Thai Pineapple Yellow Curry

I LOVE ASIAN FOOD!  If you've perused my other posts, or if you've ever eaten out with me more than once, you can't miss this fact.  It just feels like home to me.

I have several Thai restaurants that I love, each of them for different reasons (or actually dishes).  One of them makes a delicious yellow pineapple curry.  It's a little sweet, has plenty of heat (without burning off your taste buds) and make the most satisfying meal!

Here is my attempt at copying it.  I came really close and this is really easy to make.

2 Medium sized Chicken Breasts (sliced as thinly as you can)
One yellow onion (cut into 1 or 11/2 inch chunks)1 Cup of Bamboo shoots (or one can, I think they're all the same size)
Half of a yellow Bell Pepper (cut into 1 inch chunks)
Half of a red Bell Pepper (cut into 1 inch chunks

2 cans of coconut milk
2 Tbs Oil
2 Tbs Thai Yellow Curry Paste
1 Tbs. Soy Sauce
2 Tbs brown sugar (Palm if you have it, but who keeps that on hand?)
3-4 Kaffir Lime leaves (I know who keeps these either?  Go to your local Asian food store and ask for them.  They are usually kept in the freezer or refrigerator section)
1 tsp. of Lemon grass powder (also at the Asian food store)
Juice of two limes
1 Cup of pineapple chunks
1 Cup of frozen peas
8 large leaves of basil, chiffonade (or cut into ribbons)
Salt to taste

Start out this recipe by preparing all of your ingredients.  This dish goes pretty quickly, and it's important not to overcook the vegetables in this dish.  If you have all of your items washed, cut, measure and lined up, you will find that you are much more successful.

Start with your chicken:  I find it easier to get a really nice thin slice on the chicken meat if I cut it when it is slightly frozen still.  It's not so squirmy that way and tends to stay in one place easier and enables you to get a nice thin slice.  It's also important to get thin uniform slices, as your cooking time on the chicken is dependent on it.  One of the secrets to a good curry is to have tender moist chicken, and the technique I describe later is important to this dish.

Cut the remaining items and place in separate bowls for one by one addition to the pan.

In a large saute pan (or wok) over high heat, combine the oil, curry paste and Kaffir lime leaves.  Stir fry until the paste is starting to bubble and become fragrant.  It's ok if it doesn't actually bubble, you just want to make sure to toast all of the spices in the curry paste and open up their flavor a bit.  As soon as you can smell a pungent aroma of curry and lime, you are ready for the next step.

Stir in the onion and let cook for one minute.  Add the two cans of coconut milk and bring to a simmer.  Add your bell peppers, and all of the seasonings.  Stir well and bring back to a boil.  Stir in the chicken and the remaining ingredients (except the pineapple, peas and basil).  Cook until the chicken is cooked through.  This will not take long, as the chicken will cook fairly fast, depending on how thin you cut the meat.  Once the chicken is cooked, turn off the heat and stir in the pineapple, peas and basil.

Check the flavor your curry and adjust the seasonings.  If you like it a little sweeter, you might want to add more sugar.  If you like it saltier, add more soy or salt.  If it tastes dull and heavy, add more lime.

Serve over steamed white rice and enjoy!

There are a lot of ingredients you can put in this dish.  Just remember that the more ingredients you add, the more sauce you will need to make.  If you simply substitute ingredients (I.E. baby corn instead of bamboo shoots) you should be fine with the recipe as is.
Some good additions are: baby corn, potato chunks, snow peas.

P.S.  I'll add pics to this later.

Fire roasted Artichokes

My friend Keri makes the most wonderful artichokes you’ve ever had. She’s a genius really. This is sort of her recipe, but I have a horrible memory, so I’m sure I’ve messed up something. Fortunately this recipe is pretty flexible and is good with just about anything, as long as you do the dipping sauce with the same herbs that you flavor your artichokes with during the boiling process. I love this recipe so much that I ate a whole one by itself today for lunch.  Ok, fine I admit, it was one and a half...but that was it, no chips, cookies or even a chicken breast.  Just a big old pile of artichoke....yummm.  And by the way, I am not prone to eating a singular item as a meal by itself…unless it’s a carbohydrate, then I have a problem….This is a VEGETABLE people and I am far from a vegetarian. Trust me these are game changing artichokes. I dare you to try them.

Three artichokes
4 large sprigs of basil, or about 20 leaves (fresh only please)
4 sprigs of thyme (fresh only please)
Three medium lemons
1 cup of mayonnaise
1/3 cup Olive Oil
2 tsps garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
Dash of seasoned salt (or regular if you prefer)

Cut your artichoke(s) in half the long way. I recommend using a sharp knife, as this can be a bit hard to do without sacrificing one or two of your fingers. Ok, I exaggerate, just be careful is all I’m saying. Place your artichoke(s) in a pan (whatever size is appropriate for your quantity of artichokes you have chosen) Fill with water just to cover the artichokes. Place 2 sprigs of basil, all of the thyme and one lemon in the water with your artichoke (squeeze the lemon first, but go ahead and throw the whole thing in there as well. Bring this to a boil and simmer on medium heat until the stem and heart of the artichoke are tender when you insert a knife in them.

The purple part and the small white area
under it is the "choke".  It is not enjoyable to eat.

 

Meanwhile, combine the olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt and set aside.

Now make your dipping sauce by chopping the remaining basil leaves (finely). Combine the basil, mayonnaise, juice from one lemon and stir to combine. Remember that you have another half a lemon to use if you desire, this part is all about personal preference. Taste the dipping sauce and see if it’s lemony enough for you. I prefer mine super tart, so I go all the way with my lemon, but you might prefer a little less.

Drain the artichoke(s) and place on a cookie sheet. Take each half and scrape out the choke (the weird hairy part in the center), leaving a little well in the middle. Be careful not to remove the heart, that would be tragic. Brush each half on both sides with the oil/garlic powder mixture and place on a hot grill or under the broiler for about 3 minutes per side. The goal is to get the edges slightly charred all the way around. Char equals flavor, so please feel free to be liberal with your broiling. Once you have a liberal amount of charrage ( I know it’s not a word), remove them from the heat and let cool slightly before serving.

Suggestion: You may want to double the dipping sauce. I know it seems like a lot, but people tend to be extra generous in their dipping on this one.