Prawn and pineapple curry

I have no taste for strong Indian curry but I rather like Thai curry for the usage of ingredients and herbs that are familiar to Vietnamese cooking. I have observed this way of making curry before when my Indonesian friends came over to my home and cooked us some traditional Indonesian dishes, one of which was a curry dish. Some herbal and root ingredients are processed into paste – which is the curry paste itself. The way of using coconut milk instead of water to make the slightly thick soup is very authentic and typical to this kind of curry. Coconut milk makes the curry more flavorful though the soup is also fatter, but this is crucial to bring out the genuine taste.

Some prefer the soup to be thick but I’d rather cook it just slightly thick by using thinner coconut milk, which I feel more pleasant to eat. I also use fewer chilies to reduce the spiciness. Besides, I also cook with less oil. It is great to have this curry with hot steamed rice on cold days.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

- 500g large prawns, peeled and deveined

- 1 lemon grass, roughly chopped

- 5 stalks spring onion, chopped

- 3 garlic cloves

- 4 large red chilies, seeded

- 1 tsp turmeric powder

- 5 tbs chopped cilantro

- 3 tbs vegetable oil

- 1 tsp shrimp paste

- 500ml thin coconut milk

- 1 ripe pineapple, peeled and cut into chunks

- salt, to season

Cooking:

- Put the lemon grass, spring onion, garlic, chilies, turmeric and cilantro in a food processor and process until smooth.

- Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the curry paste above into the pan and stir for 1 minute. Then add the shrimp paste and coconut milk. Cover, cook until bubble then add the prawns.

- When the soup is heated through, add the pineapple and cook for 10-15 minutes. Season with salt. Sprinkle some chopped cilantro to serve.