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.