Pineapple Fried Rice
So fragrant and tasty, don’t be afraid of the fish sauce it really makes the dish come together with the lime zest. I use ham because pineapple is a good digestive tool for pork.
But crab meat, a juicy crackling roasted pork or a vegetarian version would be good choices too. Bottom line is, fried rice is what you make to finish leftover, it’s one of these dishes where you can throw in anything.
What you need
+ 1/2 lb ham (or 1 lb crackling anise pork belly)
+ 1/2 pineapple
+ 2 eggs
+ 4 cups cooked white rice
+ 2 shallots
+ 6 garlic cloves
+ ginger
+ 1/2 cup of Cilantro
+ 6 scallions
+ 2 Limes (Juice and Zest)
+ 2 tbsp Fish Sauce
+ 3 tbsp Soy Sauce
+ 1 tbsp Chili & garlic oil
+ 1 tbsp Chinese wine or rice vinegar
+ 3 tbsp oil
+ Salt & white Pepper
Preparing the rice, herbs and sauce…
Start with cooking 4 cups of rice in a rice cooker if handy. It will take about 1/2 hour.
Chopping stuff up…
- Roughly chop the cilantro.
- Thinly slice the scallions, ginger, garlic and shallots.
- Thoroughly wash and scrub 1 lime. Preferably, you would use an organic lime. If not, let the lime sit in hot water for a couple minute before scrubbing.
Making the sauce…
- With a microplane, grate the zest out of 1 lime and juice the 2 limes.
- In a small bowl, combine 2 tbsp fish sauce, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp chili oil, 1 tbsp Chinese wine vinegar, 1/2 of the lime juice (juice of one lime) and white pepper to taste (about 1/2 to 1 tsp).
- Break the 2 eggs into a bowl and whisk until smooth
Cooking the sauce…
- Make sure your rice is ready first. When it is, give it a couple paddle stirs to break it down and let it stand a bit with the lid open.
- On medium-high, heat the oil in a large sauté pan or a wok until almost smoky.
- Add the shallots for a couple minutes until they sizzle and soften.
- Add the garlic, ginger, half the scallions and half the lime zest for a minute or so until fragrant.
- Pour the sauce in, let it come to a small boil for a minute or so before stirring it to combine all the flavors.
Adding the rice…
- Incorporate the cooked rice, small batches at the time, while gently pressing it in the sauce with a flat paddle spoon. If using a wok, push the rice against the walls of the wok to make space for incorporating the new rice.
- Once the sauce has completely soaked the rice, cook it for a minute without stirring.
- Make a hole in the center of the rice and pour in the eggs mixture.
- Working from the center first, swirl the eggs upwards to coat the rice. Then do the opposite and fold the rice from the edges down to the center over the eggs. The idea here is to lightly coat the rice without over cooking the eggs, and without creating clumps of egg.
Adding the pineapple, herbs and ham…
- Slowly incorporate half the cilantro at first, stirring constantly.
- Then do the same with the pineapple, working in small batches.
- Lastly add the ham. Let it sit a bit, before giving it a last stir.
Final Steps…
- Remove from heat and add the remaining lime zest, cilantro, and scallions, keeping a handful for garnish if you’d like.
- Give it a good lime squeeze and squeeze some again when serving.
- For crunch, top it off with fried shallots or a few roasted cashew nuts.