Thai Pineapple Appetizer

Prepared by Andy Malcolm

 

The pesto used to spice up the pork goes by the Thai name "Rahk Pahk Chee-Gratiem-Prik Thai". Just call it Cilantro Pesto.

 

1 teaspoon whole white or black peppercorns

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and stems

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

 

Using a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, crush or grind the peppercorns to a fine powder. Combine the pepper, cilantro and garlic and work the 3 ingredients into a fairly smooth paste in the mortar or in a small blender or food processor. If you use a blender or food processor, you may need to add a little vegetable oil or water to ease the grinding.

 

The Thai name for the dish is Mah Haw, or call it Savory Minced Pork on Pineapple.

 

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

3 tablespoons Cilantro Pesto

1/2 lb. coarsely ground pork

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons palm sugar or brown sugar

1 small to medium pineapple

enough sweet red pepper to have one thin strip on each piece of pineapple

a handful of fresh cilantro leaves

 

Heat a wok or medium skillet over medium heat. Add the oil, and swirl to coat the surface. when the oil is hot, add the pesto and stir fry until quite fragrant, about 2 minutes. Increase the heat to medium high and crumble in the ground pork. Stir-fry the pork until it breaks up into small lumps, renders some of its fat, and is no longer pink, about 2 minutes.

Add the fish sauce and sugar and continue cooking, stirring and scraping often to brown and coat the meat evenly. After about 4 minutes, when the meat is nicely browned, remove the pan from the heat and taste the sauce for a pleasing salty-sweet balance. Add more fish sauce and/or palm sugar if needed and return to the heat to reduce the additions. Remove from the heat.

Peel the pineapple, cut lengthwise into quarters, cut out the core, then cut the quarters into 1/4 inch thick slices.

To serve, mound a spoonful of savory pork onto each pineapple square. Garnish each mound with pepper strips and cilantro leaves. Transfer to a platter and serve at room temperature.

 

Notes:

Palm sugar comes in small, very hard lumps or in jars. The kind in jars is softer and easier to measure.

I use the cilantro pesto in other recipes, and it keeps well when frozen, so I make an industrial size batch.  Quantities are 1/4 cup peppercorns, 1 cup garlic cloves, 1 bunch of cilantro.

The Thais like food much hotter than most Americans, and so will use hot red peppers to make the garnish. Try the dish with some mildly hot chilies such as banana peppers if you can get them.

 

 

Updated 1/27/2007