Pineapple Fried Rice

Pineapple Fried Rice

Adapted from the Neely's Pineapple Fried Rice

Ingredients:

• 1-2 TBS Canola oil
•  Half of a small onion, diced into small pieces
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
  You can reduce to 1 or 2 cloves if you don't like garlic but I love it so I use a lot
• 1 Tbs fresh grated or finely chopped ginger
  A small knob of ginger will do.  You can peel it easily with a spoon or butter knife and, if you don't have a ginger grater, use a fine grater or the fine side of a box grater
• 2-3 green onions, OPTIONAL: plus more for garnish
• 1/2 cup (or more) of diced carrots (may substitute matchsticks)
• 1 Red bell pepper chopped
  Substitute: a couple of handfuls of frozen bell pepper strips
• 1/4 lb of fresh green beans, sliced into small pieces or french cut
  Substitute: a handful of frozen french cut green beans OR Omit all together
• 1 cup of finely chopped pineapple (may use canned but be sure to drain liquid)
• 3-4 cups of leftover white or brown rice crumbled*
• 1 tsp Sesame Oil
• 2 Tbs soy sauce
• 1 tsp Sriracha sauce
• OPTIONAL: 2 tsp pineapple juice from fresh pineapple or can

Directions:

1.  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  In a small bowl, combine sesame oil, soy sauce, Sriracha, and pineapple juice (feel free to alter the ratios to fit your personal preference!) to make a quick sauce.  Set aside.
2. Once pan is heated, add, onion, garlic, ginger, green onion and carrots.  Cook until onion softens and mixture becomes fragrant.
3. Add bell pepper and green beans.  Stir and cook until peppers soften.  (If using frozen veg, wait until they begin to heat through before moving to the next step)
4. Drop the heat to medium-low. Add rice and pineapple, breaking up large chunks of rice with wood spoon/spatula and stirring to distribute pineapple throughout mixture.
5. Season rice with the quick sauce.  Continue stirring and cooking until all ingredients are heated through and rice is fully coated.  Enjoy!

Quick tips:

•   * SERIOUSLY, if you don't normally make rice and want to make this dish PLAN AHEAD.   Day old rice stored overnight in the refrigerator works best since the rice grains will be dry enough to separate easily. Fresh cooked rice is NOT used for fried rice simply because it's too wet.  If you don't make the rice a day or at least 6 hours ahead of time, I've found that this will work in a pinch:
  

  Spread fresh cooked rice out in a thin layer on a baking sheet or other large platter and stick in your freezer for a minimum of 20 minutes to flash dry your rice.  Best if you leave it for at least 30 and toss it once during that time.

• When in doubt, stir the mixture! Fried rice is a dish that is meant to have a touch of every ingredient in every bite! Stirring your ingredients well at every step ensures even cooking and well distributed flavor!
• Are you a weirdo that likes fried rice crust? Develop extra crust by continue your fried rice cook over med-low heat for a few extra minutes. OR cook your fried rice in a cast iron skillet for maximum rice crust.
• If you want to add meat, feel free to add chopped ham OR, if you really want to be more Hawaiian style, feel free to add some chopped Spam to the mix.  Ham or Spam can be added with the bell peppers and beans.  If using raw meats, add that to the pan FIRST and once it's been browned, remove from the pan and continue with the recipe as written (adding your cooked meat in with bell peppers and beans).
• If you use a fresh pineapple and feel like extra fancy plating, take care when cutting into your fruit and make pineapple boats! This is one of the more descriptive tutorials but feel free to google your way to whatever tutorial works best for you. See Photo tutorial at http://thaifood.about.com/od/thairecipesstepbystep/ss/pineappleboat.htm