Heavenly Thai Pineapple Fried Rice

CKCA Senior Chef Instructor and Dean of Student Avram Wiseman acts as a Pesach chef each year at a hotel. He cooks, bakes and thinks Pesach for weeks ahead of time, developing recipes with potato starch and all the different kinds of ingredients one must use on Pesach, being mindful of the restrictions. One of the widespread Eastern European restrictions is the use of rice or rice flour, because it looks similar to wheat or the other restricted seven grains. With that in mind, Chef Avram shares with us a delicious fried rice recipe this week, now that we are free to utillize this fine ingredient once again in our cooking.

Thai Heavenly Pineapple Fried Rice

Ingredients: SERVES: 4

1 whole pineapple
3 cups cooked rice
3-4 Tbsp. chicken stock
2 shallots, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pressed
1 red or green chili, thinly sliced
1 egg
½ cup frozen peas
1 Tbsp. currants
½ cup peanuts
3 spring onions finely sliced
1/3 cup fresh coriander (cilantro)

STIR-FRY SAUCE:

2 Tbsp fish sauce, OR 3 Tbps. soy sauce
2 tsp. curry powder


Procedure:

Cut pineapple in half, Scoop out the flesh and cut into 1 inch dice.

Mix 1 Tbsp. oil with the rice, using your fingers to separate any chunks into grains. Set aside.

In a cup, stir the soy sauce/fish sauce together with the curry powder.

Drizzle 1-2 Tbsp. oil in a wok/large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots, garlic, and chili, stir-frying until fragrant (1 minute). Whenever the wok/pan becomes dry, add a little stock (1/2 to 1 Tbsp. at a time to keep the pan sizzling).

Crack the egg into wok and stir quickly to cook (like making scrambled eggs). Add the peas and cashews. Stir-fry 1 minute in the same way, adding more stock if needed.

Now add the rice, pineapple chunks, and currents. Drizzle the fish/soy sauce mixed with curry powder over and gently stir-fry to combine over medium-high to high heat until the rice "dances" (begins to make popping sounds) - about 3 minutes.

Remove from heat. Do a taste-test for saltiness, adding a few shakes of salt or up to 2 Tbsp. more fish sauce or soy sauce, as needed.

To serve, scoop rice onto a serving platter or serve into the pineapple shell, hollowed out. Top with spring onions and fresh coriander.