Rebecca and Chantal say: “This is a variation on a dish that Leon launched in Spring 2021. We were coming out of another lockdown and we wanted to feed our customers something that felt new, exciting and full of sunshine. We think we did a great job with this curry (if we do say so ourselves). It’s loosely based on a Sri Lankan pineapple curry, which is often served as part of a big, plant-based feast. Pineapple in a curry might sound even weirder than pineapple on a pizza, but we urge you to give it a go.”

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 100g coconut oil
• 200g cashew nuts
• 2 onions, very thinly sliced
• 6cm piece of ginger, peeled and very finely julienned
• 8 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• 8 sprigs of curry leaves (around 30)
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 2 cardamom pods
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 400ml coconut cream
• 1 small pineapple, peeled and chopped
• 1 tbsp palm sugar (if using underripe pineapple), or to taste
• 400ml water
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 200g daikon/mooli, peeled and diced
• ½ tsp salt, or to taste
• juice of ½ lime (if using overripe pineapple), or to taste

To serve:

• 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
• rotis or steamed rice

Method

Place a large saucepan that has a lid over a high heat. Add one tablespoon of the oil.

When hot, add the cashews and stir-fry until golden, 2–3 minutes, then set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining oil. Add the onions and cook until starting to turn golden, 10–15 minutes. Add the ginger, cook for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and chilli and cook until golden. Add the curry leaves and mustard seeds and sauté. until the seeds start to pop and crackle. Add the rest of the spices and the coconut cream, then increase the heat to high and cook for 10 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking.

Taste the pineapple: if it’s very sweet and ripe, you may want to add some lime juice at the end of cooking; if it is quite sour and sharp, add palm sugar now.

Add the palm sugar, if using, along with the pineapple, water, sweet potato, mooli and salt. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook for 45 minutes, removing the lid after 30, until the sauce is reduced by two thirds.

Taste – it should be creamy, sweet and a little sour. Adjust the seasoning adding more salt, palm sugar, or lime juice, to taste. Serve with a sprinkling of coriander, with rotis or steamed rice on the side.

From Leon Happy One-Pot Vegetarian by Rebecca Seal and Chantal Symons (£17.99, Conran), out now

Jennifer says: “When you first arrive in hot, humid Vietnam, soup isn’t your immediate craving. However, you quickly get initiated into the classics, such as pho and, oddly, they do refresh you. This is loosely based on canh chua tom, which is not dissimilar to tom yum. I’ve used meatballs instead of prawns, but do use either. Traditionally it’s served with the rice alongside, but I like to spoon a dollop into my bowl.”

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 250g jasmine or basmati rice
• 4 lemongrass stems
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 3cm ginger, julienned
• 2 tbsp tamarind purée
• 45ml fish sauce
• 1 tbsp palm or soft brown sugar
• 4 ripe tomatoes, seeded, diced
• 250g small pork meatballs
• 700ml chicken stock
• 5 lime leaves (optional)
• 200g pineapple
• small handful dill, coriander and Thai basil leaves
• 1 thumb-sized red chilli, thinly sliced
• lime wedges, to serve

Method

Boil the rice for about 8 minutes until al dente, drain, rinse in cold water and set aside.

Meanwhile, chop the tough ends off the lemongrass and bash with a rolling pin. Remove the outer layers and set aside.

Heat the vegetable oil and garlic together to slowly let the garlic cook until golden. Keep the heat low so they don’t burn, then remove from the pan. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Add the ginger and whole lemongrass to the pan and let sauté for three to four minutes. Add the tamarind, fish sauce and sugar and heat through until the sugar melts. Pour in the tomatoes, uncooked meatballs and stock. Simmer for 10 minutes over a medium heat.

Just before eating, add the lime leaves (if using) and the pineapple cut into 3 cm (1¼ inch cubes) to the stock. Cook for 3 minutes until warmed through.

Serve the soup in four bowls with a big spoonful of rice and the crisp garlic spooned over. Top with the fresh herbs and chilli and serve with lime wedges.

Notes

The taste of this soup relies on using good stock, so it is worth making the Master Asian chicken stock. If you’re short on time, make the stock in a pressure cooker. It takes about 30 minutes and you end up with stock that would normally require at least 2 hours to cook. You can also use a good-quality bought chicken or seafood stock.

From My Asian Kitchen by Jennifer Joyce (£20, Murdoch Books), out now

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 350g duck breast meat
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 lemongrass stems, inner part only, chopped
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 lime leaves, finely shredded (optional)
• 3 tsp rice (optional)
• 2 carrots, julienned
• 200g pineapple, chopped
• 5 Thai shallots, sliced in half moons
• 1 large handful each coriander and mint leaves, chopped

For the lime ginger chilli dressing:

• 2cm ginger
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 tbsp grated palm sugar or soft brown sugar
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 75ml lime juice
• 50ml fish sauce
• 1 Thai or regular red chilli, sliced
• crispy fried shallots, to serve (optional)

Method

Remove the skin from the duck meat and pulse the meat in a food processor until it’s minced. Add the fish sauce and chopped lemongrass and pulse again. In a large frying pan or wok, heat the vegetable oil until very hot. Add the duck and spread it out over the pan. Let it brown well before turning it and grinding over some black pepper. Fry until cooked through and crisp on the edges.

Remove from the heat, add the lime leaves, if using, and set aside.

To make the lime ginger chilli dressing, pound the ginger and garlic together with a large mortar and pestle or use the end of a rolling pin in a small bowl. Add the sugar, orange and lime juices, fish sauce and two tablespoons water. Mix until the sugar has dissolved.

Taste to see if it needs additional sugar or fish sauce, then add the chilli and set aside.

If you’re making the toasted rice, place the rice in a small frying pan. Cook for about 3 minutes over medium heat until browned and toasted. Remove from the pan and grind with a mortar and pestle or spice grinder.

Arrange the carrot, pineapple, crispy duck, shallots and the herbs on a platter and pour the dressing over. Sprinkle with the toasted ground rice and crispy fried shallots, if using.

Note

You can buy good-quality jars of crispy fried shallots in many Asian shops or supermarkets.

From My Asian Kitchen by Jennifer Joyce (£20, Murdoch Books), out now

Alex says: “This is a delicious morning or afternoon tea cake and a staple at the Cornersmith cafe. We love it because it uses the whole fruit and extracts as much flavour as possible from the pineapple’s flesh, core and skin. You can also just use pineapple cores if you have an excess left over from another recipe – char them on a grill to intensify their flavour and sweetness before you purée them. Feel free to experiment with this recipe using oranges, lemons or other fruit purées.”

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 1 pineapple
• 150g almond meal
• 250g desiccated coconut
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 6 eggs
• 250g caster sugar
• Toasted coconut flakes, to serve
• Natural or Greek yoghurt, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C and line a 30 cm (12 inch) loaf (bar) tin with baking paper.

Cut the skin off the pineapple and set aside, then cut the flesh and core into small cubes and blitz them in a food processor until smooth. You’ll need 400 g (14 oz) of pineapple purée for the batter.

Whisk together the almond meal, desiccated coconut and baking powder in a large bowl and set aside. In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the eggs and sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy (or you can do this in a large bowl with a hand whisk). Add the pineapple purée to the egg mixture and whisk for another minute. Slowly add the dry ingredients in batches, whisking well after each addition. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 50–60 minutes, until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Meanwhile use the pineapple skin to make the pineapple skin syrup (recipe below).

Leave the cake to cool in the tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out. Serve straight away or keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. Serve warm or toasted with the pineapple skin syrup, toasted coconut and yoghurt.

Pineapple skin syrup 

There is so much flavour in pineapple skin that it would be a crime to throw it away. Make this syrup and add pineapple flavour wherever you drizzle it. At Cornersmith we drizzle it over our whole pineapple cake, fruit salads and ice cream, and use it in marinades, salad dressings and cocktails.

Place washed and roughly chopped pineapple skin (along with the core if you haven’t eaten it) in a saucepan with 500ml water, 220g caster sugar, 1 star anise, 4 allspice berries, 2 cloves and ¼ teaspoon black peppercorns. Set over low heat and simmer for 15–20 minutes, then strain. If you want a thicker syrup, place it back on the heat and reduce further. Pour the syrup into a clean jar or bottle and store in the fridge for up to 1 month.

Makes about 350 ml.

From Use it All by Alex Elliott-Howery with Jaimee Edwards (£18.99, Murdoch Books), out now

Reynold says: “We are switchin’ things up here! Usually rum baba is just a plain yeast cake soaked in rum and served with pastry cream. Where’s the flavour in the cake – yeast and sugar? I object to plain cake! Here I’ve added banana – sure, it’s not traditional, but so what? We’re improving it, so let’s look at the flavours we’re building. Dark rum has a flavour profile that goes well with spices. And what else goes well with spices? Banana, of course! Then it’s all tied together with some acidity and freshness – charred pineapple and lime zest, to really give it a lift.”

Serves 6

Ingredients

For the ba-banana cakes: 

• Butter, for greasing
• 70 ml full-cream milk
• 30 ml whipping cream
• 2g dry yeast
• 150g very ripe banana, mashed (see Notes)
• 150g dark brown sugar (see Notes)
• Seeds of 1 vanilla bean 2 eggs
• 100g unsalted butter, melted 
• 200g plain flour 
• Pinch of salt

For the rum syrup:

• 150ml dark rum (I recommend Captain Morgan rum or Plantation Pineapple rum)
• 200ml water
• 100g caster sugar

For the barbecued pineapple:

• 1⁄2 pineapple
• 150g caster sugar 
• 2 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 6 saffron threads

For the crème fraîche and lime Chantilly

• 200ml whipping cream
• 100g crème fraîche
• 30g icing sugar 
• Grated zest and juice of 1⁄2 lime

Method

Ba-banana cakes

Lightly grease six 150 ml (5 fl oz) dariole moulds with butter.

Pour the milk and cream into a mug and heat it in the microwave until it reaches 30–35°C (86–95°F) on a sugar thermometer. Stir in the yeast and set aside.

Meanwhile, lightly combine the banana, brown sugar and vanilla seeds in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, then pour in the melted butter and continue mixing. Fold in the flour. Add the milk mixture and salt and mix until well combined.

Transfer the dough to the dariole moulds, filling them two-thirds full. Set aside in a warm place for 25–30 minutes or until the dough reaches the tops of the moulds. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F).

Bake the cakes for 15–20 minutes or until the tops are golden. Allow the cakes to cool in the moulds, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Note

Use super-ripe bananas that are really mushy and brown, and mash them to a paste. You can use regular brown sugar instead of dark brown sugar. The cakes can be quite dense if they are not proved properly, so be sure not to rush it.

Rum syrup

Combine the rum, water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to the boil over medium– high heat and cook until the mixture has reduced to a syrup, about 20 minutes.

Remove from the heat and set aside until needed. 

Barbecued pineapple 

Remove the skin and core of the pineapple. Cut the pineapple into thick batons and place in a deep bowl. Add the sugar and spices and gently toss to coat the pineapple. Set aside to marinate for 30 minutes.

Heat a barbecue or chargrill pan to high. Cook the marinated pineapple until evenly charred on all sides.

Once the pineapple is cool enough to handle, cut it into small cubes. Set aside to cool completely.

Note 

This would be perfect to cook over charcoal, adding extra smokiness to the dish, or you can cheat and use a blowtorch.

Crème fraîche and lime Chantilly

Whisk the cream, crème fraîche and sugar together. Add the lime zest and lime juice and whip until stiff peaks form. Transfer the chantilly to a container and refrigerate until serving.

Assembly

Grated lime zest, to garnish Warm the ba-banana cakes in the oven for 5–8 minutes or microwave for 30–60 seconds.

Meanwhile, bring the rum syrup to a simmer.

Place the warm cakes on individual plates and soak them with rum syrup. Add a generous dollop of the crème fraîche and lime chantilly and a spoonful of the barbecued pineapple. Drizzle more of the rum syrup over the cakes and garnish with grated lime zest.

From The Dessert Game by Reynold Poernomo (£18.99, Murdoch Books), out now