Pineapple Fried Rice / Hawaiian Fried Rice

The rains have made the city cooler and it makes me crave spicy fried food. I had my share of pakoras and today it was Pineapple fried rice. We used to have it a lot at my favorite Asian restaurant in Dallas and it brings back happy memories.

This dish can be a little on the sweet side. To counter that I used a little more chili than I normally would in fried rice. The resulting dish was a forkful of fragrant spicy rice followed by caramelized pineapple. I have used fresh pineapple as canned ones tend to be more sweeter. If using canned, drain and rinse the pieces to remove all the syrup. Day old rice is the best as it loses moisture and fries easily without clumping. If using freshly made rice, make sure you cool the rice completely before using.

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked rice

2 cups vegetables, julienned (red pepper, green pepper, carrot, cabbage)

2 medium onions, sliced

3-4 cloves garlic, diced

1 inch knob of ginger, peeled and diced

4 thick slices pineapple

3 tablespoons oil

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

1 teaspoon green chili paste

1 tablespoon red / green chili sauce

1/2 tablespoon tomato ketchup

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Salt

Peel the skin and remove the center core of the pineapple leaving clean yellow flesh. Cut into 8 pieces each. Keep aside. 

Heat a large wok (its easier to fry in this) and add the oil. Next add the green chili paste, ginger, garlic and onions. Saute till the onions are translucent about 3-4 minutes. Next add the vegetables and quickly saute for 1 minute on high heat. The vegetables should retain crunchiness. Next add the pepper and the sauces. Mix well. Remove from heat. Add in the rice and mix well. Make sure there are no clumps. Next add the pineapple and salt (soy sauce is salty  and mix well. Adjust for spice and salt. Return to heat and cook for 3-4 minutes on high heat stirring continuously with a light hand. The rice is done!

Serve hot and enjoy...