Cooking

Back in April, I was in DC for a conference and got the chance to go out for an excellent Thai dinner with the ever-cool Dr. KC and the cutest little baby in the entire DC metro area. I scanned the menu and quickly spotted something that sounded uniquely wonderful: pineapple curry. Yum!

As it turned out, the pineapple curry appeared to be exactly the same as the regular red curry, but with pineapple. Wheels began to turn. I could do this!

A word of advice: this is a very mild curry recipe, milder than what I prefer. However, in deference to the Tiny Kitchen Assistant’s aversion to spices, I used hot sauce to add extra heat to my bowl. It was good, but could have been better if the heat had the chance to simmer and meld together.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 3.5 Tbsp red curry paste (available in the Asian aisle of your supermarket)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 cup extra firm tofu, cut into bite-sized bits
• 1 cup chicken, sliced thinly for fast cooking
• 2 cups water
• 1.5 cups vegetables cut into bite-sized chunks (I had carrots, green beans and sweet potatoes on hand)
• 1 cup canned pineapple, crushed or chopped
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce (available in the Asian aisle of your supermarket)
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/3 cup sweet basil leaves
• 1 Tbsp red chili or bell pepper, shredded

Instructions

Heat the oil in your frying pan until shimmering. Add red curry paste and 1/2 cup coconut milk, then stir fry until a good aroma develops.

Add the meat and tofu and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Add water and the remaining coconut milk, and heat until boiling.

Add vegetables to boiling mix. Cook until the veggies are tender. Add pineapple and heat through.

Season with soy or fish sauce, sugar, lime leaves, sweet basil leaves and red chilis.

Serve with steamed jasmine rice.

Results

You’ll notice that I used both tofu and chicken in this recipe. This was to protect against the potential meatless backlash from the two carnivores in my house. The grownup carnivore appreciated that it wasn’t an all-veggie meal.

“What’s this?” the Tiny Kitchen Assistant asked, holding up a piece of tofu.”

“Tofu,” I said. “It’s made out of prize beans.” [His name for edamame, because the beans pop out of the pod like tiny prizes.]

“Oh.” He took a bite. “Eh, it’s ok. I like chicken better, though.”

He voted it a Medium success: “It’s good, but not good enough to drag to my favorites list. But you can make it again.”

Tags: chicken, curry, meatless, pineapple, Recipe, stovetop, Thai, tofu

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