Tropical combo = pineapple + bamboo

 

A bamboo fruit bowl that is way too lovely to put fruit in! Thanks Kylie!

Pineapples in Bangladesh and India

Our daughter, Ella, spent most of 2015 in Bangladesh working with CARE. She was able to go exploring occasionally and visited a pineapple plantation while in Srimangal.

 

 

Les and I joined Ella and a friend, Sarah, in India last October. These photos are a small part of the experience (the important pineapply part) !

 

 

Pineapple and tea growing together near New Jalpaiguri, West Bengal.

 

While staying at Floatel Hotel in Kolkata I taste tested all the cocktails/mocktails on offer that contained pineapple juice! Starting with an "Ice Berg Lagoon: litchi juice, pineapple juice, Blue Curacao and Vanilla Cream".

 

 

"Cinderella: orange and pineapple with raspberry syrup, chopped fruit, top up with soda".

 

"Bliss All Time: pineapple, orange, gingerale and top with soda".

"Old Summer Punch: orange, mango, pineapple, fresh cream and Grenadine syrup".

 

Fresh pineapple for breakfast with pineapple curd.

 

 

Fresh pineapple on a stall in Mirik, West Bengal Hills.

 

Pineapple Raita, a sweet and spicy side dish, Mirik.

 

 

 

 

 

Pineapple cakes at Kolkata Airport.

 

 

Fresh pineapple for sale in Kolkata.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And Mirik.

 

 

 

Pineapple accessories.

 

 

Pineapple shaped garbage bins (Kolkata Botanic Gardens).

 

 

And a man (who wasn't as serious as he looks) selling a pineapple flavoured purgative in a pharmacy in Darjeeling! Anne

Beef with pineapple and apricot and accessories

Cooking and Looking in Cairns and District with Rosemary Sinclair, Local Flavour series 1986 Sydney

Apricot Beef

Dice 1kg blade steak and brown, in a pan or cast iron casserole, in 2 tblspn heated oil.

Mix together and add to steak in pan: 1 X 425g can apricot nectar; 1 pkt French Onion soup; 1 X 440g can crushed pineapple; ½ tspn powdered ginger

Place lid on pan and simmer for 2 hours. Thicken if necessary. Garnish with copped parsely and croutons.

Serves 4-6

 

 

 

Lovely Jessica wearing some stunning earrings given to her for Christmas.

 

And a surprising accessory from Philip Garner's Better Living Catalogue 1983, it may not be pinapalia (or even useful) but it is tropical! Anne

 

 

 

Pineapple of the South Pacific

The Cuisine of the South Pacific, Gwen Skinner, Photography by Michael Willison, 1983 New Zealand, Photo of Gwen Skinner by Derek Hunt
 

 

 

“The South Pacific conjures up visions of a paradise of waving coconut palms, coral reefs, white sands, and a tropical climate. It has all of those things, but it also has a wide geographical and cultural diversity and not the least of its splendours is its food." 

Solomon Islands – Chicken Curry with Fruit and Nuts

1 large boiling chicken; 5 cups water; 1 large onion, sliced; 1 cup coconut milk (½ coconut cream, ½ water) or cow's milk; 1 tsp salt; ¼ tsp pepper; 2 tsp curry powder; 3 tblsp cornflour; hot cooked rice; 4 eggs, hard boiled and sliced; 2 bananas, sliced with lemon juice squeezed over; 1 cup fresh pineapple pieces; ½ cup roasted peanuts, chopped; ½ cup fresh coconut, grated

Bring the chicken to the boil in water with onion, then simmer until tender. Remove chicken and cut meat into serving pieces. Discard bones, etc. Strain stock which will have reduced to about 2 cups. Add milk, salt, pepper and curry powder to stock. Bring to the boil, thicken with cornflour mixed in a little water, cook gently for a few minutes, just under boiling point if coconut cream is used, then add chicken pieces.

Pour chicken over hot rice in shallow serving dish. Arrange sliced eggs, sliced bananas and pineapple chunks on top. Sprinkle with peanuts and coconut.

 

 

Dasom Lee and Woogon Park enjoyed our Solomon Islands chicken curry as much as we enjoyed the Korean tteokbokbi that they cooked for us. Do visit us again!

 

Samoa – Polynesian Sweet and Sour Chicken

Sweet and Sour Sauce

½ cup vinegar; 1 cup pineapple juice; ½ cup tomato sauce (ketchup); ¼ cup brown sugar; 2 tblsp cornflour; water

Bring first four ingredients to the boil. Mix cornflour with a little water and stir into sauce to thicken.

4 chicken breasts; 4 chicken legs; 2 X 425g cans of fruit: peaches, apricots, guavas, mixed etc; ¼ cup soya sauce; 1 tsp crushed garlic

Preheat oven to 180°C. Pat chicken pieces dry, place skin side up in a baking pan. Drain fruit and reserve syrup. Mix syrup with soya sauce and garlic, pour over chicken and bake uncovered, basting the chicken and turning pieces until all are golden brown, about an hour. Remove chicken to warming drawer.

Add Sweet and Sour Sauce to baking pan liquid, bring to the boil over medium heat, and cook until the liquid thicken and reduces to about 2 cups. Pour this over the chicken pieces, cover with foil, and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Bake chicken and sauce, uncovered, in 180°C oven for 30 minutes. Add fruit to dish and baste often while cooking a further 30 minutes.

New Zealand – Candied Kumara

2-3 large kumaras; 1 tsp bacon dripping; ½ cup pineapple juice; 1 cup pineapple pieces; 1 tblsp brown sugar; 1 tsp vinegar; 1 tspn cornflour; ½ cup water; ¼ tsp nutmeg

Peel, wash and boil the kumaras in salted water for 15 minutes. Drain, cut lengthwise and place with the flat side up in a roasting dish. Put juice, pineapple pieces, sugar and vinegar in a pot, mix cornflour and water together then add. Simmer, stirring, for 3-4 minutes until thickened. Pour sauce over the kumaras and bake in a medium oven 10 minutes, turning them over after 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with nutmeg and cook a little longer. Serve with roast wild pork or pork chops.

Ann's favourite pineapple curry

Pineapple Magic: delicious, easy recipes for a family on the go, Golden Circle online, Queensland 2010

 

file:///C:/Users/Annie/Downloads/HEINZ.GC.pine.c-book.web%20(1).pdf

 

Thai Prawn and Pineapple Curry

Serves 4

 

2 tbsp Thai red curry paste; 400ml can coconut milk; 3 kaffir lime leaves, torn; 1 tbsp grated palm sugar; 1 tbsp fish sauce; 150g green beans, trimmed and cut into thirds; 16 green prawns, peeled with tails intact; 440g can Golden Circle Pineapple Pieces in Juice, drained; 8 cherry tomatoes, halved; steamed Jasmine rice, to serve; basil leaves to garnish, optional

 

1. Add curry paste to a hot frying pan and cook 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the coconut milk, lime leaves, palm sugar and fish sauce and bring to a gentle simmer.

 

2. Add green beans and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the prawns, pineapple and cherry tomatoes and simmer for a further 2 - 3 minutes, or until the prawns are cooked through.

 

3. Remove lime leaves and transfer curry to serving bowls. Serve with rice and garnish with basil leaves if desired.
 

Red Curry Paste

 

1 tblspn coriander seeds; 2 tspn cumin seeds; 1 tspn black peppercorns; 2 tspn dries shrimp paste; 1 tspn ground nutmeg; 12 dried or fresh red chillies, rough chopped; 1 cup French shallots, chopped; 2 tblspn oil; 4 stems lemon grass (white part only) finely chopped; 12 small cloves garlic, chopped; 2 tblspn fresh coriander roots, chopped; 2 tblspn fresh coriander stems, chopped; 6 kaffir lime leaves, chopped; 2 tspn grated lime rind; 2 tspn salt; 2 tspn turmeric; 1 tspn paprika

 

1. Place the coriander and cumin seeds in a dry frying pan and heat for 2-3 minutes, shaking the pan constantly.

 

2. Place the roasted spices and peppercorns in a mortar and pestle or clean coffee grinder and work them until they are finely ground. Wrap the shrimp paste in a small amount of foil and cook under a hot grill for 3 minutes, turning the package twice.
 

3. Process the ground spices, roasted shrimp paste, nutmeg and chillies in a food processor for 5 seconds. Add the remaining ingredients and process for 20 seconds at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula each time, until the mixture forms a smooth paste.

Makes approximately 1 cup. 

 

 

 

Ann's friend Brad found these fabulous spoons from Hawaii and Brisbane for her for Christmas.