Fried rice with a Pineapple twist…

Fried rice being a versatile and flexible dish, could be made with almost anything or nothing at all. When I say nothing, I mean, we can have just the rice fried and cooked to perfection with added aromatic spices. With almost anything means, we can put all kinds of ingredients in it; doesn’t matter whether it is veggie or meat or any spices, there is no such rule which says you can’t put that or this when it comes to fried rice. This is a very popular dish in Asian cuisine. My first ever fried rice tasting was not at any Chinese or Asian restaurant, but in my home, made fresh from my Mom’s kitchen. Besides, authentic kerala and Tamil cuisine, once in a while my mom used to treat our taste buds with real fancy Indo-Chinese dishes. Now, I wonder how she learned to make these dishes, as in those days there wasn’t any internet to search for these kind of recipes or any major Culinary shows on TV to note down the recipe. She truly deserves a round of applause. Fried rice served with Chilli chicken was definitely a fancy meal for me in those days.

I never get tired when it comes to experimenting with fried rice, as it is nearly impossible to fail in this. I can blindly throw in any kinds of ingredients in to it and get a really different taste each time when I make it. So this time when I made fried rice, my pick was pineapple. The sweetness of the pineapple along with the mild spiciness of the pepper powder and the aromatic flavors from the fried rice gave it a splendid taste. After tasting this, you will be updating your favorite food listing with this one on the top.

Ingredients:

For Making Rice:

• Basmati rice-1 1/2 cups, soaked in water for 15 minutes
• Cardamom whole-3
• Cloves whole-3
• Cinnamon whole-2 inch stick
• Black Pepper whole-6
• Bay leaf-1
• Salt-to taste
• Ghee/butter-1tbsp
• Water-2 1/2 cups

Preparation:

• Heat a deep bottomed non-stick dish, add ghee to this.
• Then add all the above  spices and fry it until the aroma is released from it.
• Add the soaked, drained rice and fry it for 5 minutes. Add salt to it.
• Pour the water to this and close it with the lid and cook until the rice is well done.
• Don’t over cook the rice or mash the rice.
• If there is any excess water after completely cooking the rice, drain the cooked rice and keep it aside in a closed bowl.
• You can also cook the rice in rice cooker. After frying the rice, transfer the rice to the rice cooker bowl, add water and cook in it.
• If you want you can discard the whole spices after cooking the rice.

Veggies

• Carrot, finely chopped-1
• Beans, finely chopped-1/4 cup
• Frozen peas-1/2 cup
• Ghee/butter-2tsp

Preparation:

• In a pan, add the ghee/butter and fry the veggies till it starts to get caramelized.
• Keep the fried veggies aside.

Mixing the rice:

• Pineapple finely chopped, use fresh or canned, if using canned, rinse and use-1/2 cup
• Pepper powder-1/2 tsp
• Tomato Ketchup-2-3 tbsp
• Roasted Cashew nuts, roasted in little ghee/butter- 8-10
• Roasted Raisins, roasted in little ghee/butter-2tsp
• Cilantro chopped-1 handful

Preparation:

• Heat a wok or a wide pan, add the cooked rice, fried veggies, and combine these
• Don’t mash the rice, gently combine these.
• Now add the pineapple, stir with the rice and veggies.
• Add pepper powder and tomato ketchup and give everything a good stir.
• Finally garnish with Cilantro, Cashew nuts and Raisins.
• Serve hot.

To give it a fancy look, serve on a pineapple bowl.

Pineapple bowl:

• Cut the whole pineapple with the top part vertically into 2 halves.
• Scoop out the pineapple from the inside of one of the halves, or using a sharp knife cut the pineapple from inside.
• Create a hollow inside, so that there is enough space to serve the rice on it.
• Serve the rice on the pineapple bowl and enjoy.
• You can have this just as it is or serve as a side dish.