Ma Hor. Galloping Horses.

The wonderful Barbara, from Winos and Foodies is hosting A Taste of Yellow. This is my submission, which is based on a recipe from David Thompson's excellent Thai Food.

It is potentially a very confronting thing to eat. Sweet and sour pineapple, nuts, fish sauce, large amounts of fried garlic. . .

Ingredients:

• 4 corriander roots, cleaned and chopped
• 4 cloves of fresh garlic
• 12 white peppercorns
• 100g each of pork, chicken thigh and raw prawn meat. Mince each one separately
• 2/3 of a cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of fish sauce
• 1/2 cup of fried shallots
• 1/2 cup of fried garlic (visit an Asian grocer to buy the packets of fried shallots and garlic)
• 4 tablespoons of roasted peanuts - crushed in a mortar and pestle
• 1 small pineapple - peeled, quartered, cored and then sliced
• fresh corriander
• 1 fresh red chilli

How?
In a mortar and pestle - pound the coriander root, fresh garlic cloves and the peppercorns until you have a paste. Set this aside.
Now take each of your meats, and fry each one, until it has just changed colour. Cook each of the three meats separately in a little olive oil. Once done, set the meats aside to cool. In the same pan, which has now been scraped clean, add the paste you have just made and stir and fry this in a splash of oil for a minute or two. Now add the sugar and the fish sauce, and mix. Let this rich, smelly, brown liquid bubble and thicken before adding all of the meats you have previously cooked. After a few minutes add half of the nuts, fried shallots and fried garlic. Stir and mix well, letting this cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and add the remaining nuts, fried shallots and fried garlic. Leave to cool and prepare the pineapple.
When reaady top each slice of pineapple with a spoonful of the mixture you have prepared. Garnish this with a leaf of coriander and a sliver of red chilli.

Serve as a starter. Don't eat more than three or four pieces though - you won't be able to taste anything else for the rest of the meal!

Wine? Not a good thing to pair with wine, it is very strongly flavoured and certain to ruin any wine of delicacy. I drank a sweet pink moscato, which had enough sweetness to counter the pineapple and the fish sauce.