Prawn and Pineapple Curry
New Mexico Chiles are the dried form of the Red Anaheim Pepper. This chile has a thin flesh with an earthy chile flavor and undertones of wild cherries. This chile ranges from 2 – 4 on a heat scale of 1 to 10. The New Mexico Chile may be referred to as the California Chile or Chile Colorado. New Mexico Chiles are commonly used in Red Mexican or Southwestern sauces and is grown in Mexico. This mildly hot chile. Scoville heat units 8,000 – 12,000.
Suggested Use:
New Mexico Chiles are mildly hot and very popular in Southwest cooking. Great in sauces, salsa, rice dishes, stews and soups. Add directly to the cooking liquid along with other spices. Use in stir fry, or add to chicken or fish marinades.
PRAWN AND PINEAPPLE CURRY
Ingredients:
Spice Paste:
15 dried chiles, seeded, soaked until soft then squeezed dry
10 shallots, peeled
5 buah keras (candlenuts or use macadamia nuts), toasted and crushed
2 cm length turmeric, peeled
1 tbsp belacan, crumbled
2 stalks lemongrass, tops and coarse outer leaves discarded, bottom end bashed until split
2 thick slices peeled galangal (blue ginger or lengkuas) bashed until split
500 ml (2 1/2 cups) water
3 slices tamarind (asam keping)
1/2 a ripe but firm pineapple, skinned, cored and cut into thick quadrant slices
600 g (about 24 moderately large prawns), whiskers trimmed, deveined, left unshelled
1- 1 1/2 tsp salt (add 1 tsp first and taste before adding more)
1 – 2 tsp sugar (add more if pineapple is sour, less if it’s sweet)
Laksa leaves (Vietnamese mint or polygonum – optional)
Instructions:
Serves 4.
Combine spice paste ingredients and pound or process to a smooth paste.
Heat about 5 tablespoons oil in a pot and when moderately hot, add the belacan and stir until crisp and no longer fishy smelling. Add lemongrass and galangal and stir for about half a minute. Add the spice paste and stir until fragrant and spice mixture separates from the oil.
Add water and tamarind and bring to a boil. Lower heat and add pineapple slices. Simmer for 2 minutes then add prawns and simmer another 3 – 4 minutes or until prawns are cooked through. Do not overcook or prawns will toughen up.
Add salt and sugar to taste, stir then turn off heat. If gravy is tangy enough, discard tamarind slices. If left in the gravy, they will continue to secrete their sourness into the curry.
Dish out, garnish with laksa leaves if using, and serve with white rice, fried salted fish (ikan sepat or salted gurame is best) and sambal belacan.
From sinaporeshiok.blogspot.sg