Pineapple Fried Rice

How many of you have ordered this dish in your favorite Thai restaurant? Personally, I rarely do because I want to eat spicy food and not something that could be sweet. Not my type, you see. But nevertheless, this is a classic. And you've got to eat the classics too. And so, in order to convince myself and my family, I had to take matters in my own hands. Besides, the pineapples were on sale too and I can't resist a deal. So, I got 2 gorgeous pineapples at 88cents each (see I told you, they were a deal!). I was just too tempted to try this. Finally when we were done with dinner, this was the verdict - especially from my husband who does not like the presumed sweet rice - "Make this every time you make Thai at home instead of the plain fried rice" and also - "let's make this next time we meet up with our friends".

And for the sweet part - the rice has the subtle sweetness of the pineapple but also load of other flavors. The sweetness is only when you bite into the pineapple - but the rice itself is spicy. Not sweet. I could go on and on about the wonderful flavors in here - but you won't know unless you actually try it. And you should. Really - what could go wrong. Yeah, you could finish the whole pot of rice - that could go wrong. And nothing else. So, go out after you read this and get your pineapples too!

You'll need a nice ripe pineapple - how do you figure that out? The outside should be a nice yellow color and not green. And when you just smell the outside, you should smell the sweetness of the pineapple. That means its ready. It wants to become a part of something special. It wants to grace your dining table. It needs compliments. It needs all your love. Needy Pineapple.

Cut your needy pineapple vertically into two pieces. Take a knife and cut the center into big pieces and gently lift it off the skin. Once you get all the big pieces out, use a spoon and scrap out the sides so that you leave out a smooth skin underneath. We will use this later as the serving piece! Chop the pieces you took out from the center into small bits of deliciousness!

Now for the rice part, do this step first. You can use Thai Jasmine rice if you have some. I used just our regular basmati rice. Wash about 2 cups rice and set aside. I want to give everyone a totally unrelated tip here - if you use a non stick rice cooker, don't wash the rice in the cooker and then cook it. Always use a small bowl to wash the rice and then add it along with water in your rice cooker and cook it. This helps to protect the non stick surface of your rice cooker for a long time.

Take about 2 cups of uncooked rice.

We will also be using some coconut milk here. I always use the light variety - as you can see this has 67% less fat than regular coconut milk - I can so use that. My hips agree too.

Now add the 2 cups of washed rice to the rice cooker. Then, add 2 cups of coconut milk and 1 cup of water to the rice. Make sure you don't use all the coconut milk in the can. Save about 1/2 cup for later for the curry. And then close and switch on the rice cooker. You can use this type of rice for many many dishes. Ghee rice made with this tastes heavenly - I promise to make that and eat after I genetically change my body structure. Until then, I'll just dream about it.

Now for the curry part. We are going to make a fresh curry paste at home using simple ingredients.

In a small blender, add the following -

1 heaped tbsp of Coriander seeds
1 heaped tsp of cumin seeds
3-4 dried red chillies
3-4 kernals of black pepper
about 2 inch piece of ginger - chopped roughly
about 1 whole stick of lemongrass - chopped roughly or 1 tbsp of lemongrass paste
Garlic - 1 or 2 cloves (optional) I actually did not add this - but I'm sure it will be good if you do.

Grind it all together - you can add a few drops of water or a little oil for a richer curry paste. Use regular vegetable oil and not olive oil.

Now in a pan, add about 1 tsp oil and then add about 1 cup of chopped onions. Sprinkle some salt on top and saute for a min until the onions start turning translucent. Once they are done, remove the onions from the pan and set aside.

Now, add about 1 cup of chopped red bell pepper to the same pan - you don't need to add extra oil. The oil already in the pan will do. Again, sprinkle salt and then saute for a min or two. Then, remove and set aside.

Now, add the curry paste to the pan and cook it for a min until all the wonderful aromas start flying out and touching the tip of your nose. Thank God now for making ginger a part of our world.

Now add the coconut milk you saved earlier to the curry. And then slit one big green chilli and add salt to taste along with that. Also, add a 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder for a gorgeous color! Let this curry bubble up for a min.

Now, add the chopped pineapple pieces in here and mix well with the curry.

Now, that's some gorgeous curried pineapple here - you can just stop here and add this to bread as a topping and eat that. I'm sure it will be delicious! That will be a curried pineapple bruschetta ..how about that for some thai - italian fusion cuisine! I have to try it myself sometime!

Next, throw in the sauteed onions and red bell peppers into this.

Here's the cooked coconut rice.

Add the rice a little at a time to the curried pineapple paste and mix gently.

Add a little red chilli powder or paprika on top just to spice it up a notch.

Now, add some fried cashews and raisins to the rice. Just a tiny bit of raisins - maybe only about 6-8 pieces. You don't want to make this more sweet with too many raisins.

Finally, add the best garnish ever - some finely chopped cilantro!

One other unrelated opinion here - does it bother you when you see people or restaurants or big chefs on TV adding cilantro on top - but just the whole leaves. That annoys me to a very great extent - its like as soon as I see that, I deduct 20 points from their score in my head...you know what I mean? Come on, how long does it take to chop up some leaves...and when chopped nicely, the flavor that these leaves bring out enhances the whole dish. Just eating them as leaves does not please my palette at all. I pick them and set them aside. Some people are so lazy, they don't even take the stems off. Please. .don't do that. I saw this show on a tamil channel where this lady cooks and then while serving, just throws in a couple of leaves with the stems and somehow that is supposed to make the dish look more beautiful according to her. Really lady...you just made the dish look not so good. Chop them next time...

Enough of my rant. Sorry, I got carried away.

So, chop the fresh cilantro leaves and add them to the rice. Mix well - gently.

Serve hot on the scooped out pineapple bases. Isn't that a nice meal to serve your family? They deserve it. Do it for them.

Blogger or not, take pictures of your creation - and frame it if you want to!

A bountiful of nature's beauty. All for you to enjoy!

 Enjoy! Peace out!

Spicy Baby Corn and Paneer Fried Rice!

Two of my favorite things - Baby Corn and Paneer - I can hear a few Amen's there!

This is more of a pepper fried rice - I put so much pepper in here - that I sneezed a couple of times while eating! LOL! But the taste was awesome - loved it!

Cut some baby corn lengthwise - if you are using them out of a can - please cut and wash about 5-6 times thoroughly  - that helps to take most of that preservative smell away. I used the canned baby corn and did the same.

Now if you are a person that does not like big chunks of veggies, chop the baby corn into small piece and follow the same for the other too. Either way, its still a great fried rice.

 

Then, add about a tsp of oil to pan. When hot, add the baby corn in there and stir fry separately for about 5 mins or until the corn is a little browned. This will also help eliminate all of that preservative smell from the can.  While stir frying, sprinkly some salt and add fresh ground pepper to this. No other seasonings required!

  

Cut the paneer lenthwise to match up with the baby corn. Fry the long slices in a tsp of oil similar to the baby corn - separately. Again, add a pinch of salt and black pepper to the paneer. Fry till brown.

  

Here's the sauteed paneer and baby corn - I could just eat these like this. But, my grand plan is to provide this hungry world with a beautiful plate of fried rice..so I will continue..

  

In the same pan, add about half an onion slit lengthwise and if needed some garlic and saute well.  Then, add about half a bell pepper again cut lenghtwise to go with the flow. 

  

You will have to have some rice cooked before all of this - did you do that yet?

Add the cooked rice to this and mix well. Now comes the kickers..

  

Add salt to the rice, enough to taste. Add red chilli flakes to the rice - I sprinkle about 2-3 times with the slot on my bottle - that's probably around 2 tsps. Add more if you want more heat ..but before that check out the next step too as we are adding more fire to this!

  

Now, add some fresh ground black pepper to the rice - this is what gives the fried rice such a beautiful flavor. Really. I mean it - it adds like a whole level of awesomeness to the whole thing! Try not to skip this if you are making this. And if you do, don't blame me..

  

Now, add the sauteed baby corn and paneer to the fried rice. Mix well. 

Now, if you like to make this fried rice a little more richer and tastier - add about half a can of coconut milk and cook covered in low heat. That also adds a whole lot of flavor and taste. But, I did not have any coconut milk and assumed its God's way of making me eat healthier (Ahem..mm..). But you have all the freedom to add that coconut milk and kick this up a few notches!

  

There's the rice all done. 

  

I served this with a quick chilli paneer and vegetable  - thanks to the instant Chings sauce mix. I know its a double paneer overload..but I literally had like 4 small pieces of paneer and did not want to save it for anything else. So, I just threw that in here!

  

Just another obsession shot!

  

Enjoy. Peace out!

Pad Thai and Veggie Fried Rice

If there is one international cuisine that my husband and I love equally, that's got to be Thai cuisine. We have our favorite Thai restaurants in each city! That's something you have to have figured out!

Everytime I think of making Thai food at home - I think about the one time I screwed it up big time - I had called our friends over for dinner - and told them I was making Thai. I got everyone excited about the food - I had made red curry. I had got the curry paste from the store - added my veggies and all that and added the paste to cook. It would have been really good if I had read the instructions at the back. The packet said to use 1 tbsp of curry paste - I had used the whole packet of it! Oooppsss...We all sat down to eat and each of us put a spoon of the rice and curry into our hungry mouths - the minute the curry touched the back of the tongues, I knew it was time to call the fire engines! It was hot..not just hot - but just can't eat hot. Talk about showing off your international cooking skills to your guests! I'm just glad that we are still friends!

So, every time I cook Thai food now, I do make sure that its not another night of fiasco! I'm extra careful if I'm adding store bought spices or pastes.

This last friday, I decided to skip the curries and stick to just rice and noodles. A carb over load friday night - and sleep until late Saturday morning - talk about good planning!

I do have to mention that this time I did not make the pad thai paste from scratch. I've done that a couple of times before but never seem to get that restaurant taste - I'm sure I was missing something. So, I got a pad thai paste from the store and used a little of that for the flavoring. If you are vegetarian, please keep in mind to look for a vegetarian pad thai paste - usually the regular ones contain fish sauce. The vegetarian version replaces the fish sauce with a mushroom based sauce which matches the flavor. You can find this in speciality asian markets. The regular american grocers all usually carry just the normal pad thai sauce version.

Let's get started with the fried rice. Here's my plate of veggies for the fried rice. Clockwise from left - onions, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, broccoli, bean sprouts and carrots.

In a wide pan, add about a tbsp of oil, fry the onions first for a min. Then, add the red and green bell peppers. Saute for a couple of mins. Then, add the carrots. Don't cook the veggies completely. They should still be crisp at the center.

 

Add the broccoli at the end and just saute for a min. Add salt to taste. I added about a tsp of red curry paste dissolved in water to the veggies. That provides a nice flavor and spice to the rice.

Add about 11/2 cups of cooked rice to the veggies and mix well gently. You could use a fork if you like. Try not to smudge the rice and try to keep it grainy.

 

When all the rice is mixed up well, add the sprouts at the end and switch off the stove.

 

Serve hot. Really hot.

 

Now, moving on to the Pad Thai. I used the same palette of veggies as the fried rice but added baby corn and Fried Tofu to the Pad Thai.

I could not find fresh baby corn at the store and instead got the canned one. The thing I don't like about the canned stuff is the damn preservative smell and taste. In order to get rid of this, wash the baby corn well - like about 4-5 times in water. Then cut them into thin long slices and again wash them gently for a few times. Then, in about a tsp of oil, fry them separately for a few mins. This removes all the preservative smell and taste from the baby corn.

 

Cook the pad thai flat noodles in a pan of boiling water. Boil the water - then switch off the stove and then add the noodles. Let it sit for about 5 mins and then rinse the noodles with cold water. This will cook it just enough.

 

I got the extra firm tofu. To fry the tofu, cut into long pieces. Squeeze out all the water from the tofu. Some people add a coating of  batter to fry these - but I just like them fried straight in a pan. I do not deep fry them, but do a shallow fry with about 2 tsp of oil. Let this just fry slowly until the sides are brown.

 

Saute the vegetables similar to the fried rice above. Add the roasted baby corn at the end.

 

Then, add the fried tofu and mix well.

 

Now, add the noodles. Then add the pad thai sauce and mix well with the noodles and veggies together.

 

Until you get this.Lick!

 

Add some crushed roasted peanuts and mix well. Or just leave them on the side.

 

There's our Pad Thai!

 

With the fried Rice. Long Live Thai Food!

Enjoy! Peace Out!