Not Your Typical Pineapple Fried Rice
I had this lonely Pineapple I bought over a week ago sitting in the fridge. Pineapple is one of my favorite fruits, but I hate cutting them! This is actually true of mostly all fruits… I would love to eat fruit salad all day that someone else spent hours cutting up, maybe that is why fruit cups are SO expensive! Any who… back to the pineapple in the fridge… I also had some left over rice and a whole bunch of other random stuff so I decided to whip up some Pineapple Fried Rice!
Typically, when I think of Pineapple Fried Rice I think of it having cashews and raisins. But, since I didn’t have those things on hand I substituted them with roasted, salted sunflower seeds and dried cranberries. I also threw in red onion, carrots, tomatoes, cilantro and fresh ginger! And then of course the pineapple chunks from the inside of the hollowed out pineapple.
Pineapple Fried Rice is a really simple dish and the pineapples provide their own beautiful presentation for serving! My mom mentioned that this dish would be perfect for a small dinner party! It would be simple, pretty inexpensive and everyone gets their own pineapple bowl! Win-Win-Win! I hope to try it out at some point over the summer! It would be extra cute with baby pineapples š 
Not Your Typical Pineapple Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 1 pineapple, hollowed out, 1 cup pineapple reserved
- 4 cups rice, cooked
- 1/4 cup peanut oil
- 2 tbs soy sauce
- 1 tbs fish sauce
- 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
- 1/4 cup carrots, chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, crushed
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup roasted, salted sunflower seeds
- 1 tbs cilantro, chopped
Instructions
- Cut pineapple in half and hallow it out, reserving 1 cup of chopped pineapple
- Heat peanut oil in a wok or frying pan on high
- Add rice, reduce heat to medium, cook 2 minutes tossing occasionally with a wooden spoon
- Add soy sauce and fish sauce, toss
- Increase heat to high, add red onion, tomatoes, pineapple, carrots and ginger, cook 2 minutes tossing frequently
- Reduce heat to medium-low, add dried cranberries, sunflower seeds and cilantro, cook 2 minutes tossing occasionally
- Fill each pineapple shell with 1/2 rice mixture
Two tips for this dish 1. Leave a layer of pineapple in the shell, it soaks in the flavors of the rice and is yummy to eat when you get to the bottom! 2. You can serve it hot or cold so it would make a great make-ahead side dish!
Layla was extra interested in this dinner, this is her “not sharing is not nice” face #puppydogeyes š
Cultural tIdbit, In asia (or Taiwan, at least) sticking chopsticks upright into food is something done at funerals and considered improper to do for a regular meal. Native users lay their chopsticks sideways across the bowl or plate, or use a little stand on the table. The recIpe looks DELICIOUS though, I cant wait to try it!