Pineapple Kerabu

Pineapple is my must have ingredient whenever I make Kerabu or Rojak. Somehow, without pineapple I feel that my Kerabu or Rojak is incomplete. The sweet and sour taste of the pineapple really lights everything up. Besides it is full of vitamins, minerals and lots of fibre. If I am eating pineapple just by itself, I like to rub it with some salt all over and it tastes really good.

I dislike the chore of peeling pineapples and cutting off the eyes. Ugh! Messy, messy, messy (OK, I admit - lazy, lazy, lazy!)! So I buy the ready peeled Crystal pineapple available from Aeon supermarket. It is quite small, weighing about 350g. I usually like making kerabu with an assortment of vegetables like cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, young papaya and of course pineapple. This time I decided why not make pineapple the star of the show. And since it is Chinese New Year, I have lots of Mandarin oranges in the house. So, in goes a few segments of the oranges too.

For the kerabu dressing, I am using my grandma's recipe. Pretty simple - fresh chillies, onions, dried prawns (heh bee) and belacan. Instead of calamansi lime (limau kasturi) my family has always used lime (limau nipis) instead. I prefer limau nipis as I find that it imparts a stronger taste and aroma compared to limau kasturi.

Blended fresh chillies, dried prawns, onions and belacan.

My grandma and my mum add sugar to the kerabu dressing for sweetness but I prefer to use plum sauce instead. I love plum sauce because it is sweet and sour and gives the dressing a thicker consistency.

Add lime juice and plum sauce. Yum!

For this pineapple kerabu, I did not add any of the usual herbs like mint (only used as a garnish), basil and bunga kantan as I wanted the taste of the pineapple to shine through by itself. The Mandarin oranges complemented the pineapple very well, it was a beautiful marriage of flavors.

Speaking of pineapples, this reminds me of a joke told by an ex-colleague at my previous workplace. Apparently, Lionel Richie was touring China and his last stop was at a province highly populated by Hokkiens. He wasn't sure if these people were familiar with his work and he decided to perform "All Night Long" since it was a very catchy number. This was how the master of ceremony introduced him. "Ladies and gentlemen, this evening we are very honored to have a very famous artiste from USA to entertain us. His name is Mr Longan Lychee and he will be singing his hit song Ong Lai Long (pineapple factory in Hokkien)". Ever since that joke, everytime I hear All Night Long, in my head it goes like this "Ong Lai Long! Ong Lai.......Ong Lai.......".

Pineapple Kerabu

Recipe source : Phong Hong

Ingredients :

- 1 small pineapple, sliced (350g)

- 1 Mandarin orange, segments with skin removed

- 1 red onion, thinly sliced

- Mint leaves for garnishing

Dressing :

- 3 tablespoons sambal belacan

- 1 tablespoon plum sauce
- 1 tablespoon dried prawns, soaked and pounded
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- Juice from 2 limes (limau nipis)

Note : The dressing should taste sweet, sour and salty. Please adjust as necessary.

Method :
- Mix all the dressing ingredients. Taste and adjust if necessary and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, put pineapple slices, mandarin orange segments and sliced onions. 
- Add dressing and toss to mix evenly.
- Garnish with mint leaves and serve.

I am submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover.

This post is also linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY.