Vegan mushroom pineapple stir fry

Juicy sweet but savoury and a little bit spicy – Mushroom Pineapple Stir Fry – inspired by our travels to Sri Lanka (and more of these recipes coming too…). On one evening we had the pleasure of doing a Ayurvedic/vegan cooking class in a 185 year old kitchen with Chef Shan in Weligama. Thanks to some local insights we stumbled across this experience which was only a few hundred metres from where we were staying and were absolutely blown away from the minute we walked in just to book.

Shan greeted us with the most insanely delicious banana blossom smoothie made with fresh coconut milk, banana, cinnamon, jungle flowers and coconut honey (nectar) and showed us around his 185 year old home, once lived in by his great grandparents including the kitchen. The atmosphere was beautiful, the home traditionally decorated and we were utterly convinced we had to return that evening to learn his craft.

We surfed the day and returned to Shan in the evening and he took us through the traditional cooking methods of his dishes – all vegan, gluten free and using the Ayurvedic principles. One of the dishes was this mushroom and pineapple stir fry, which then was accompanied by rice, dhal and a scrumptious sweet potato coconut salad.

I’ve varied the dish only ever so slightly, based on the set up in my own kitchen. Shan had a historic stove top, where after he’d cooked the mushrooms and pineapple together in the pan, he then spooned them back into the pineapple casing and popped it on top the burner to caramelise further. I don’t have that set up so I kept it simple and served it with rice and a big handful of (precooked) moong dhal for my protein source. You’re welcome to add whichever protein works for you, add it in during cooking or quickly at the end if it’s already cooked.

MUSHROOM PINEAPPLE STIR FRY

Serves 2

Gluten free : Dairy Free : Vegan

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 18 minutes

3 tablespoons coconut oil

1 small red onion, peeled and roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

1 teaspoon garam masala

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1 green capsicum, seeded and diced

150g oyster mushrooms, sliced

1 small pineapple, cored and diced into 2 cm pieces

1 lime, cut in quarters

To serve: brown or basmati rice, cooked lentils/dhal or mung beans

Heat a large frypan on medium heat, add coconut oil, onion and garlic, garam masala and white pepper and cook for 4 minutes.

Add green capsicum and mushrooms and cook a further 3 minutes, then add pineapple and cook a further 10 minutes. The juices from the pineapple should start to simmer into the ingredients in the pan making it sweet and aromatic.

Once cooked serve with lime, brown rice and extra beans if desired.