There is meat curry, vegetable curry and there is also fruit curry. Surprisingly, it may sound strange, it actually tastes wonderfully refreshing and a perfect dish to whip up for Vegetarians friends. Pineapple is quite a common fruit used in curry but with the addition of fellow camaraderie the Starfruit, the texture and taste of the curry is enhanced.

Ingredients

1 small pineapple (cut into bite-size pieces)
2 small star fruits (sliced into star rings, discard seeds)

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5 Tbsp cold-pressed coconut oil
5 cardamom seeds
1 star anise
3 cloves
1 cinnamon stick

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blended ingredients

1 thumb-size ginger
3 shallots
2 cloves garlic
5 bird-eye chilies (seeds removed)
3 large dried chilies (soaked and seeds removed)
2 large fresh red chilies (seeds removed)

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5 Tbsp fish curry powder
a little water
4 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp sea salt

1. Heat up a wok, drizzle in the coconut oil. Toss in the spices. Stir a while till the aroma of the spices fill the kitchen.
2. Add in the blended ingredients into the fragrant spices and lower down the heat. Stir constantly to make sure the ingredients don’t stick in the wok and burn. The ingredients will slowly turn into a darker red thick liquid paste. Add in the curry powder and a little water so that the paste remains a thick liquid paste. Stir until the oil is separated from the paste then add in the sugar.
3. Toss in the pineapple and star fruit. Add a small teacup of hot water and let the fruits simmer in the lovely curry. That should take about 15 – 20 minutes or until the fruits are soft and have soaked up part of the curry gravy. Add sea salt to taste. Serves four with white fluffy Basmathi rice.

Note : If the pineapple and starfruit are not very ripe, more sugar can be added to balance up the sourness of the fruits.

‘Cheh Sek Tau’ otherwise known as rice bean is used as a soup remedy to strengthen the back of those suffering from lower back pain. In the above photo, 2 types of rice bean is shown. The one on the left is dark maroon brown in color (bought in Malaysia) and the black colored beans (right) are from China. I suppose they are both rice bean but of a different species. Please don’t confuse rice bean with red beans or black soy beans. The rice bean is more slender compared to the red bean or black bean which is rounded in shape.

This soup is boiled together with a few pieces of lower spine bones of the pig. This soup can be consumed as often as possible or as encouraged, 2 times a week. It has to be taken long term.

Ingredients

5 pieces of lower spine bones of a pig
1 handful of rice bean (whichever one is fine)
600ml filtered water

1. Fill a medium size claypot with water. Bring to boil.
2. Add in the pig bones and beans. Boil over low heat for 2 hours or until the beans are totally soft.
3. Ladle the soup into a soup bowl and drink when it is a little cooler. Salt is omitted.