vietnamese chicken-pineapple soup

i really adore the pineapple soup at bodhi so i tried to recreate it with chicken, with some help from epicurious. i confess that my version almost certainly turned out better than the epicurious recipe would have, but i didn't want to pretend that i just made this whole thing up, and the pineapple broth from the epi recipe is just brilliant.

ingredients

meat from 12 pre-roasted chicken thighs

1 pineapple

vegetable oil

minced garlic

1/4 cup + 2 T asian fish sauce

fresh shiitake mushroom caps, thinly sliced

tomatoes (i used 2 cups of halved cherry tomatoes)

3 baby bok choy, chopped

2 carrots, peeled quartered and sliced

2 daikon root, peeled quartered and sliced.

was there celery? i can't remember. it's possible.

approx. 1 cup mung bean sprouts

fresh mint

tamarind paste

salt

chicken stock

directions

cut peel from pineapple & throw out. then trim outer layer, cutting deep enough to remove eyes (i had no idea these were in there before! this was my first whole pineapple ...), then quarter and chop out the core. puree core and outer layers with 2 C water until smooth, then pour through sieve to get rid of the solid bits. add enough water (or chicken stock) to make about 8 C broth.

cut the rest of the pineapple into small/medium pieces and set aside.

heat oil in a big pot over medium-high heat, then sauté chiles and garlic and stir. add 1/4 C fish sauce and boil until about 1/2 is gone. add pineapple broth and boil.

stir in everything except the chicken and mint and return to boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes.

meanwhile, heat up some more oil and sauté more garlic. add chicken, cook until hot, then add chicken to soup. then add mint & serve!

this really needed the tamarind paste to taste right. next time i think i'll do away with the bok choy (too stringy) and the daikon (not the right mood for this soup).