Shrimp and Pineapple with Yellow Curry Sauce

In honor of the Final Four, I'll give you an opening night double-header. This is another restaurant favorite we've adapted at home. It comes from Indochine, an awesome Thai/Vietnamese place in Wilmington.

I've made this with several different bases. The bottom line is that you need a curry sauce/soup with coconut milk. I've made it by just getting a can of coconut milk and mixing in curry powder, but I've found the simplest way is to get a pre-made sauce you can find in the ethnic food aisle of many grocery stores. There are a couple of brands I've tried, including Patak's and Sharwood's. When I made this the other night, I used Sharwood's Pinapple & Coconut Cooking Sauce, and it turned out really well.

OK, here's what you need:
1 green bell pepper sliced into strips
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
1-2 eighths of an onion, layers separated
.5-1 lb shrimp
2 cups pineapple chunks
1-2 Roma tomatoes quartered
Curry sauce
Milk
Curry powder
Ground ginger
Ground turmeric
Olive oil
3-4 cups Jasmine rice (prepared)

I use a rice cooker to do the rice so I don't have to worry about it while I cook everything else.

Heat up a wok and pour some olive oil around the sides. Throw in the green bell pepper strips and onion slices, then after a minute or so, add in the garlic. Let the veggies soften a bit. Add shrimp and stir until shrimp begins to pink up. Add sauce, pineapple and tomatoes, bring to a boil. I like to put a little milk into the empty jar, put the lid back on and shake to get the excess off the sides, then add that in with a little curry powder to taste. You can also add some turmeric and ginger to taste if you want.

Once the sauce comes to a boil, turn the heat down to medium and simmer long enough to let everything meld together, soften up the tomatoes and let the pineapple soak in the sauce. Don't let the peppers get too soft, though. Serve over Jasmine rice.

At the restaurant it's actually saucy enough that it can be eaten like a soup/stew with a spoon. Just depends on how you like it.

Now if I can just replicate Indochine's cabbage salad...