Thai Pineapple Fried Rice

Everyone loves fried rice especially Thai pineapple fried rice.. Which is usually served in a pineapple shell. The texture, the spices and in between the sweetness from the pineapple makes this fried rice a favourite for all.

If you have leftover rice, it is the preparation time which is more than the cooking time. But here I’m explaining how to make pineapple fried rice with freshly cooked rice without compromising on taste and texture.

Left-over rice decreases the body temperature and not suitable for those who catch cold easily. And it increases the pitham (Ayurvedic term) which in turn will increase the body weight in adults. So go for the fresh ones which you can serve it to your kids too.. 🙂

The trick for using fresh rice for fried rice is to keep the rice, after cooling, in the fridge for at least 1/2 an hour so as to separate the rice.

Preparation time : 20 mts

Cooking time : 10 mts

Serves : 4

Ingredients:

Fresh pineapple – 1/2 cup(cubed) You can use canned ones too.
Thai fragrant rice / Basmati rice – 1 cup
Water – 1 cup
Tiger prawns – 8 no:s (If its small in size, use 1/2 cup)
Egg – 1
Onion – 1/2 (small, diced)
Carrots – 1/4 cup (diced, fresh or frozen)
Spring onions – 2 stalk
Green chillies – 2 (slit in the middle) Optional
Tomato – 1 or 2 (cut into wedges and remove seeds)
Lemon grass – 1 (optional)
Oil – 2 table spoon

Spice mix:

Turmeric – 1/8 tsp
Cumin powder – 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder – 1/2 tsp
White pepper powder – 1/2 tsp (Here I’m using black pepper powder)

Sauce mix:

Soy sauce – 1 table spoon
Fish sauce – 1 tsp(Since fish sauce is very strong I’m using only this amount, if you’re ok with it you can add 1/2 tsp more. In that case reduce the salt to 1/10 tsp.)
Prawn chilli paste – 1/2 tsp (optional, or if you want you can add 1/4 tsp chilli flakes)
Sugar – 1 table spoon
Salt – 1/8 tsp

Preparation of rice:

Wash an drain the rice at least 3 times to remove excess starch.
When the rice is cleaned add 1 cup of water to the rice and bring it boil.
When it starts to boil cover the pan with a lid and lower the fire.
Rice will be cooked in around 10 mts.
Make the rice fluffy using a fork.
When you see that all the water is evaporated yet there is still moisture in the rice, switch off the fire and take it off the gas and allow it to cool.
When the rice is cooled keep it in the fridge for atleast 1/2 an hour to chill.

Method:

Once the rice is in the fridge, clean the prawns. Keep the tail of at least a few for decoration. And the rest cut into bite size pieces. keep in mind that it’ll shrink once its cooked.
Assemble all the ingredients together since the cooking of fried rice is done very quick and in high flame.
Keep a wok or a wide mouthed non-stick pan to heat.
Add oil and when the oil is really hot add the bruised lemon grass and the whole prawns first and cook. when the whole prawns is cooked add in the rest of them. It’ll take only a few seconds to cook the prawns. If you over cook the prawns it’ll be very hard and chewy.
Once cooked remove the prawns and lemon grass to a plate and add one beaten egg in the same oil.
Scramble the egg and add the chilled rice just before the egg is fully cooked. It makes the egg to coat the rice and make it even more tastier.
Give it a good mix and add carrots, onion, green chillies and spring onions.
Now make a well in the middle of the pan add the dry spice mix. Stir the spices a few times and combine it to the rice.
Add the sauce mix too.
Once the water from the sauces evaporate add in the pineapple and prawns and mix few times.
Just before taking it off the fire add the tomatoes and serve with lime wedges.
While serving squeeze some lime juice over the rice and enjoy !