When it comes to cooking, l’m always up for a challenge; to me, nothing is impossible, I’ll have a go at anything, as long as someone is going to eat it! So when Angie issued a recipe challenge, I was, naturally, curious…
Angie issued a Fiesta Friday Healthy Recipe Challenge – healthy eating is my thing, that posed no threat to me, however, Angie also declared that the recipe must include leafy greens (no problem) and…..pineapple….there’s my challenge…!
I don’t eat or use much fruit, and I’m not a fan of anything sweet, so the thought of including pineapple, in any form in a dish, was a real challenge for me. I needed to let my brain ruminate and ponder and create a way to use pineapple in my way, in a dish that I would eat or serve my menfolk.
Hence, this chilli sauce… Yes! This chilli sauce includes pineapple. Freeze dried powdered pineapple to be exact. I found this freeze dried version in my local supermarket and I powdered it.
A lot of recipes I read for chilli sauces include some kind of sugar, and sometimes HUGE amounts of sugar! I do not eat refined sugar in any form, I do not eat sugar substitutes, and I don’t like honey or maple syrup, and I just can’t bring myself to add the required sugar to these recipes. If I make chilli sauces I therefore don’t add any sugar, but sometimes I can taste that it needs something to give it a final finish, so have tried adding cinnamon as an alternative, or even ‘anardana’, which is dried pomegranate powder, both of which were interesting. So, you guessed it, today I tried adding a bit of dried pineapple powder; it’s extremely sweet, to me anyway, so you don’t need much, and it worked very nicely!
I was going to then add spinach to the sauce for the leafy green vegetable element but I didn’t want to muddy the colour, so I paired the sauce with spelt, spinach, red onions and garlic, and mixed it all together to eat it…
This makes a lot of sauce, I don’t know how to make small quantities, plus I like to maximise my cooking and make batches of everything!
2 medium red onions, peeled
2 long red peppers
5 long red chillies
1 bulb of garlic, cloves peeled
2 bay leaves
1/2 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tbsp dried thyme
1 tbsp ground roasted cumin
And..
Several tablespoons of olive oil, apple cider vinegar & lemon juice
600g passata, or a tin of chopped tomatoes plus a splash of water
3 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp pineapple powder
Method..
Roughly chop then blend the first 8 ingredients together to make a rough paste
Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a wide pan over a medium heat
Cook the paste in the olive oil for a few minutes
Add the passata, tomato puree, vinegar, lemon juice and pineapple powder and cook over a low heat for 15-20 minutes.
Keep it covered to avoid splashes but stir occasionally
You can then blend the mixture again if you prefer it smoother
It’s a tasty tasty thing! You can use it like I did, use it like a ragu, use it as a pasta sauce, whatever takes your fancy.
If you want to create this as a thicker, condiment sauce, reduce the amount of passata or even replace it with sunblushed tomatoes.
For the spelt base, I heated olive oil in a small pan, cooked some chopped garlic, added some defrosted frozen spinach, some roasted red onions and cooked spelt and heated it all through. Mixed with the sauce, it was a lovely concoction.
My next plan is to use pineapple powder in a spice mix of some sort, possibly a barbecue spice rub…watch this space!
So, thank you, Angie, for challenging me, I always enjoy it! And do check out what everyone else is creating…
Looks delicious! I’ve never seen freeze-dried pineapple before. I wish I didn’t have sweet touch, ha ha. 😉 xo
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Thank you xx
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PS. I really like the animated version of yourself on your profile pic! I’ve been trying to get Daniel to draw me something for months and I think he’s close to being done, hoorah!
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Ooh exciting! I look forward to seeing it x
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Absolutely amazing!! I knew you’d come up with something incredible as only you can. I’m going to have to look for freeze dried pineapple. I have strawberry and blueberry but not pineapple! Bravo, Elaine! Well done! 👏👏
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Thank you 😘😘😘 I’m so glad you approve! xx
I was very surprised to find the freeze dried pineapple, it was being sold as a small snack pack. I had intended to buy dried pineapple and dry it out further in a low oven, so it was an interesting surprise. And I wouldn’t have done any of this without your challenge 😊😄😘
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I’m so glad I took this challenge on! The feedback is great and I now have so many ideas brewing 🙂 thank you again xx
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So glad to hear! Thank YOU for participating! 😘😘
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I use minced carrot to bring sweetness to tomato based sauces. It works well with Italian and Mexican sauces and increases the vitamin A. I rarely need additional sweetness to finish the sauce. I would have to dehydrate fresh pineapple here in rural Mexico or bring it back from the US in my suitcase but I’ll keep this in mind.
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It was merely a suggestion 🙂
Are you staying in Mexico full time?
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It was a great suggestion. Yes, I’ll be living in Mexico until May then I’ll return to the US. I have to use all sorts of substitutions here.
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Is the local food amazing???
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Not really. I cook most of our meals and have to use local ingredients in new ways. Nothing too exotic here, although in the Western US we grow up eating Mexican foods so it isn’t exotic to us. I can find lots of fresh and dried peppers as a base for sauces. I would like to learn more authentic sauces from one of the mexicanas. The meat is very lean so I usually use wet, long cooking methods, like braising. We don’t have a large selection of vegetables but I can always get farm fresh produce and work my menus around them. Hey, I should be blogging all this. Ha ha . I really should be writing – “expat cooking in Mexico”. It’s nice to catch up with you, Tracey
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You definitely should be! It would be so very interesting 😀😀 x
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Genius use of pineapple!
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Thank you 😀😀
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I’m a lot like you in that I don’t use fruit in savory dishes aside from some apple cider vinegar for a pork dish. I also cannot cook for two or three, no matter how much my husband presses me to cook smaller meals. It just doesn’t work out that way! I am looking forward to your BBQ sauce, I bet it would taste great on a lot of different roasted veggies!
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I’m so glad it’s not just me! I literally end up with so much of everything I make, luckily I like it all and am happy eating it over and over again!!!!
Thank you 😀😀
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Looks very tasty. I’m sure the aroma was so good, with these wonderful chili and spices. 🙂
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It was! Thank you 😀😀
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Wonderful; love your twist and I can also imagine the taste. As you said, chilli sauces often need that pinch of sweetness to complete it. Next time do try out the Indian jaggery (a good alternative to sugar). In fact, it is used in many traditional Kerala dishes when sweetness is needed. I am so going to try out your version…..
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Thank you so much, and for your suggestion xx
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Sounds perfect! I knew you’d be up to the challenge! I’ve never had spelt before. It may be time to step out of my comfort zone!
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Thank you 😀😀 spelt is a lovely grain, I highly recommend it x
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Good to know! Thanks for the recommendation. 🙂
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Oh well done you! Smart use of pineapple and so delicious. Couldn’t find freeze dried pineapple here I don’t think, but of course where you are anything is possible. Funnily enough once you told me about the challenge I cast my mind back to when I last used pineapple and it has FINALLY come to me. I made a twist on a doro wat Ethiopian sauce using berbere, mekelesha and other ethiopian spices, including cardamom, garlic and ginger, I think it may have been a vegetarian version, cannot remember, but I do remember that usually I will put Samos in my Ethiopian dishes, instead of Tej (honey wine/honey mead) I use the sweet Greek wine. You cannot taste the alcohol, it just adds some sensuousness and texture to the dish. It’s lovely. So as I had some pineapple juice left over from an experiment and no alcohol anywhere, I used pineapple juice in my Ethiopian chili dish and it came out really well. There is something there that balanced the heat and also added a nice fruitiness to it. I am pretty sure pineapple would work well with habanero chilis too. Sadly too late to join in FF but perhaps next week. Happy Friday Poli
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Thank you 😀😀 and thank you sharing your recipe experiment, it sounds great!
X
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Great minds and all that chili and pineapple
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Well, you definitely win a prize with this one! What a wonderful use for tough combination of ingredients.. pineapple and leafy greens! I could never do this.
the colors are amazing, but I isn’t that the trademark of your cooking? Happy, colorful and super healthy plates!
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Thank you so much x x yes, I do love healthy colourful food 😀 the colours of goodness!
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Fantastic response to a challenging challenge Elaine!
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Thank you 😀😀😀
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The sauce looks delicious!This is absolutely brilliant Elaine! 🙂 xx
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Thank you so much 😀😀😀😀☺ xx
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Darn brilliant, Elaine! I have never even heard of freeze dried pineapple! But what a great way to add sweetness to foods, without using sugar! I am going to have to search this out and try it as well! Your dish is as mouth-watering as always, with an unusual twist! Love it! 😀
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Thank you so much lovely Julianna 😀😀😀 x I was so happy with it!
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Awesome! A very healthy treat indeed!
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Thank you 😀
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Freeze dried pineapple powder – how very creative Elaine. What a recipe you have made with it 🙂
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Thank you 😀😀
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Your chili sauce looks amazing! It has so many creative elements in it! I am dreaming of being in your kitchen at this moment! 🙂
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Oh, I wish you were!!! 😘
Thank you so much xx
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Freeze-dried pineapples! How creative! Your sauce looks like it’s full of flavor 😀
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Thank you so much ☺☺☺
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Will that is a new and unique idea! I LIKE IT 🙂
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Thank you 😀😀😀
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“I’ll have a go at anything, as long as someone is going to eat it!” – Love this line, Elaine. Maybe that’s why I don’t explore much because I am afraid that nobody will even try to eat my food. 😀
And this chili sauce is just amazing. I have never heard of dried pineapple or pineapple powder. Wow! What a lovely sauce you have created… again. 😀 Such an awesome thing to share at the FF challenge. x
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Thank you so much honey xxx
You’ve never seen me make dishes with red meat or fish, for example, because no one in my house eats them, and who can afford to experiment with food for it to go to waste?? That’s why I needed to create a dish I actually wanted to eat and not just something that answered the challenge for the sake of it x
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Freeze dried pineappe?! Wow! What a clever thing to think of it to replace sugar! I never use refined sugar but in some recipes I wish I could cut back, I will see if I can find some of this and try! The sauce sounds great, a bit on a bowl of noodles would make a lovely lunch 🙂
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Thank you 😀😀 it worked really well! X
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Always amazing ideas and so beautiful Elaine xx
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Thank you, lovely Lynn xxx
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Most welcome dear Elaine xx
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Elaine, that sauce looks so good, I would make a big batch too! I have never seen freeze dried pineapple- got to look for that. I wish I did not have a sweet tooth. I am trying to stay away from sugary stuff but find myself reaching for the dates instead:)
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Thank you 😊😊😊
It’s only a case of retraining your tastes, if you want to, that’s all I did x
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I hafta tell you that this pineapple powder idea is absolute genius! There are a lot of times I want to use a little sugar of some sort in my salsas – so many of the Mexican type salsas I make have a touch of sugar and a touch of vinegar. It’s that sweet/sour thing that gets me everytime. Dried pineapple (and I can see how it could be very sweet, especially dried because it’s all concentrated) would be a great way to add a touch of sweetness w/o adding sugar! I wish I had some of this right now!!
Mollie
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Thank you so much, I’m glad you like the idea. I think it’s really useful, I’ve stocked up with more already!!
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🙂
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Nice 👌🏼🌶
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Thank you ☺
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Totally astounding!! I knew you’d concocted something extraordinary as no one but you can. Will need to search for stop dried pineapple. I have strawberry and blueberry however not pineapple!
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Thank you so much 🙂 I hope you manage to find some!
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A true genius and so very creative Elaine! I’ll bet nobody else will have the freeze dried pineapple in their mix. Gosh I wish I could say no to sweet things like you. I guess I’m not sweet enough, so am always on the hunt for something. 🙂
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Ha ha! I don’t think that’s the reason….!!
Thank you so much 😀😀
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