"A couple which cooks together, stays together." Every couple have their go to line, and for us, this seems to work perfectly. We both love to eat, and we both love to eat. One of the best ways, to de-stress, is to cook up something nice, and the lows of the day, suddenly seem a lot insignificant.But sometimes, this saying manifests itself in the most unplanned of ways. On days, when hubby volunteers to cook, and suddenly proposes, I cook up a complimentary dish. Especially on days, when I have just about stretched myself on the couch with a book. The Pineapple Fried Rice experiment was a result of one such day.
The Pineapple was lying around in the fruit basket for a few days. Its one of the rare fruits which hubby picks up himself. One of the few times, when he sticks to our trainer's repeated requests of having his share of fruit for the day. So its very natural that he came up with the idea of Pineapple Fried Rice. It was a subtle suggestion to me. "Have you ever made Pineapple Fried Rice? I have not had it since the Hawaii visit!" It was his way of saying,"Could we have it for dinner tonight!" The man knows how to drop hints, with his signature smile. And he knows, that the smile is hard to resist. So the tropical fruit was prepped and I was all set to make some fried rice with it. Well, the problem, was that I had never made it before. I was having doubts, whether I should make it like the one I had gobbled up at the local Thai restaurant, or whether I should play up hubby's Hawaiian nostalgia. As the Hawaii trip was hubby's Bachelor Party of sorts, I decided not to tread on that path. Lets not stir those memories. The Asian connection won ! I was more at home, making some Thai inspired Pineapple Fried Rice, to go with the Ginger-Lemon Prawn Skewers, hubby had already started to grill. The flavour profile of the night was surely Tangy ! The tang of the Lemony Prawns had to be complimented with a subtle tang of the fried rice. Though, I must add, that the fried rice itself, is a one-pot dinner, and does not necessarily need a side dish.
Being a Television Journalist, I have the bad habit of writing to pictures, rather than following the route of my Print Colleagues. By the time, I had finished cubing the pineapple and grilling them, my DSLR's battery died on me. Hence all that I was left with, for this post, were some hurried IPhone shots, managed in between the stir frying I was doing.That is something which I am not too happy about. But the food itself turned out to be so tasty, that hubby urged me to write about it, even though, I am almost a fortnight late. Better late than never. I did not have much of veggies at home, so basically purged my refrigerator.There were no scallions, or bell peppers, so made do with what I had. Threw in peas, mushrooms and a heady dose of ginger and garlic. Not to forget the onion slivers. To bring in the Asian touch, it was Soy and Sriracha. Yes, its obvious, by now, that I have a weakness for Sriracha, for which I am often frowned upon by hubby. One cannot deny the fact, that it is quite a potent sauce.Especially for Asian style noodles or rice, it does work better than the host of available hot sauces. Off late, I have switched my loyalties to Dark Soy, and really loving the bolder notes. Lastly, I made the fried rice, with our regular Basmati rice, as I did not have any short grain rice, or the recommended Jasmine Rice. I know, I will be frowned upon by many foodies, but somehow I was just feeling lazy to go and pick up some Jasmine Rice at 10 pm. As I have already received requests from the man, to re-create it, I can safely say that the experiment did work well for us. Here's hoping it spices up all your date night dinners too, as it did for us.
PINEAPPLE FRIED RICE:
Ingredients:
Pineapple: 1 whole pineapple cubed.
Cooking Spray
Canola Oil
Cooked Basmati Rice: 3 cups
Eggs: 3: Scrambled
Frozen Peas: 1/2 cup
Sliced Button Mushrooms: 1/2 cup
Red Onion: 1 large: cut into slivers
Ginger paste: 1 tbsp
Garlic paste: 1 tbsp
Sriracha: 3-4 tbsp(adjust according to heat preferences)
Dark Soy Sauce: 3-4 tbsp
Aji-no-moto: A pinch
Salt: According to taste
Black Pepper: 1 tsp
Garlic Flavored Red wine Vinegar: 1 1/2 tbsp
Thai Green Chillies: 3-4: chopped finely
Procedure:
Grease a baking dish with some cooking spray. Add in the cubed fresh pineapples and spray some more on the fruits. Grill at around 350F, till you start to see char marks on the fruits. Keep aside. If you do not have cooking spray, simply use any vegetable oil or canola oil, as an alternative. In case, you want to skip the grill altogether, then just add in the fruit pieces to a slightly oiled skillet, and caramelise them a bit. The idea is to slightly cook the fruit, yet retaining its crunch and juices.
In a wok, scramble the eggs first and then keep them aside.
Add in canola oil to the wok, and let it heat up a bit. Add the onion slivers to the wok, and cook them till they start turning translucent.
Add in the minced garlic and chopped green chilies and stir fry for a few minutes.
Fry them, but do not let the garlic get burnt. Next add in the minced ginger or ginger paste,the Sriracha, Vinegar and Dark Soy. Mix it around, and cook the sauces for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Once you notice a slight bubbling in the sauces, add in the sliced mushrooms and the frozen peas. Stir fry them for a few minutes, mixing them well with the sauces.
Add in the cooked rice and the scrambled eggs and add in a pinch of aji-no-moto. Mix well. Add in some more of the sauces, if you feel that it is not enough. The idea is to get the rice to be a bit wet ,sticky and spicy.
Do a taste test. Adjust seasoning accordingly. Once you cannot taste the raw sauces, that means the fried rice is done. Make sure that the veggies are not over cooked, and retain some crunch.Turn off the heat and add the grilled pineapple on top. Mix in the grilled fruit just before serving.
As I had earlier mentioned, it is a one pot dinner ! Garnish with some more chopped green chilies. The tang and sweetness of the pineapple, is complimented by the heat of the chilies and Sriracha.
Bon Appetit !
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