Pineapple Curry and Baked Butter Rice

Whilst grocery shopping, I stumbled across a basket of pineapples being sold at RM1 for a whole fruit. What a bargain! I held one up. Memories of mum's pineapple dish came flooding in.

Pineapple Pajeri is a childhood favourite. It is also spelt 'patcheri' or 'pacheri'. The origins of the recipe is unknown to me but it is mum's signature dish for 'open house' during Chinese New Year because it is highly sought after by friends and family.

Well, the RM1 pineapple followed me home (it did!), but I had to wait a couple of days for it to ripen before I could cook it. I knew what I wanted to make - a curry!

When it was time, I started racking my brains over what to pair the curry with. I stumbled across a recipe for butter rice whilst blog-walking. I knew it'd be a good match and it was. We cleared the dishes in one sitting.

I don't have mum's recipe for pineapple pajeri  so I made my version of pineapple yumminess, a rough idea I gleaned from years of observation which resulted in this dry pineapple curry dish.

Pineapple Curry and Butter Rice

Ingredients:
- 1 small pineapple (2 cups, in chunks or cubed)
- 1 small-medium onion (chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 tbsp dried shrimps (rinsed and soaked for 5 minutes)
- 1½ tbsp curry powder
(add a bit of water or mix into blended chili to make a thick paste)
- 1½ tbsp blended fresh chili
- 1 tbsp kerisik (toasted coconut paste)
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp fresh milk
- 3 star anise
- Pinch of salt
- Dash of light soy sauce
- Cooking oil

How-to:
1) Heat oil in pan. Saute onion and garlic.
2) On medium heat, add curry powder/chili paste and star anise. Stir-fry until oil separates or until paste becomes a rich shiny brown.
3) Add kerisik and dried shrimps. Stir to combine.
4) Add pineapple and seasoning (sugar, salt and soy sauce).
Add a bit of water, if too dry. Stir lightly to combine the flavours.
5) Switch the fire off. Stir the milk in and serve.

Best eaten with rice, even better with butter rice!

Pineapple Curry

I found this butter rice recipe on Kitchen Flavours. It's fairly easy to do. Click here for the how-to.

Baked Butter Rice fresh out of the oven!

I made mine using leftover chicken soup and regular rice. It turned out really nice. Not soggy at all.

I baked it in a bread tin (8 x 4 x 2.5 inch), covered in butter-greased foil.This is just a rough idea of how I did it.

A quick stir-fry of chopped onions and bay leaves in a dollop of butter. Then, I added chopped garlic, a pinch of chili flakes and 1¾ cups pre-soaked rice, stirring well before pouring in 1 cup soup (leftover, only the liquid) and just under 3 cups water.

Once it boils, transfer all the ingredients into a foil-lined bread tin. Cover with foil. Baking at 175C for 40-45mins worked well for me. No burnt bottom or sides. Remember to adjust liquid measurements according to rice variety. This portion works in my favour.

I fluffed the rice using chopsticks.

Leftover Soup Baked Butter Rice

 
Nothing burnt.

All clear underneath!

Serve together with pineapple curry. Garnish with fresh coriander, if you like.

Pineapple Curry with Butter Rice