Asian Shrimp, Snow Peas, and Rice

This was my very first attempt to cook Asian food and it wasn't hard at all!  It has such a great flavor to it.  My only complaint is about the snow peas.  I've never cooked with these before so I didn't know there were "strings" involved.  I found some in the produce department so I put those in my buggy and continued on getting my other groceries.  I did find some prepackaged Asian snow peas, after I had the others, that stated it was without strings.  I had no clue what that meant so I continued on b/c I didn't feel like putting the others back.  Bad decision!!!!  Jon and I ended up taking the peas out of the dish b/c you can't chew those strings.  I decided to still share the recipe b/c it truly is good.....with or without snow peas.

1 1/4 cups reduced sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 TBSP cornstarch
1 tsp vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 cups snow peas....WITHOUT STRINGS!!!!
2 TBSPS reduced sodium soy sauce
2 tsps Asian (dark) sesame oil
1 1/4 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
3 cups hot cooked long grain rice (we only used about 1 cup)

1. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the broth and the cornstarch; stir until the cornstarch dissolves.  Set aside.
2. In a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat, heat the vegetable oil;  add the garlic and saute about 1 minute.  Add the carrots and 1/3 cup of the remaining broth; cook 2 minutes, then stir in the snow peas, 1/3 cup of the remaining broth, the soy sauce, and sesame oil.  Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the snow peas are tender crisp, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the shrimp and the remaining 1/3 cup of broth; cook, stirring occasionally, just until the shrimp turn pink, 3-4 minutes.  Increase the heat and bring to a boil.  Stir in the dissolved corn starch and add the red pepper; cook, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 2 minutes.  Serve over the rice.