Grilled Pineapple and Shrimp Salad with Fennel Flower Crystals and Vanilla Coconut Dressing

Yes, that title is a mouthful.  Fortunately, it's a pretty tasty mouthful.  Although I've been slack in posting lately, I was intrigued by a challenge from MarxFoods.com.  They are having a contest for bloggers to produce a savory dish from items they market that would more commonly be found in desserts.  Actually, I don't know that the fennel flower crystals even find their way into many desserts.
Besides the flower crystals and vanilla beans, the other two ingredients that were included were coconut sugar (drier and more granular than traditional gula jawa) and granulated honey, which is about ten percent honey together with sugar.  The granulated honey is said to provide the convenience of sugar, but with the richer taste of honey.  That is the one ingredient that I did not use in this challenge.

This salad has Asian flavors with a fennel kick.  I had thought the fennel flower crystals were just going to be fennel pollen, something I've tried before.  When I got the packet of flower crystals, I was stumped.  These are extremely fragrant and sweet, tasting like licorice-infused sugar.  How the hell was I going to use these in a savory dish?  Somehow I thought of salt and pepper shrimp, the Szechuan dish, which I have made with kumquats in the past.  Kumquats have a slight fennel taste, so I thought if I balanced the flower crystals with some salt, the fennel crystals might work with shrimp.

The rules for the challenge say only two ingredients need to be used in the recipe, and I knew I'd have no trouble using the coconut sugar, an ingredient common to many Indonesian and southeast Asian dishes, sweet and savory.  I've had some Thai dressings that used coconut milk along with lime and fish sauce, so I thought I'd see what adding a vanilla bean to some coconut milk together with lemongrass would do.  In as much vanilla complements pineapple, it seemed a good idea to add some grilled pineapple to the mix.  The sweetness of the grilled pineapple and shrimp called for some bitterness to keep things in balance.  Arugula seemed a good choice.

Finally, I thought some fried rice vermicelli (bihun) would provide a crispy accent to the salad and absorb some of the dressing.  When I was at the market, I noticed some banh uot kho, dried rice flakes, which I've never known to be fried.  I didn't know if they would fry up well, but thought that if they did, they might be a more interesting and attractive addition than the vermicelli.  They worked wonderfully, frying up like thin shrimp chips in a flash in hot oil.  I dusted them with a sprinkling of the fennel flower crystals ground together with some sea salt as soon as they came out of the fryer.

It should be noted that Marx Foods provided me with the samples used in creating this recipe.  Although they did not give me any money, the winner of the challenge will get a $100 gift certificate from Marx Foods.

Grilled Pineapple and Shrimp Salad with Fennel Flower Crystals and Vanilla Coconut Dressing

printable recipe

Dressing

1 can coconut milk

1/2 cup water

3 stalks of lemongrass, sliced and pounded

1 Tahitian vanilla bean, split, the seeds scraped into the coconut milk along with the pod

1 TBS fish sauce

3 TBS coconut sugar

1/2 cup of the infused coconut milk

2 tsp lime juice

2 tsp coconut sugar

1 tsp fish sauce

To make the dressing, simmer the coconut milk and water with the lemongrass, vanilla, fish sauce and coconut sugar for about 30 minutes.  Remove from heat and let steep another 30 minutes or more.

Strain through a coarse sieve, allowing the vanilla seeds through but keeping out the lemongrass.  Mix 1/2 cup of the strained mixture with the lime juice, coconut sugar, and fish sauce.  Keep until ready to dress the salad.  (The remaining coconut milk infusion can be refrigerated--or frozen--for another time.)

Salad

1 pineapple, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch thick slices

20 shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 cups arugula, washed and dried

2 shallots, thinly sliced
2 to 3 TBS mint, julienned

1 red jalapeno or other pepper with some heat

1 cup of dried rice flakes or rice vermicelli, fried in 350º F oil until crisp and puffed

1 tsp fennel flower crystals ground with 1 tsp kosher salt, for dusting the fried rice flakes

1 tsp fennel flower crystals for sprinkling on the shrimp just before serving the salad

Grill the pineapple slices on a hot grill for about 3 minutes a side until cooked.  Remove and cut each slice into eight pieces, removing the fibrous central core.  Thread the shrimp onto skewers, season lightly with salt and quickly grill them.  Be careful that you don't overcook them.

To assemble the salad, place the arugula on a deep platter.  Top with the grilled pineapple pieces, followed by the fried rice flakes.  Top with the grilled shrimp sprinkled with the fennel flower crystals.  Scatter the sliced shallots, mint, and red chili pepper.  Pour the dressing over and serve.

Don't add the rice flakes until you are ready to serve the salad.  If you add them beforehand, they will become soft and unappetizing.

I was afraid the fennel flower crystals might be overpowering, as they are quite strong when tasted by themselves.  However, I found that in the salad they were quite subtle.  It's possible that you might want more than one teaspoon's worth sprinkled on the shrimp when serving the salad.

Pineapple, Banana, and Coconut Jam

Every year since I started this blog a few years ago, I have participated in Steph Chows Jam Exchange.  An annual event that takes place each summer, the exchange is a chance  excuse for me to make up some jam.  Although I like various jams and have enjoyed those I have received in the exchanges, Tjing and I rarely eat it.  We are not real big on breakfast, but if we do bother to have something more than a piece of fruit, we are more likely to have fried rice or a bowl of noodle soup than a piece of toast with jam. So, besides giving away most of the jam I make, I try to come up with other ways of using it.

One of the jams I made this summer was from Christine Ferber's Mes Confitures.  This book has a collection of a number of intriguing combinations for jams and preserves, most of which I'll probably never get around to unless I start making more than one or two batches of jam a year.  The translation of the recipes is sometimes suspect, and the conversion between grams and dry measurements seems a bit off, but the ideas for different jams are inspiring.

I wasn't sure that banana would work in a jam.  I thought it would probably turn to a brown and unappetizing mush.  I also don't like coconut in cakes, cookies, or candies.  For some reason, dried coconut triggers the gag response in me.  I do, however, like fresh coconut--which this recipe calls for--and the combination of pineapple, banana, and coconut seemed like it would make a nice tropical jam if it came together.  Thankfully, it did.

Since our toaster gave up the ghost some time ago, I wanted some way to use the jam to good effect.  I thought it would give a tropical flair to some cheesecake, but wanted something in a more manageable size.  Using a one-inch diameter biscuit cutter, I cut rounds from a ginger-snap crusted cheesecake and topped those with a spoonful of the jam.  The eight-inch square cheesecake produced 16 bite-sized rounds (and some delicious scraps to snack on).

Pineapple, Banana, and Coconut Jam

adapted from Mes Confitures 

400 grams of fresh, ripe pineapple, cored, cut into eighths lengthwise, then cut into 1/3-inch thick slices

500 grams of bananas (4 average bananas), sliced into rounds a little more than 1/2-inch thick

200 grams grated fresh coconut (I used frozen coconut I bought at an Asian market)

3 1/2 cups sugar (672 gr)

juice of one small lemon

In a large saucepan combine all the ingredients and bring to a simmer.  Stir well and make sure the sugar is completely dissolved.  Remove from heat and pour into a non-reactive container.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The following day, pour the liquid from the mixture back into the saucepan.  Bring to a boil and stir until the temperature reaches 221º F.  Add the fruit and coconut and continue cooking for five minutes or so.  Check the set of the mixture.  Put the jam into hot, sterilized 1/2 pint jars, seal and process in a water canner for ten minutes.

**  Ferber's recipe calls for 3 3/4 cups or 800 grams of sugar.  800 grams actually comes to more than 4 cups of sugar.  I found that 3 3/4 cups is a tad too sweet for me.  I would consider using less, but not sure if that might not affect the jam when canning.