Cape Malay-ish Pineapple Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

Slightly sweet, savory and spicy, this pineapple chicken with pineapple salsa is easy to make and so flavorful! Serve it with coconut or plain rice.

Back at the beginning of the first pandemic lockdown, I was already addicted to finding reading material through the Libby app and my own library cards. I borrowed lots of books, of course, but I also searched for magazine with recipes.

One day I came across one called Koe’sister from South Africa. It was brand new, created from a desire to share and preserve family recipes during the pandemic. Published in a mix of English and Afrikaans, it opened a window on a world I had only touched tangentially, through South African friends. 

Funnily enough, as I read one issue, I discovered that one of my expat friends was a contributor! How tiny is this world of ours? 

I also discovered that South African cuisine is as diverse as ours in the United States and includes a subset of culture and recipes from Malays who settled in the Cape area, bringing their love of spices and curries. I was introduced to cookbook authors like Fadella Williams who wrote The Cape Malay Illustrated Cookbook, Cariema Isaacs who has authored four cookbooks - all focused on her Cape Malay heritage and recipes - as well as blogger and author Salwaa Smith and her self-published Cape Malay Cooking & Other Delights.

Both The Cape Malay Illustrated Cookbook and Smith’s blog have many wonderful flavorful recipes but two in particular caught my eye because New York Times Cooking had shared something similar just before I found them. Williams calls hers “pineapple peri-peri chicken” and Smith titles her simply “pineapple chicken.” Both use canned pineapple but Smith’s was closer in flavor profile to the NYT Cooking version.

Of course, these three recipes for chicken with pineapple sent me down an internet rabbit hole, looking for more Cape Malay recipes. Hey, we were on lockdown. I had all the time in the world. 

Cape Malay-ish Pineapple Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

As you can tell from my title, I did finally get around to making some pineapple chicken and I’m here to tell you, it is SO GOOD. I took some liberties by using fresh pineapple and adding the pineapple salsa recommended by NYT Cooking, hence the -ish. 

Ingredients

1 ½ pounds or 680g boneless, skinless chicken breasts

For the marinade:

3 packed tablespoons dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for cooking

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt 

3 cloves garlic, smashed and minced

½ teaspoon ground cayenne

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons finely grated fresh pineapple, including accumulated juices

For the pineapple salsa: 

¼ medium red onion, finely diced

1 cup or 170g fresh pineapple

Small handful fresh cilantro, finely chopped

1 red chili pepper, thinly sliced

For serving:

Cooked white or brown rice (also nice with coconut rice)

Method

Cut the chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks. 

In a large Ziploc bag, stir together the brown sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt, minced garlic, ground cayenne and black pepper.

Transfer 1 generous tablespoon of the mixture to a medium bowl and add the chopped onion. Stir well. 

Cut the pineapple for the salsa into 1/2 in or 1 cm chunks. Add them to the onion bowl along with the cilantro and chili pepper. Toss until well-mixed and set aside.

Finely grate two tablespoons of the remaining pineapple. Add the pineapple and any juice to the marinade in the plastic bag.

Add the chicken chunks and toss to coat. Squeeze all the air you can out of the bag and seal. Set it aside to marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes (and no longer, otherwise the chicken turns mushy.)

Once the chicken is done marinating, pour the chicken into a sieve or strainer over a bowl to collect the leftover marinade. 

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high and add enough olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Cook the chicken pieces in batches so they don’t touch and are in a single layer. 

Cook until the bottoms are browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn them and continue cooking, until browned on all sides, a few minutes more. 

Remove to a plate and repeat with the next batches of chicken pieces (adding a little more olive oil to the pan if necessary) until all are browned and almost cooked through. 

Once the chicken is all on the plate, pour the leftover marinade into the pan and whisk while it cooks. Make sure to heat it to bubbling for several minutes to make sure it’s cooked through.

Tip the chicken pieces and any juice that has accumulated on the plate back into the pan.

Stir well to coat the chicken in the cooked marinade and heat until the chicken is piping hot and ready to serve. Serve with rice and the spicy pineapple salsa.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes from African cuisines and cultures. Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastimes. Check out the links below:

• Cape Malay-ish Pineapple Chicken with Pineapple Salsa from Food Lust People Love
• Chicken and Jollof Rice (Nigerian) from Palatable Pastime
• East African Chapati from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Githeri from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Red Harissa Chicken from Sneha's Recipe
• Rgaif (Moroccan Flat Bread) from Karen's Kitchen Stories

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin this Pineapple Chicken with Pineapple Salsa!

 .

Piña Colada Bundt Cake #BundtBakers

A delicious treat of the tropical cocktail in cake form, this Piña Colada Bundt Cake is made with pineapple, coconut cream and, of course, rum. It is brushed after baking with a coconut pineapple rum syrup/glaze.

Once upon a time, a boy and a girl got married. He wanted to surprise her with the honeymoon so he only said, pack for a beach holiday. So she did. But the funny thing is (and it wasn’t so funny back then) the suitcases went to the Bahamas and the couple went to Barbados. Which was a big surprise for everyone. 

They consoled themselves by ordering cocktails by the pool where they could sit around in the hotel bathrobes and gift shop I 💙  Barbados t-shirts. Many, many, MANY consoling piña coladas were consumed before the suitcases turned up four days later. And they lived happily ever after. 

I’d say “The End” but there’s cake to come!  A tender, pineapple-y, coconutty cake with rum. Read on. 

Piña Colada Bundt Cake

For your canned pineapple, buy the kind in juice, not syrup, so you’ll have the necessary juice for the coconut pineapple rum syrup/glaze. This recipe is adapted from one on Real House Moms. It makes one 6-cup Bundt cake. 

Ingredients

For the cake batter: 

1 1/2 cups or 190g flour, plus extra for preparing the Bundt pan

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup or 100g sugar

1/3 cup or 75g softened butter, plus extra for preparing the Bundt pan

1 egg

1/2 cup or 120ml coconut cream

1 1/2 teaspoons aged rum 

1/2 cup or 90g chopped, canned pineapple, drained juice reserved

For the coconut pineapple rum syrup/glaze:

3/4 cup or 150g sugar

1/4 cup or 60ml pineapple juice

1/4 cup or 60ml dark rum

3 tablespoons coconut cream 

Optional for decorating:

a few good pinches sweetened flake coconut

diced canned pineapple

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Generously butter then flour a 6-cup Bundt pan. 

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add the egg and beat until well mixed.

Add the rum and coconut cream and mix until incorporated.

Tip the pineapple bits in the flour bowl and stir them around till they are coated with flour.  Now add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and beat until the batter is light and glossy. 

Spoon the batter into the Bundt pan and even out the top with a spatula. 

Bake for 30-35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Meanwhile, make the coconut pineapple rum syrup. Cook the sugar, pineapple juice and rum together in a small pot over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and it has reduced by about one half. 

Take the pot off the heat and leave the mixture to cool. It will thicken up more as it cools. 

Whisk in the coconut cream.

Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes then remove cake from pan and cool completely.

Brush with the cake with the syrup/glaze. I spooned the syrup/glaze over the cake to start with but a lot just dripped off despite how thick it was so brushing it on seemed to work better. Keep brushing it on as the syrup/glaze soaks in. You may not use all of the syrup/glaze.

Decorate with a little sweetened flake coconut and bits of the canned pineapple, if desired. 

Enjoy! 

This month my Bundt Bakers are all sharing boozy Bundt recipes. Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha's Recipe. 

• Caramel & Rum Upside Down Pineapple Bundt Cake by Sneha's Recipe
• Coffee Liqueur Bundt Cake by Patyco Candybar
• Lemon Rum & Coconut Bundt by Sweet Sensations
• Mojito Bundtlets by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Piña Colada Bundt Cake by Food Lust People Love
• Rum Cake by Passion Kneaded

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.
Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin this Piña Colada Bundt Cake! 

 .

Pineapple Zucchini Muffins #MuffinMonday

Pineapple and zucchini muffins are a good blend of fruit and vegetables in delicious muffins! Lovely sweet pineapple and summer zucchini are a perfect combination.

This recipe was inspired by a recipe I found online a few years ago for a zucchini pineapple loaf. I thought it might well work, with modifications, for muffins.

Pineapple Zucchini Muffins

Use pineapple in unsweetened juice for this recipe. If you can only find pineapple in syrup, drain the syrup and adjust the sugar in the recipe to compensate.

Ingredients
2 cups, shredded, or 300g zucchini
10 oz or 280g crushed pineapple in juice, drained
1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups or 250g flour
1 1/2 cups or 300g sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by greasing it or lining it with paper muffin cups.

Whisk together the zucchini, pineapple, canola, eggs and vanilla into a large mixing bowl.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and baking powder

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry until just mixed.

Divide the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Check out all the other Muffin Monday recipes we are sharing today. Many thanks to Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for stepping in and saving me from my lack of awareness of what day it even is! I was so sure that Muffin Monday was next week!

• Apple Raisin Rye Muffins by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Banana Currant Muffins by Passion Kneaded
• Birthday Cake Muffins by Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Chocolate Chip Nutella Muffins by Palatable Pastime
• Jasmine Matcha Muffins by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pineapple Zucchini Muffins by Food Lust People Love
• Roasted Garlic Cheddar Muffins by Making Miracles
• Strawberry Fromage Blanc Muffins by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Pineapple Zucchini Muffins!

.

Rum Glazed Piña Colada Muffins #MuffinMonday

Made with sweet cream of coconut and canned pineapple chunks, then topped with boozy glaze, these rum glazed piña colada muffins are perfect for a nippy days when you need a tropical holiday from inclement weather.

Our climate in Houston is weird. Cold one day, warm the next. You are just as likely to spend Christmas in shorts as bundled up in an overcoat. And then the reverse on Boxing Day. And don’t even get me started about the rain.

Sometimes we need to add a little sunshine and a vacation vibe to our wet winter days. May I suggest you bake some muffins?

For the last several years, I have been baking muffins regularly, at first every week, then once a month, with a marvelous group of bakers. They live in various places so it’s always fun to see the creative recipes they share, often including special local ingredients. One thing we all have in common is a love of the ease of muffin baking.

No creaming of sugar, no whisking of eggs, the muffin method requires dirtying only two bowls and produces wonderful baked beauties in under 30 minutes. Best of all, they are so portable, unlike big cakes.

Rum Glazed Piña Colada Muffins

About six years ago, I shared piña colada muffins made with coconut oil. They were tender and delicious with a subtle coconut flavor. This time I decided to go bigger on the coconut element, using the sweetened cream of coconut generally called for in piña colada cocktail recipes and finishing the muffins off with a rum glaze. Because, what was I thinking? Piña coladas need rum!

Ingredients
For the muffin batter:
3/4 cup or 140g (drained weight) pineapple, canned in juice
2 cups or 250g all purpose flour
1/2 cup or 100g dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 180ml cream of coconut
1/4 cup or 63g canola or other light oil
1/4 cup or 60ml pineapple juice (from canned pineapple)
2 eggs

For the rum glaze:
1/2 cup or 63g powdered sugar
3-4 teaspoons dark rum

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 12-cup muffin pan by greasing it or lining with paper muffin cups.

Drain your small can of pineapple and reserve the juice.  Chop the pineapple up with a sharp knife. Set aside a small pile of pineapple for adding to the muffin tops before baking.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together.  Add the larger pile of pineapple bits to the flour and stir to coat.

In another bowl, whisk together cream of coconut, canola, pineapple juice and eggs. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture.

Gently fold just until dry ingredients are moistened. Divide your batter relatively evenly between the 12 muffin cups. Top each cup of batter with a piece or two of the reserved pineapple.

Bake 20-25 minutes in your preheated oven or until muffins are golden.

Remove the muffins from oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing them from the pan.

To make the glaze, sift the powdered sugar into a small bowl. Add the rum by teaspoonful and stir well with each addition, until the glaze is a good drizzling consistency. You may not need it all.

Cool the muffins completely, then drizzle on the rum glaze. I like to use a piping bag or a Ziplock baggies with a corner cut off because that’s less messy but you do you.

Enjoy!

Happy New Year to you all! Check out all the other lovely muffins my Muffin Monday friends are sharing today! 

• Blueberry Banana Oat Breakfast Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Lemon Crumb Muffins from Making Miracles
• Mandarin Orange Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Rosemary Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Rum Glazed Colada Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Sweet Potato Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Rum Glazed Piña Colada Muffins! 

 .

Golden Pineapple Buns #BreadBakers

A bakery staple in Chinatowns worldwide, golden pineapple buns are a real treat. The soft sweet bread features a topping that bakes up crisp and light. As an added bonus, some contain sweet fillings, like these made with my easy pineapple jam.

This month’s Bread Bakers host, my friend Felice from All That’s Left Are the Crumbs set us a theme of “good luck breads” and I knew I would find a few choices in typical Chinese or Lunar New Year menus online. Indeed, since gold is a color of prosperity, golden pineapple buns showed up in many.

Also known as bolo bao or bo lo baau, pineapple buns appear to originate from Hong Kong but they are also very popular in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia as well. For all the many years we lived in those three places – a combined 12 years! – I never actually tried a pineapple bun. I loved the Chinese bakeries but would typically opt for a sausage bun or another savory option.

Historically, the pineapple is also a symbol of wealth and hospitality. What is more welcoming than a warm bun that is named because it looks like a pineapple? I’ll tell you.

It’s one that is also filled with pineapple jam.

Several recipes said these buns could authentically be filled with red bead paste or custard but most are not filled at all. I, on the other hand, thought they cried out for pineapple jam. Why should they be pineapple in name and looks only? Beauty is more than skin deep and their outer beauty should be echoed and enhanced by an inner pineapple-y sweetness, don’t you think?

And when I checked it out, I got a mention in Wikipedia. Non-native speaker. That's me.

Golden Pineapple Buns

Like all good yeast breads, these guys take a while to make because of rising time. Also, there are three parts: the dough, the topping and the filling, if you choose to fill them. I suggest making my easy pineapple jam but you can also use your favorite store-bought jam of any flavor. Or don’t fill them at all. Either way, they are totally worth the time. My bun recipe is adapted from these two: The Woks of Life and China Sichuan Food. The pineapple jam is all me. I love making quick jam.

Ingredients for 6 large buns
For the bread dough:
1/3 cup or 78ml heavy cream
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
1/4 cup or 50g sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 large egg (at room temperature)
2 1/2 cups or 317g strong white bread flour
3/4 teaspoon salt

For the topping paste:
2/3 cup or 83g all-purpose flour
1/3 cup or 66g caster sugar
2 tablespoons dry milk powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1 small egg yolk
⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract
4-6 teaspoons milk

For the filling:
6 generous tablespoons thick pineapple jam, homemade or store-bought
(It’s super easy to make. For homemade my instructions are here.)

For the egg wash:
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon water

Method
Warm your cream and milk to between 105-110°F or 40.5-43°C in a small pot over a low fire or in the microwave. Add in 1 tablespoon of the sugar for the dough and the yeast. Set aside for a few minutes to make sure your yeast is active.

Pour the foamy liquid into the bowl of your mixer and add the rest of the sugar, egg, flour and salt.

Using your bread hook, combine the ingredients and continue mixing for about 15 minutes, scraping the bowl down occasionally to make sure all of the flour is being incorporated.

This is a very soft dough.

After 15 minutes, cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm place for 1 hour.

If your kitchen is cold, set the bowl in your sink and fill it part way up with warm water. Leave to prove for about 1 hour by which time the dough should double in size.

When the initial rise time for the bread dough is up, put it back in the mixer and use your bread hook to knead it for 5 minutes to beat it back down to original size and make it more manageable and less sticky.

Lightly flour a clean work surface and tip your dough out of the bowl. With floury hands, knead it briefly. Cut it into 6 equal pieces (mine were about 100g each) and roll them into small balls.

If you aren’t filling your pineapple buns, transfer them to your baking pan, sprinkle with some flour and cover with a clean dry towel. Set aside to rise for 1 hour.

If you are filling them, use a floured rolling pin to roll each ball out into a 6 in or 15cm circle. Brush with water. Add 1 tablespoon of pineapple jam to the middle. (By the way, that gorgeous yellow is all natural!)

Pull the sides in, pinching gently to close the dough, making a ball again. Place pinched side down on your baking pan.

Continue until all buns are filled. Sprinkle with flour and cover with a clean dry towel. Set aside to rise for 1 hour.

While the buns are rising, use a food processor to make the topping.

Add the dry milk powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and superfine sugar to the food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the shortening, egg yolk, and vanilla.

Pulse till it looks like big grains.

Add the milk starting with just 1 tablespoon. Pulse until it just comes together as a dough, adding a teaspoon or two more milk as needed.

Give the crumbs a squeeze to see if they’ll hang together. If they do, no more milk is needed.

Tip the topping crumbs out on to a piece of cling film and push them together to create a dough. Cover tightly with the cling film. Place in refrigerator for around 30 minutes until slightly chilled.

When the buns are done rising, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Form the topping dough into a rectangle in the cling film so that it’s easier to cut into six equal pieces.

Roll them into balls. Lay a large sheet of cling film out and place the ball on one half. Fold the other half over. Use a rolling pin to roll a topping ball into a circle the size of the tops of your risen buns.

Unfold the cling film and place the topping circle on a bun. Carefully remove the cling film.

Use the tip of a sharp knife to gently score the topping in a diamond pattern. Continue until the buns have been covered and scored.

Whisk the egg yolk with the water and brush the egg wash onto each bun. Bake in your preheated oven for 14-16 minutes or until puffed and golden.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking pan for a few minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Check out all the other lucky breads we have for you today! Many thanks to our Bread Bakers host, Felice from All That’s Left Are the Crumbs.

• Buttermilk Cornbread from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Cloverleaf Rolls from Sneha's Recipe
• Coriander Garlic Four Leaf Clover Bread from Sara's Tasty Buds
• Four Leaf Clover Good Luck Rolls from Cook With Renu
• Golden Pineapple Buns from Food Lust People Love
• Grosse Neujahrs-Breze from All that's Left Are The Crumbs
• Honey Butter Cloverleaf Rolls from Ambrosia
• Irish Barmbrack from Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Jewish Challah from Veena's Veg Nation
• Three King's Cake from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Lucky Horseshoe Shaped Stuffed Bread from The Mad Scientist's Kitchen
• Steamed Piglet Buns from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Vasilopita from Anybodycanbake

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Golden Pineapple Buns!

 .