Yabu, House of Katsu

Yup, we braved the traffic and the throng of Christmas shoppers at Megamall for our Christmas lunch at Yabu. There is so much hype about this new Japanese restaurant that we just had to make an extra effort to make this lunch happen. We arrived before 12 nn and we were seated immediately.


Wakame and Potato salad at Php 175
For starters, we had the Wakame and Potato Salad. The seaweed salad was very good but I thought that the potato salad had too much mayonnaise.

Hire and Seafood Katsu Set at PHp 425
I ordered the Hire and Seafood Katsu Set. This set had Hire (pork tenderloin), cream dory, scallop, tiger prawn and an eggplant. I really enjoyed this dish especially since it had pork tenderloin which was fat free. The scallop was to die for. I exchanged half of my cream dory for Ella's oyster which was not in my set but in her Chicken and Seafood Katsu Set. Oh my, oh my! The oyster was humongous and so, so good. Of course, that's me because I just love everything oysters. It really was my lucky day that Ella does not eat oysters.

It was an excellent set if not for the little details that the service staff missed out big time. When we asked for the sauce that goes with our dishes, the waiter said that the mustard was for the scallop (notice that yellow blob on the top right), and the tartar for the fish and the shrimps. It was only when we were almost done with our meal that I remembered reading about the sesame seeds that we should have been served. When I asked the waiter about it, he came back with a bowl of bulldog sauce with sesame seeds on top. No pestle and mortar for us. By then, we only had about a slice left of our katsu.

Rosu Katsudon at Php 265
Ruby had the Rosu Katsudon which she exclaimed was excellent. I suppose this is the Katsudon you would ask for if it was your last meal on earth. Unfortunately, she also had a side order of the tiger shrimp which she claimed was nothing spectacular. I would have preferred dipping the tiger prawns in tempura sauce but they didn't have tempura sauce. Sigh.

As you can see the table was too small for the dishes we ordered. It would have been a great lunch if not for the missing sauce and oysters.

Notice those two humongous oysters sitting on my set. Can you believe that the chefs forgot to put these in the Chicken katsu set. We had to ask for it and they brought it to us when we were almost done.


The food at Yabu is really great and so in the spirit of Christmas, I will forgive the waiters and the chefs for forgetting to serve us the sauces and oysters that were suppose to be part of our meals. Maybe, they were simply overwhelmed by the Christmas crowd. I will definitely return with my family after the holidays. Hopefully, the waiters will be better trained and there will be quality control in the kitchen next time.

Yabu, House of Katsu
2F Atrium
SM Megamall

Vikings Restaurant

On the day of our reservation, things were definitely not going our way. I received a text from Jane that her flight to Manila was delayed due to bad weather. There goes our ride to MOA. Ruth and Myrna's landlines were not in service and they were not answering their cellphones. What to do? Should I cancel our birthday lunch date with Jenny, again? It has been rescheduled so many times that Lucy and I tried to convince each other to call Jenny to cancel. We knew that she would go ballistics. You see every year, we always have a problem scheduling her birthday treat since her birthday falls in between my birthday and our Christmas party. But this year, we added Che's birthday which falls between my birthday and Jenny's birthday. This means that we have to schedule lunch every week from Nov 19 to Dec 15. That's really tough. Thank goodness that Ruth was able to convince Myrna to drive us to MOA in the heavy downpour, with roads flooded and Myrna still recuperating from a bad cough. Thanks Myrna. We owe you one.

At 12:30 pm, Jenny called to say that they couldn't find our lunch reservation. Apparently, someone made a mistake and confirmed us for dinner instead of lunch. Ayayay, it just wasn't our day. Since our reservation was made through its owner, we were put on the priority waitlist and given the first available table at 12:45 pm. Not bad.

When I entered the restaurant, I was so overwhelmed. There were so many people and so much food. The crowd was louder too compared to the hotel buffet crowd. But the service staff seemed to know what they were doing. All the dishes were promptly refilled and even though it was self-served, they didn't complain when we requested coffee and drinks to be served to us. The line at the buffet stations were non-existent too except when I wanted my tenderloin and lamb cooked medium rare.

To give you an overview of what to expect, here are the various food stations: One wall was for the Chinese station of hakaw, pork siomai, scallop siomai, shark's fin siomai etc., herbal soup, cuapao, fried mantao. The middle wall housed the sashimi and sushi station. The salmon sashimi was melt in your mouth good. They were in the process of refilling the salmon sashimi and so I had to request the chef for some. Without batting an eyelash, he gave me 6 thick slices of the sashimi. That's the type of service that you get here. Their sushis were not your usual sushi either. They had the squid ink sushi which really had the taste of squid ink. The other wall was for the hot pot station.

The center station had the appetizer station with salad, cerviche, liver pate, spinach dip, boursin dip, various cheeses, hummus, egg salad, nachos, sandwiches etc. Be forewarned to stay away from the crostinis because they were as hard as rock. The other side of the center station had the hot dishes of Japanese fried rice, Yangchow, garlic rice, wheat, white and walnut breads, dinner rolls, pata tim, lengua and osso buco.

The grill station had the usual salmon, panga, shrimps, squid, liempo, barbecue sticks etc. On the other wall is the lechon, tenderloin steak, leg of lamb, fish and chips and mashed potato with corn. Then, you have to cross the other side of the room for the array of desserts. Oops, I forgot, there was also the drinking station of various fruit juices, sodas, beer, and coffee that's brewed to order. Are you salivating now?

Cerviche, chicken liver pate, spinach and boursin dips, egg salad, salmon sashimi, grilled shrimp and taro pao, raw almonds with raisins..

Jenny stayed away from the meat dishes and so she contented herself with the grilled shrimp and various sushis.

Tenderloin steaks and slices of leg of lamb with a side of mashed potato. The steaks were cooked to order and our request for medium rare steaks were done just right. The meats were so tender.

Lengua, liempo and walnut bread. Yum.

Mediterranean pasta cooked to order.

Dragon fruit with chocolate sauce.

Egg tarts, pichi pichi, biko and red velvet cake with cream cheese topping. The pichi pichi tasted like Amber's so this was exceptionally good. The crust of the egg tarts was not flaky and so I didn't like it.

The birthday lunch that was doomed to fail if not for our all out effort to make it happen.

Happy Birthday, Jenny.

My verdict? Vikings would give the hotel buffets a run for their money. I think that the food here is even better than most of the buffets at the hotels. The food was really tasty. I was wondering if they used a lot of msg since the dishes were so good but I didn't break out nor was I thirsty at the end of the meal and so msg, if used, was very minimal. Of course, you don't get the ambiance of the hotel buffet but the price more than makes up for it. They charged 688++ for lunch but we were able to borrow a discount card and so we ended up paying 650 pesos per person. As I said before, when I go out with the XS moms, it's very seldom that we pay full price for our meals. We always find friends who have discount cards. Would I eat here again? You bet....again and again and again. Yup, it was that good.

Vikings
located near the Esplanade, MOA
846-3888; 846-4888; 846-5888; (0917) 565-3888

Naci Comfort Food & Dessert Bar

Naci is a restaurant located in our neighborhood and so we decided to eat here for Che's birthday. We were given the private room which was great because our group was creating such a ruckus. I must admit, we were really loud although I don't remember why we were laughing so much.

We started with Junior crabcakes @ Php 210. The crabcakes were really crunchy and just ok.

Kani Mango Salad @ Php 160. The salad was priced right. It was an average Kani Salad that one gets in a Japanese resto. The vermicelli noodles was a nice touch but it lost its crunchiness when we mixed it with the salad.

Lengua @ Php 320. I liked this dish. The lengua was not overcooked and had a nice bite to it. I would have preferred it to be creamier though so that the sauce does not run all over my plate.

Nadine's Adobo Canneloni @ Php280. We had mixed reviews over this dish. The flavor was there and it tasted good but the sauce didn't ooze out when we placed it into our plates. Maybe the bechamel sauce was overcooked. The bread was chewy too.

Longganisa & Green Grapes Pasta @Php 220. The sourness of the green grapes balanced the sweetness of the longannisa sauce. I wish we were given a choice of noodles. I would have preferred spaghettini noodles instead of the linguine.

I don't remember the name of this caramel cake. It was really delicious. It wasn't sweet at all.

Raspberry cheesecake @ Php 145. We had mixed reviews over this cake. I liked it but some of my friends said that one ingredient overpowered the dish. Maybe the sour cream???

The XS moms in the private room of NACI.

The birthday girl, Cheryl Whang. We gave her an orange cake from Bellini's and Malted Milk Ice Cream from Carmen's Best.

Now, for more photo ops. The service staff were really great not only with serving the dishes but also with taking our photos. They asked if they could do close-ups and knew how to take photos from an Iphone.

On our way out, we decided to have more photos while getting free taste of their cookies and chocolate barks. Actually, we could have done away with ordering dessert with our meal since there was a wide array of desserts to taste for free. I'll go back for their chocolate barks.

More photos while waiting for our last minute buys from their dessert counter.

The birthday girl showing what we decided to buy for our kids, i.e. cookies and brownies. Our family should really love us to the max because when we have our girl lunches we almost always bring home some goodies for them to taste.

Overall, Naci is a nice place to hang out with friends. The food and desserts are good and the service staff were very attentive. I suggest that you order the coffee pod though because our brewed coffee was so watered down. We complained to the waiter but he said that there was nothing he could do because the coffee was premeasured. Since they are so close to Xavier School, maybe they can buy their coffee from the school which sells Batangas ground and bean coffee. The proceeds from the sales of the coffee goes to the XS Educational Trust Fund. A win-win situation, don't you think?

Naci Comfort Food & Dessert Bar
2/F Fox Square Bldg.
Connecticut St.
Greenhills
(02) 726-7266

Chicken Longganisa Pasta with Black Olives

Serving size: 3

Ingredients:
225 g chicken longganisa
2 Tbsp olive oil
60-70 g tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes (411 g)
1 onion, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
chili flakes to taste
a sprig of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1/4 tsp celery seed
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1-2 tsp dried thyme
a handful of fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar (about 1-2 tsp)
water
red wine to taste
black olives, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

Procedure:
Boil chicken longganisa in water until half cooked. Remove from pan and set aside. Pour out leftover water. Add olive oil to pan. Add onions and garlic. Remove skin from longganisa and crumble meat. Return to pan and saute with onion and garlic.Stir in the tomato paste. Add canned tomatoes with juices, rosemary, thyme, oregano,celery seeds and chili flakes. Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar to sweeten. Pour water in the tomato can and add to sauce. Once sauce is boiling, lower heat to simmer. Cover. After about an hour, add red wine and simmer uncovered. Season with salt and pepper. Add chopped black olives. Add torn basil leaves, Serve with pasta.

Note: Dried herbs are available at Unimart in 60-75 g bottle for about Php32/bottle under the Wil-Pack brand.

Borough Restaurant

Since my son had an all-nighter at Fiamma and came home in the wee hours of Saturday morning, we decided to do brunch at Borough as Part 2 of my birthday celebration. Why not? I lived in NYC for nearly 15 years before moving back to the Philippines and so I was curious how this resto would represent the food and vibes of the city that I love. When we entered the restaurant, I was shocked. I didn't expect to see cemented floors and a dimly lit place. One place came to mind, Elaine's restaurant located in the Upper East Side which was frequented by Woody Allen. Elaine's was only two blocks from our apt. and so we would have drinks there before the place became famous. Other than that, maybe Borough tried to replicate the Jazz bars in the Village.

My son ordered the dishes since he frequents this place. He said that they have large servings and so 3 dishes will be good enough for us.

Rothko Caesar Salad @ Php 210. This was just ok. The toast was dipped in egg much like French Toast then topped with shredded cheese and broiled until the cheese melted.

 Grilled Portobello Burger @ Php 330. This was served in a wooden tray with no side sauces. I really liked this dish. It was seasoned well and didn't need any sauces to enhance its flavor.

 Cheese Injected Portobello Pita Pocket @ Php 340. I absolutely loved this dish. The Portobello mushroom and Monterey cheese were breaded together and then deep fried. Zucchini slices were added to the pita with some type of lemon flavored aoili sauce. This was served with very thin slices of potatoes with skin.

Mom's Milk and Cookies @ Php 220. My son's all time favorite. Today we got chocolate chip cookies, gingerbread cookies and cranberry/oatmeal cookies. One dips the cookies in vanilla milk.

 We will definitely come back to try the other dishes especially the pumpkin ravioli. We used our discount coupons from Deal Grocer. What I liked about this restaurant was not only the food but that the noise from the other tables did not carry over. There was another couple seated next to us and the group of girls in the next booth. But we didn't even hear any of their conversations.

Borough Restaurant
The Podium, Ortigas Center

My Mother's Garden

Part I of my 2011 Birthday Celebration saw us trekking to Pasay City for my birthday lunch given by my friends at My Mother's Garden. I saw a part of Malu Veloso's interview on TV and when she mentioned that she does her marketing on the day of the event and that she tries to use organic ingredients as much as possible, I knew that we had to try her restaurant. Since this is a by appointment only restaurant, we booked a week ahead of the scheduled lunch. As expected, traffic was horrendous and by 12:30, Malu was calling us to find out where we were.When we got there, we were given an option of garden setting, al fresco lanai setting or the air conditioned inner room. We opted for the air conditioned room and two waiters immediately served us the fresh watermelon juice before laying out the buffet spread.

Organic lettuce with edible flowers from Tagaytay. This was served with a choice of wansoy and mango dressings. The flowers was a nice touch but didn't really have any taste. The wansoy dressing was different from the usual Caesar Salad and vinaigrette dressings we were used to. We preferred it over the mango dressing.

The mustard chicken was served with grilled organic baby eggplants. The chicken was nicely flavored and tender but the eggplant sealed it for us. It was moist and so, so sweet. We asked for more and the kitchen prepared another tray of eggplants for us. As we were preparing to leave, they had extra eggplants, ampalaya and ginger (all organic) and they sold it to us at 45 pesos per pack.

The sauteed prawns was good but nothing extraordinary.

We had a choice of white rice or black rice from Sagada. Of course, we had to try the black rice with mango.  We were told that it was loaded with antioxidants and tasted like glutinous rice. The taste was in-between brown rice and glutinous rice. It was not as nutty as brown rice and not as sticky as glutinous rice. I guess that you have to eat bits of mangos with it to add to the flavor because it basically is what it is -- rice.

The buffet spread also had linguine and angel hair pasta. This was served with chorizo and black olive sauces. My friends really liked the chorizo sauce but found the black olive sauce bland. For me, the black olives by itself didn't stand out but when mixed with the chorizo sauce, it was heavenly. They sell  the chorizo sauce at 500 pesos per bottle.

Assorted dessert with Baguio coffee to satisfy every diner. I loved the raisin tartlet and the sans rival. Aside from these trays, we were also served fresh strawberries and fresh mangoes with cream over a meringue base. It was served together with coffee so that the meringue would still be crispy when eaten. When we thought that that was all, we were also given another tray of dried mango bars to try. Notice that Malu even put a candle with sugared rose on the Chocolate cupcake in the middle of the tray for me. All these little extras just beckons you to come back. Sorry, by this time, Malu already joined us and so I forgot to take photos of the strawberry and mango meringue.

The very gracious hostess, Malu Veloso with the XS moms. Oh my, Malu has perfected the art of entertaining. When we arrived, she welcomed us to her home and showed us parts of the house where she could set up our lunch. When we picked our location, she stayed for a bit to talk to us about the food that she will serve us. She left us to enjoy each other's company and returned when coffee and dessert was served to get to know us. My friends gladly parted with their money to experience this wonderful lunch. Yup, my friends treated me and so I got to enjoy my meal for free. How much for all these? 800 pesos per person. At the last minute, Irene had to cancel and Malu only charged us for the exact number of persons present. What a lady. Will we eat here again? You bet we will with Che and Irene in tow. Malu promised us a leg of lamb or turkey with all the trimmings menu and a birthday cake to boot for Jenny's birthday.

To my ever loyal and loving XS mom friends, thank you for your friendship, thank you for always being there for me, thank you for all the laughter which keeps us young and thank you for this memorable lunch. 

My Mother's Garden

2650 Zamora St., Pasay City

Tel. Nos. 831-8407 and (0917) 600-8886

Chicken Schnitzel with Grilled Eggplant and Tomato Salad

Chicken Schnitzel with Grilled Eggplant and Tomato Salad

Via: http://www.masterchef.com.au/chicken-schnitzel-with-grilled-eggplant-and-heirloom-tomato-salad.htm

Ingredients

200g crustless sourdough bread, diced
50g parmesan cheese, grated 
6 sprigs thyme, leaves only
2 sprigs rosemary, leaves only
2 tablespoons parsley leaves
Pinch salt and pepper
1 chicken breast fillet 
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
70g plain flour
80ml olive oil
40g butter, chopped

Salad
2 Lebanese eggplants 
2 tablespoons olive oil  
Juice of half a lemon
Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
200g assorted heirloom tomatoes, chopped
1/2 bunch fresh basil, leaves picked and torn
1/4 bunch fresh flat parsley, leaves picked
110g buffalo mozzarella cheese in brine, torn

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Procedure: 
1. Process sourdough and parmesan in a food processor until fine crumbs. Add herbs and season with salt and pepper, process until finely chopped. Transfer to a plate.

2. Cut the chicken breast horizontally into thin steaks. Place in between 2 sheets of cling film and lightly pound with the flat side of meat mallet to flatten.

3. Whisk egg and milk together in a bowl. Coat one piece of chicken in flour and shake to remove excess. Then dip the chicken into the egg mixture. Then coat the chicken in breadcrumbs, pressing firmly to coat. Repeat with remaining pieces of chicken and crumbing mixtures.

4. For the salad, thinly slice eggplant lengthways. Heat olive oil in a grill pan over high heat. Cook eggplant, in batches, for 4-5 minutes each side or until tender and golden. When cooked, place on a paper towel-lined baking tray. Dress the eggplant with a squeeze of lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil and season to taste.

5. Place tomatoes in a bowl and dress with olive oil, sea salt, pepper, torn basil, flat parsley and torn mozzarella. Set to one side.

6. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, cook chicken in batches, for 4-5 minutes each side or until tender and golden. Reduce heat to low and add butter around the chicken. Cook until crispy, remove and place on to the paper towel-lined baking tray with eggplants.

8. Add eggplant to tomato salad and toss to combine. Place chicken on serving plates and serve with eggplant, tomato and mozzarella salad.

MY NOTES:

No need to tweak. It’s perfect as is. I didn’t have sourdough bread and so I used French Bread. It was still very good. I was told that sourdough bread is available at the EDSA Shangri-la Mall. I also used chicken thigh fillets instead of chicken breast because it remains moist even if it’s a bit overcooked.

Braised Beef Short Ribs with Sweet Potato Mash

Braised Beef Short Ribs with Sweet Potato Mash By Chef Luis Chikiamco http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20080903-158492/Braised-beef-short-ribs-with-sweet-potato-mash#_ For beef short ribs: 500 g beef short ribs Salt and pepper, to taste 2 tsp paprika ¼ c olive oil For the sauce: ¼ c olive oil 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 medium onion, quartered 1 medium red bell pepper, cut into ?-inch squares 2 finger chilies, thinly sliced 2 c tomato sauce Salt and pepper, to taste 1 tbsp dried oregano 1 tbsp dried basil leaves 1 tbsp dried thyme 2 tbsp sugar 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce For sweet potato mash: 250 g sweet potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed ¼  c whipping cream 2 tbsp butter Salt and pepper, to taste Procedure: Prepare beef short ribs. Rub short ribs with salt, pepper and paprika. Heat olive oil in pan and pan fry the short ribs until brown. Set aside. Prepare sauce and stew. Heat olive oil in casserole and sauté garlic, onions, bell peppers and chilies for about 2-3 minutes. Pour in tomato sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in oregano, basil, thyme, sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Add short ribs and bring mixture to a boil then simmer on very low heat for about 2 hours or until meat is tender. Prepare sweet potato mash. Combine mashed sweetpotatoes with cream, butter, salt and pepper. Mix until all ingredients are smoothly blended. Serve with beef short ribs. Makes two to four servings. MY NOTES: The recipe is perfect as is. Don’t skip the sweet potatoes because it gives a perfect balance to the bite of the stew.

Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta

Via http://www.food.com/recipe/creamy-cajun-chicken-pasta-39087

Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta

Serving Size: 2-3

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

4 ounces linguine, cooked al dente

2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning

2 tablespoons butter

1 thinly sliced green onion

1 -2 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Place chicken and Cajun seasoning in a bowl and toss to coat.  In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté chicken in butter until chicken is tender, about 5-7 minutes.  Reduce heat. Add green onion, heavy cream, tomatoes, basil, salt, garlic powder, black pepper and heat through.  Pour over hot linguine and toss with Parmesan cheese.

My Notes:

·         I basically keep all the measurements as is except for the cream.  I prefer to coat my noodles and not drown it in sauce. I usually eyeball the cream to about 50 g and heat through with all the other ingredients.

·         Then to the cooking pan, I add my cooked pasta and about 2 ladles of pasta water. (Remember to remove the pasta 2 min from the required cooking time in the instructions as it will continue to cook when you incorporate it into your sauce)

·         Although I grate ¼ cup of parmesan cheese, I usually just add half of that to my pasta and serve the other half on the side.

·         Finally, I add 1 Tbsp of butter to glisten the dish.

I use boneless chicken thighs instead of breasts so that I don’t have to watch it like a hawk since thighs remain moist even when it's a bit overcooked.  I also use fresh basil, parsley and fresh garlic since these are staples in my kitchen. But dried and powder are okay too. Cajun Seasoning is available at Unimart. I use Elle & Vire Cooking Cream instead of heavy whipping cream.

For larger servings, I double the recipe except for the cream which I just eyeball to taste.

Shrimp Satay with Thai Peanut Sauce

Shrimp Satay with Thai Peanut Sauce

Via http://www.shesimmers.com/2009/04/shrimp-satay-with-thai-peanut-sauce.html

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs large shrimps, peeled and deveined

2 Tbsp ground turmeric

½ tsp ground white or black pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp ground coriander

1/3 c coconut cream.

Procedure:

Mix all ingredients together. Pan grill the shrimps until cooked. Serve with Thai Peanut Sauce on the side.

Thai Peanut Sauce

1 13.5 oz can coconut milk

2 ozs (approx ¼ c) Thai red curry paste

¾ c peanut butter

½ T salt

¾ c sugar

2 Tbsp of cider of white vinegar

½ c water

Procedure:

Bring to a boil. Simmer for 3-5 minutes over low heat.

Note:  Keeps in a glass container in the refrigerator for weeks.

MY NOTES:

·         For the shrimp marinade, I only used 1 Tbsp of ground turmeric because I didn’t want it to taste like Indian food. I also just poured in some of the coconut milk from the 250 ml tetra pak I used for the Thai Peanut Sauce.

·         For the Thai Peanut Sauce, I played around with the proportions since all the ingredients are mixed together. I just added and tasted as I went along.  In the end, I used:

250 ml coconut milk in tetra pak

1 Tbsp Panang Red Curry Paste (Pantainorasingh brand)

¼ c peanut butter

½ t salt

¼ c sugar

2 Tbsp Tamarind Paste (only because I always keep a jar of the Thai Heritage brand Tamarind Paste handy)  

½ c water

My husband really, really loves this dish. He said that the taste is so smooth and that it is better than what we would get in a restaurant. We've already had this three days in a row!!! I would have preferred larger shrimps but I can't find any because of the typhoons.

If you love spicy food, use the Pantainorasingh brand of red curry paste. If you have kids, you might want to try the Kanokwan brand which is not spicy at all. I used 2 Tbsp of the Kanokwan Panang curry paste and my husband complained that it still didn't have a kick.

Thai Chicken Pineapple Curry

via: http://www.spiciefoodie.com/2009/09/07/luscious-thai-chicken-pineapple-curry-and-the-5-flavors-of-thai-cuisine-2/

Ingredients:

2 chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces

1 cup fresh pineapple, diced

½ c bamboo shoots, sliced

12 red cherry tomatoes

1 Tbsp red curry paste

1 Tbsp ginger, grated

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 ½ T fish sauce

1 tsp sugar (if using canned pineapple, omit)

½ c chicken broth

1 cup coconut milk

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

½ tsp ground turmeric

Fresh cilantro or basil leaves to garnish

Procedure:

Heat oil. Saute ginger and garlic. Brown chicken. Add curry paste to coat chicken. Then add chicken broth, sugar, turmeric, bamboo shoots, fish sauce and pineapple. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add coconut milk and cherry tomatoes. It is ready when coconut milk starts to separate and the cherry tomatoes are soft.

My notes:

The original recipe called for 2 tbsp red curry paste and 1 sliced red chili pepper. Since red curry is the spiciest among the curries, I decided to use only 1 tbsp of Panang curry paste and omitted the red chili pepper. Looking at the ingredients at the back of the packet of the Panang and Red curry paste, the red curry paste had more chilis. Thus, I opted for the Panang curry paste. Even then, the dish still had a lot of kick. My husband loved the heat and reminded me to keep the recipe. I thought that I would have some left over sauce for a fish curry. But my husband gobbled it all up. My son was not home for dinner which was good. He will find this dish too spicy.  Next time, I’ll try it with green curry for my son.

This recipe is a keeper if like us, you like spicy food.

After two days, my husband requested this dish again. I omitted the chicken broth but added a quarter of  the chicken bullion. It tasted better and not as soupy. I also used canned pineapple instead of the fresh one. The fresh pineapple was definitely better. It gave a well balanced flavor to the dish and still had that crunch when you bite into it. I also used coconut cream instead of coconut milk. For some reason, my dish was not as spicy. I wonder if the richness of the coconut cream absorbed some of the spiciness of the curry paste. But, I'll go back to coconut milk next time because my husband wanted that extra kick or maybe use 2 tablespoons of  the red curry paste. I also used a handful of cilantro and torn basil which I had on hand.

Chicken Pineapple Curry with canned pineapple tidbits and no chicken broth. Fresh pineapple is definitely the way to go.

I only used this small pack of coconut cream for this dish. It only sells for Php 9.95 compared to Php 50 if I have it freshly grated. I use the Pantai brand because the other brands available at Unimart are too mild. The curry paste also comes in small packets.

Pineapple Shrimp Curry. I added red bell peppers and used fresh pineapple and some chicken broth to tone down the taste of the coconut creme.