass of water, teaspoon of salt, tablespoon of sugar. drink it. repeat with as much as you can drink without making yourself vomit from drinking too much of it.

wait about 24 hours, if you haven't stopped shitting then, get some live yoghurt, or some of those friendly bacteria drinks down you. You will, by then, have likely cleared your system of all the real nasties. The problem will be that you will have cleared out all the symbiotic bacteria as well, you need to keep your guts running well and that will also give you the shits.

If you have to, go for the immodioum, you can get a generic from the pharmacy for under half the price of the branded stuff. Give yourself at least 12 hours to clear out the nasties though. no point in bunging yourself up if you bung a load of toxin producing bacteria inside yourself and giving yourself symptoms worse than the shits. I prefer to avoid that stuff though.

*not a medical opinion, but I've seen food pooisioning enough times and I've seen food alergies of the sort that cause nausea and vomiting. My partner can vomit on an 8 foot high ceiling while lying on the floor if he's given marmite or blue cheese. his alergies have never made him shit. the foods never get past his stomach (he drinks water that he then throws up and rinses out his stomach, can't keep water down until he's washed himself out). he also gets breathing problems and a swolen and sore throat. IMO, if you have the shits, it is bacteria, not an allergen that is the cause.

 

[Herbsman.]

thanks for the advice toggle. i'll give NHS direct a quick ring before I do anything.

 

[Herbsman.]

I've just been on the nhs self help thing, and every option that i've chosen results in "CALL 999 NOW!"

 

[toggle]

fuck the self help thing
it always tells you to call 999, or take 2 paracetamol and bog off.

call and talk to a nurse.

she will probably tell you to drink loads of fluids, and call 999 if you have difficulty remaining concious or can't keep down fluids. However, I'm not the nurse. Call her.

 

[Cid]

*not a medical opinion, but I've seen food pooisioning enough times and I've seen food alergies of the sort that cause nausea and vomiting. My partner can vomit on an 8 foot high ceiling while lying on the floor if he's given marmite or blue cheese. his alergies have never made him shit. the foods never get past his stomach (he drinks water that he then throws up and rinses out his stomach, can't keep water down until he's washed himself out). he also gets breathing problems and a swolen and sore throat. IMO, if you have the shits, it is bacteria, not an allergen that is the cause.

er... diarrhea is a widely recognised indicator of a nut allergy.