Sunday, December 15, 2013

Pineapple with Cashews and Fried Tofu or Chicken






Zok and I first had this dish on vacation in Phuket.
When Zok first made this, he always hollowed out the pineapple to use it as the dish, however we don't do that generally anymore.
It is easier to just chop up all of the excess ingredients for the compost (feed the worms!) all that once.

Oddly of course this for us is a Christmas time dish as pineapple comes in season, and we make Chi-chis to drink while trimming the tree.

As this is basically a stir-fry, the cooking time is only about 10 minutes.
Sometimes we have just Tofu, or if there are meat eaters around that feel tofu isn't enough, Zok cooks up some chicken in the small wok, to add it in.

This is technically for four people-of course if you are a couple (as in two) you can just estimate how much you want to eat.

Prepare your rice in a rice cooker (if you don't have a rice cooker, you need a rice cooker)
Fry your tofu in small squares/and set aside with your other prep.
*Remember that stir fry is ALL about the prep.  cut and tidy all your ingredients ready to all be at hand and ready to put into the wok quickly.

1/2 cup of raw cashews
2 tbl. oil (Zok uses peanut for this dish)
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large onion, cut in large chunks (or small, sneaky chunks if someone like me is eating and doesn't want to actually see any onion)
2 tsp. chopped red chillies (omit this for a less spicy dish)
1/2 red capsicum, chopped
1/2 green capsicum, chopped (Zok uses 2 full small ones, I just put the capsicum I don't want to eat back onto his plate when he isn't looking)
2 tbls oyster sauce
1 tsp fish sauce (you can switch out these for vegetarian sauces if you have a strict veg/vegan around)
1 tsp. palm sugar (or brown)
2 cups chopped fresh pineapple (it needs to be fresh the canned is already so soft it will deteriorate when it is being stir-fried)
2 spring onions chopped
2 tbls shredded coconut toasted (as a fancy garnish)


Roast the cashews on an oven tray for about 15 min. at 180 c or 350 f until golden (or cheat and just use already roasted ones)
Heat oil in your wok and first stir fry your garlic, onion and chillies over medium heat for 2 minutes 
Increase heat to high and then stir-fry your capsicum, when they are just about done, add in your sauces, sugar, pineapple and tofu and thoroughly toss for about 2-3 minutes coating everything evenly.
Add your cashews and quickly toss-
Have your assistant scoop out the already cooked rice and add your stir fry over the top
Garnish with spring onion and coconut as desired

If you are adding in chicken- add it pre-cooked after you have dished out the tofu-version to your vegetarian friends.

Tips!
Why not make a nice blended Pina Colada or Chi-Chi with your extra pineapple?

Oil-clean cans are commonly found at Asian markets, so you can clean and store you oil to use more than once.
 
 

2 comments:

  1. This recipe was special to me, because stir fry was very delicious and easy to cook. Thanks for sharing it here and I hope that I can master this in cooking. Is this possible to add some recipe for stir fry sauce? I wonder on what the taste of it.

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  2. Hi. thanks for your comment and enjoying the recipe. It is a really good one and so very simple to make. As with all my recipes its all in the preparation. For the most part i prefer to "whip" them together rather quickly - especially with stir fries otherwise you loose the texture and the taste.
    As for stir fry sauces. I will include them in my recipes - or rather my wife will. However, in essence i think they should be reflective of the mood you are in and kept rather simple to accentuate the flavor you want. I rarely make the exact same sauce twice as i normally don't measure. However, in general i typically use these base ingredients in various ratios.
    Ingredients are: garlic, palm or brown sugar, lime or lemon juice, red chilli, mirin and/or fish sauce, and a variant of soy sauce.
    Stay tuned for more recipes for more detailed sauce recipes. Hope this helps.

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