Pineapple Fried Rice

When it comes to food, cooking and baking, I am a very unfaithful person. I consistently have new loves. The latest craze is Thai Food and Sweet Dessert Soup (Tong Shui) related items. But don't worry, I am still in the Italian food phase. With food, I can go crazy over certain cuisines for a period of time (usually not too long :P). Greg can attest that with every new infatuation, I would really research, buy cookbooks, spend hours/days/months on the internet, with endless phone calls to all my sifus/mentors and trying out the dishes many times.

If we talked about Thai Food in Kuching, people will straight away think of Lok Thian Thai Section. Lok Thian will then conjure up Pineapple Fried Rice. I personally think Tom Yum is Thailand's signature export. We have not been to Lok Thian for donkey years. The last time I ate there, this dish was still good. But I'm always worried and wonder whether they change their pineapple casings for every table. Hiak..am I scaring you?

Anyway, if I remember correctly, I saw Terri doing this dish a while ago with a pineapple casing too, and very impressively done I would say. I realised that my rice recipe is different, more of the Lok Thian's style, which we are more accustomed to.


Serve 2-3

Pineapple Casing:
1 kg of ripe pineapple with the crown and stem beautifully attached, or if you are serving for a party find a nice big one.

1) Find an angle that is more presentable and slice the skin a little off the bottom so that the pineapple can sit firmly on a plate.

2) Then slice off the top, starting at 2-3 cm above the stem. And slowly dig out the pineapple flesh with a paring knife. Leave about 1/2 inch thinkness on the sides and bottom. Set aside.


The Rice:
350 -450gm of cold cooked rice, preferrably overnight.
200 gm of chicken thigh, cubed
100 gm of prawn, deveined, deshelled and cubed
1 1/2 cup of pineapple, cubed
3 no of shallots, chopped
3 tbsp of vegie oil
1-2 tbsp of light soy sauce
2 tbsp of fish sauce
2-3 heaped tbsp of curry powder like Babas
3-4 tbsp of sultanas
4-5 tbsp of meat floss
Chopped spring onion
Seasoning ~ salt, pepper and msg to taste

1) Season chicken dices with 1 tbsp of fish sauce, 1/2 teasp of salt and 1 teasp of sugar, 1 teasp of cornflour and 1 tbsp of water. Set aside.

2) Cut the dug out pineapple into approximately 1 cm cubes. Wet rice to loosen the grains.

3) Heat up oil in a wok. Stir fry chopped shallots till fragrant. Add chicken meat. Cook till white. Add prawns. Cook a little. Add rice. Continue stir frying till ingredients are well mixed.

4) Add fish sauce and light soya. Then add the pineapple cubes, followed by curry powder. Stir fry till fragrant. Add seasoning to taste.

5) Lastly add sultanas. Stir a little to mix well. Dish out into the pineapple casing and garnish with chopped spring onions and meat floss.