This prawn and pineapple curry is famous throughout the South-East Asian region. You can find it in Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam too. So it is by no surprise that the Eurasians have come to love and adopt this curry into their lists of favourite foods too. Fruit and seafood go well together and this dish with the tangy pineapple and spicy seafood curry is a favourite dish among many, including the Peranakans too.
Half of a whole pineapple
Take off the hard outer skin. Slice off the spikey sharp hair-like structures that you find running in a spiral pattern around the pineapple. Alternately, you can buy pineapples that are already prepared from fruit shops and some supermarkets. Cut a whole pineapple into half (lengthwise) and then quarter one-half of the pineapple fruit. Cut the pineapple quarters into wedges about 1 cm thickness. Set aside.
350g prawns (large size)
Some people like to use the prawns whole with the heads on and the outer shell not removed. But I like to remove the heads and peel the outer shell and just leaving the tails on. Keep the heads for making the stock. If you don't want to make the stock, then substitute by using half an Ikan Bilis Stock Cube.
Prawn stock
800 ml water
Prawn heads, washed
Place the water and prawn heads in a small pot and bring to a boil for 6 minutes. Pass the stock through a stainer and reserve the stock in a bowl. Discard the prawn heads. They have done their job. Set aside.
Ingredients to be ground:
3 big onions (red), peel and dice
4 fat garlic pips, slice
1 and half inches fresh turmeric, Slice
1 lemongrass, cut about 10 cm from the root end and then sliced
3 candlenuts, crushed
5 fresh chilles, sliced
1 tablespoon shrimp paste, toasted
15 dried chillies, soaked in hot water to soften and then drained. Discard any seeds that come out of chillies.
Put all the above ingredients into a food processor with a quarter cup of water and grind to a smooth paste. Set aside.
2 tablespoons light brown palm sugar ( or 1 tablespoon of ordinary white sugar )
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup tamarind juice
150 ml coconut milk and 650 ml prawn stock (or ikan bilis stock cube dissolved in hot water)
Heat 1 cup of vegetable oil in a pot and stir-fry the ground ingredients for five minutes, stirring often, on medium -high flame. Don't rush this part as its important to cook out the water and fry the spices to get their flavours out to mix and blend. After 5 minutes, add the prawn stock, tamarind juice, pineapple and simmer for 3 minutes. Then add the prawns, sugar and coconut milk and give it all a good stir to mix well. Cook for another 2 minutes.
Taste the curry and adjust seasoning accordingly. If more salt is needed, add at almost the end because of the saltiness of the shrimp paste and ikan bilis stock cube (if using).
Note: if you are adding the prawns whole with the heads, then you can skip making the prawn stock. Instead just add half of an ikan bilis stock cube dissolved in hot water.
If you like more gravy and think the curry is too thick, add a little bit of water but don't dilute it too much or the taste will be compromised.
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