Garam Masala Pineapple Crumble with Crunchy Millet

Yes! You need another crumble recipe.

This past week we hit 1,000 readers here on Save Me A Slice and I couldn’t let the occasion pass by without saying how grateful I am for the time you take to read, respond, and bake these recipes! I love this little corner of the Internet and I’m so happy you join me here. 💖

We’re in the thick of fall cookbook season and if you follow me on Instagram (@helloitsjordansmith) you know that I’ve been attending many author talks and book signings throughout NYC. It’s my favorite time of year actually - I love seeing so many of my favorite authors’ hard work come to fruition and getting to see and support so many people in person is a great chance to glean an insight into how their books came together from passionate idea to printed page.

Here’s just a few of my fall cookbook recommendations - I think you’ll appreciate these books if you’ve enjoyed my work here on Substack:

Julia Turshen’s What Goes With What - Julia is your favorite home cook’s favorite home cook. This book pulls back the curtain and eliminates the intimidation of recipe-following. Each chapter begins with a visual chart showing how every meal is really just the sum of its parts. For example - when you know what makes a great B.L.T. (bread, a main thing, a creamy layer, something crunchy, and an extra acidic thing) your sandwich worldview opens up to endless possibilities. This approach is applied through chapters devoted to soups/salads, braises, meatballs, grain bowls, savory pies, and much more! Tucked between these chapters are touching and truly enlightening essays on family, body image, and the meaning of queer food. I return not only for the great recipes but because these essays paint a thoughtful three dimensional view of a life intertwined with cooking and eating.

Camilla Wynne’s Nature’s Candy - You do not *need* to learn how to candy fruit but wow you will be so rewarded if you do. The history of food preservation is fascinating and I celebrate books that teach us how to reclaim these uniquely human crafts back from industrial and capitalistic clutches. Having Camilla as a guide in your kitchen removes so much of the intimidation you might feel when working with large quantities of fruit or hot sugar syrups. She walks you through a range of candying techniques (from quick 15 minute methods to days long processes) then provides so many delicious ways to bake with your bounty including recipes for Tropical Terrazzo Cake, Fruitcake Cookies, and the recipe that I can’t wait to make - Star Anise & Candied Peel Sablés.

King Arthur Baking’s Big Book Of Bread - If someone told me they had an interest in baking bread and wanted to know which book was worth their hard earned money, this is the book that’s won my recommendation. Jessica Battilana, Martin Philip, & Melanie Wanders along with the incredibly talented and dedicated team of bakers at KA have created a book that is encyclopedic in scale but approachable for any home baker no matter the comfort or skill level. With chapters devoted to flatbreads, pan breads, rustic sourdough loaves, and enriched loaves, this book goes beyond the confines of the classic European repertoire. You’ll find recipes for Conchas, Sheng Jian Bao, and Aloo Paratha alongside English Muffins, Fougasse, and Baklava Babka - proving that many baking techniques are interwoven and as universal as the love for freshly baked bread.

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Today’s recipe might be where I’ve crossed the line. I’ve taken a beloved and super simple bake and “complicated” it in not one, two, but THREE different ways. I promise it’s worth it though and each creative flourish isn’t without reason. I hope that if you feel some type of way after reading the title of this post, that you’ll stick around as I justify the changes i’ve made to the humble crumble.

The flavors of this crumble were inspired by a recipe from Cynthia Shanmugalingam’s Sri Lankan cookbook, Rambutan. There’s a pineapple curry that caught my eye and got my creative gears turning to see if I could translate it into a dessert dish that still retained the flavor of the toasted spices found in the curry. Outside of the upside down cake, we really don’t utilize pineapple as the wonderful baking ingredient that it is. I love that its tart flavor concentrates when cooked and that it doesn’t just turn to mush when exposed to heat.

Growing up, we often had pineapples around the holidays. I found them fascinating to look at on the counter next to the mundane apples and bananas that we always had around. I remember being taught how to peel away the armor-like skin with a sharp knife after cutting off the crown of prickly green blades at the top and leveling off the bottom so that the fruit wouldn’t roll away from me. After quartering, I’d carefully remove only as much of the dense core as necessary for fear of waste. Cutting each lengthwise wedge into bitesized pieces would soon leave me with such a bounty of pineapple it would be difficult to find a container large enough to store it all away in the fridge. It would be a go-to snack over the next week if not longer. Each assertive bite a reward for my careful butchery.

A pineapple upside down cake from a few years ago

Millet is a small cereal grain used to make porridge throughout many parts of the world. In its raw form, it’s delightfully crunchy and reminds me of a Nestle Crunch Bar in the best way. Using it in the crumble here means that you’ll never worry about your crumble going soggy. The millet gets nicely toasted and retains its bite for days even when reheated as leftovers. I’m not sure if I’ll ever make plain crumble again. The temptation is too high to add millet, sesame seeds, or some type of chopped nut for maximum texture.

A few notes…

• Fear not if you don’t have garam masala, you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper in its place. If you don’t have millet, I HIGHLY recommend using chopped roasted peanuts in its place.

• The crumble can be mixed by hand as written or you can melt the butter and stir it into the other ingredients. This will make larger, more rounded pieces of crumble. I recommend chilling crumble made this way before adding it to the top of the fruit.

• The amount of pineapple flesh you have will vary depending on the size of your pineapple. Use the apple to make up for the difference and reach as close to the total weight of fruit as possible.

• The dish used in testing this recipe is a deep 9x13. I like a lot of crumble, but if you feel like you have too much for your baking dish, excess crumble can be stored in the freezer for a month or longer and used on future bakes!

Garam Masala Pineapple Crumble with Crunchy Millet

makes one deep 9x13 inch crumble