Pineapple Fried Rice

When I moved to US from India, I tasted authentic Thai food for the first time. I was amazed at the vastness of flavors. You could taste so many things at once and all the flavors complimenting each other so well. I must say, I became a big big fan of Thai cuisine! Being a vegetarian left me with not many cuisines to try and relish. However, Thai cuisine has so many vegetarian options that many of the restaurants' menus have a separate vegetarian/vegan section!

I have a favorite Thai restaurant where I live and it has the best green curry and fried rice I have ever had. Pineapple fried rice is one of our usual orders there and today I have tried to recreate the same using some leftover rice. I just love the sweetness of pineapple and the amazing taste it gives to the rice and veggies. This looks so much like Indian rice preparations like Biryani or Pulav. But the flavors are very different.

This is the time of COVID-19 lockdown and since we haven't been dining out for quite a while now, I was missing thai food so much. So rather than using leftover rice as it is, I thought of turning it into this special thai dish. It is very easy to make. And now that I made it, I realized that leftover or chilled rice are better for this dish rather than freshly cooked rice because chilled rice are drier and thus don't stick together when cooked with veggies.

Ingredients:

Cooked Rice- 1.5 cups (preferably chilled/leftover)

Pineapple- 1/2 cup (diced)

Onion- 1/4 cup (thinly sliced)

Oil- 1 tbsp

Basil leaves- 5

Carrot- 1 medium (sliced in 2 inch pieces)

Bell pepper- 1/4 cup (sliced)

Peas- 1/4 cup (steamed)

Zucchini- 1/4 cup

Cashews- 8-10 (raw)

Chilli flakes- 1 tsp

Soy sauce- 1 tbsp

Salt- to taste

Turmeric powder- 1 tsp

Lemon juice- 1 tsp

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add cashews. Saute until golden and then take them out.

2. In the remaining oil, add onions. Saute until they turn golden/translucent.

3. Now, add carrots, peas, bell peppers, zucchini, basil leaves, salt and turmeric powder. Cover and cook for 2-3 min.

4. Add pineapple and saute for a minute.

5. Add rice, soy sauce, chilli flakes and lemon juice.

6. Add the cashews and mix gently.

7. Pineapple fried rice is ready. Serve hot!