Red Curry Fried Rice with Seared Pineapple

Serves 4 as a side dish

1.5 cups fresh pineapple, bite sized chunks
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 small white onion, diced
2 - 4 tablespoons red curry paste (I like a lot, but suit youself)
4 cups cooked and cooled jasmine or basmati rice (day-old is great)
salt to taste
cilantro or green onion for garnish
lime wedges

Heat a large skillet or wok over a very high flame. Without any oil, sear the pineapple for a few minutes, until it gets at least some brown spots and the flavor intensifies. Remove from pan.

Add the oil, and a few seconds later the onion. Cook for 30 seconds. Have the rice ready to go. Add the curry paste, and fry for 10 seconds. Add the rice, and break up the chunks, stirring through the curry paste. Add 1 teaspoon of salt.

Continue to cook, stirring occasionally for a few minutes. It tastes best if some of the rice is allowed to get brown and crispy.

Add back in the pineapple, stir through to reheat. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Garnish with cilantro or green onion, serve with lime wedges.

http://www.herbivoracious.com/2009/11/red-curry-fried-rice-with-seared-pineapple-recipe.html

Pineapple Fried Rice

Ingredients :
1 cup pineapple chunks – fresh is better but canned will work too
3 cups of cooked overnight rice
1 piece of chicken breasts - cut in thin strips
10 fresh shrimps – clean and roughly chopped
1 pepper – cut into cubes
1 small onion – cut into small cubes
2 cloves of garlic – chopped
2 spring onions – cut small
1 tbsp of curry powder
2 tbsp of fish sauce
2 tbsp of soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a wok or a large pan, heat up about 3 tbsp of oil over high heat.
2. Add in onions and garlic and stir-fry until lightly brown and fragrant.
3. Add in chicken, stir-fry until it changes color, add in pepper and shrimps. Stir fry for another minute and add curry powder, fish sauce and soy sauce.
4. Add in rice and pineapple chunks. Stir-fry until everything is well combined and hot. Check seasoning and add salt if necessary. Add in spring onions.
5. Serve rice in pineapple shell and garnish with some spring onions.

Yeung Chow Fried Rice

1/2 cup diced BBQ pork
1/2 cup of cooked shrimp
1/2 cup of green peas
1 egg
2 cups cold rice
3 green onions, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
Freshly ground pepper
Canola oil
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce

In a non stick pan over high heat, stir fry BBQ pork for a minute.

Add in shrimp and stir fry quickly.

Add in green peas and freshly ground pepper, stir fry for a minute. Put all ingredients into a bowl

Put 1 tbsp of oil in the pan. Add the garlic and half of the green onions and cook until fragrant, stirring continuously. Add the rice into the pan and toss to combine. Turn the heat to medium and fry the rice until each grain is separated. Turn the heat to high and crack an egg in the middle of the rice. Very quickly, scramble the egg and mix it into the rice. Stir fry the rice until the egg has been cooked, about 1 minute. Put the soy sauce and oyster sauce in the middle of the rice and mix until combined.

Add the shrimp, BBQ pork and peas into the rice. Stir fry until the ingredients and rice are mixed well together. Turn off the heat when done and mix in the rest of the green onion.

Shrimp Fried Rice Recipe

From Steamy Kitchen

Tips to make fried rice

Use previously chilled leftover rice
Here’s rule #1. You have to use yesterday’s (or earlier) cooked rice as it’s had a chance to dry out a bit in the refrigerator. The heat of the pan and the soy sauce will re-steam and hydrate the leftover rice. If you try to use freshly cooked, hot rice (like I did years ago,) you’ll end up with too much moisture in the rice and will make a heavy mess in the pan.

High heat is essential in cooking fried rice
But high heat doesn’t mean that you need super high BTU’s or a gas stove. All it takes is a bit of patience to let your pan or wok heat up. The high heat ensures that whatever ingredients that you put into the pan gets fried quickly and that each grain of rice gets hot to the core.

Fry ingredients separately
Fried rice has many different ingredients, and in my home it’s usually just a mixture of whatever vegetables, meats or seafood I can scrounge up from the refrigerator or freezer. But whatever the ingredients, you want to make sure that you can taste each individual one. To do this, you’ve got to fry your meat or seafood first, remove from the wok or pan when 80% cooked through and then toss it back in towards the end of the stir fry to finish cooking. Because if you try to fry all of the ingredients at the same time in the same pan, they’ll all compete for “wok time” and everything will end up tasting exactly the same!

No no touching!
A common mistake of stir frying is to constantly poke, prod, turn and flip every second. In a restaurant kitchen where flames are so powerful they can singe your brows, chefs have to keep things moving. But in home kitchens, our stovetops need a little more time to do their work to heat up and cook our food. If you keep poking at the rice, the grains will break, release more starch and turn the entire thing goopy. It will never have a chance to fry correctly…not enough “wok time” as my Mom likes to say. The best thing is to do is to spread out the rice, use the entire cooking surface of the pan and just leave it alone. Put your spatula down and back away from the stove for a minute. Give the rice a chance to heat up. Then flip, toss and redistribute the rice, again spreading it out and leaving it alone to cook another side.

Shrimp Fried Rice Recipe
Serves 4

8 ounces small uncooked shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/4 teaspoon salt (or 1/2 tsp kosher salt)
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons cooking oil (divided)
3 eggs, beaten in a small bowl
2 stalks scallion or green onion, minced
4 cups previously cooked leftover rice, grains separated well
3/4 cup frozen carrots and peas, defrosted
1 tablespoon soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce if you are making a gluten-free version)
1 teaspoon sesame oil

In a bowl, toss the shrimp with the salt, pepper and cornstarch. Let the shrimp marinate for 10 minutes at room temperature. Heat a wok or large sauté pan on high heat. When the pan is hot enough for a bead of water to instantly sizzle and evaporate, add only 1 tablespoon of the cooking oil and swirl to coat pan.

Now add the shrimp, quickly spreading out around the pan so that they are not overlapping. Let the shrimp fry, untouched for 30 seconds. Flip over and let the other side fry for 30 seconds, or until about 80% cooked through. Remove the shrimp from the pan onto a plate, leaving as much oil in the pan as possible.

Turn the heat to medium and let the pan heat up again. Pour in the eggs, stirring in a quick motion to break up and scramble the eggs. When the eggs are almost cooked through (they should still be slightly runny in the middle), dish out of the frying pan onto the same plate as the cooked shrimp.

Use a paper towel to wipe the same wok or sauté pan clean (no need to wash) and return to high heat with the remaining 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, swirling to coat. When the oil is very hot, add the green onions and stir fry until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add in the rice and stir well to mix in the green onions throughout. Spread the rice all around the wok surface area and let the rice heat up, untouched until you hear the bottoms of the grains sizzle, about 1-2 minutes. Use the spatula to toss the rice, again spreading the rice out over the surface of wok or pan

Drizzle the soy sauce all around the rice and toss. Add the peas and carrots, the cooked eggs, shrimp and sesame oil, tossing to mix the rice evenly with all of the ingredients. Let everything heat back up again, until the rice grains are so hot they practically dance! Taste and add an additional 1 teaspoon of soy sauce if needed.

Crab Fried Rice

From Serious Eats
- serves 2 -

Ingredients
2 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 egg
1 cup cooked jasmine rice
Salt and pepper
Pinch sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 scallions, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
3 ounces cooked crab meat
1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped

Procedure
1. Pour the oil into a large skillet set over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Crack the egg into the skillet and let it cook for about a minute or so. Then scramble up the bits that haven't cooked.
2. Dump in the rice, and stir until all the rice is coated in the oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 minutes. Then add the sugar, soy sauce, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook for another minute.
3. Add the chopped scallions and half of the crab meat. Cook for another minute, stirring occasionally.
4. Serve the rice on a large plate. Sprinkle with the remaining crab and chopped cilantro. Season with salt, pepper, and soy sauce to taste.

Tomato Risotto

Tomato Risotto (Janani!)

1.5 lb firm ripe tomatoes (preferably plum, but I used canned diced tomatoes)
4 tbsp butter (I used olive oil)
1 onion finely chopped
5 cups vegetable stock
1.5 cups arborio rice
14 oz can cannellini beans (i used chick peas)
2 oz parmesan cheese finely grated
black pepper and salt
10-12 basil leaves ( I didnt have any so I used parsley)

1) Halve the tomatoes and scoop out the seeds into a sieve placed over a bowl. Press the seeds with a spoon to extract all the juice. Set aside.
2) Broil the tomatoes skin-side up until the skins are blackened and blistered. Rub off the skin and dice the flesh. (oops, just realized I didnt do this step!)
3) Melt the butter in a large pan, add the onion and cook for 5 mins until beginning to soften. Addd the tomatoes, the reserved juice and seasoning. I added rosemary and red chilli powder for fun. Stir occasionally for about 10 mins.
4) Meanwhile, bring the vegetable stock to boil in another pot.
5) Add the rice to the tomatoes, and stir to coat. Add a ladleful of stock and stir gently until absorbed. Repeat, adding a ladleful of stock at a time, until all the stock is absorbed and the rice is creamy and tender. Oh and then I threw in some white wine, for more fun!
6) Stir in the cannellini bean and grated parmesan and heat through for a few mins.
7) Just before serving the risotto, sprinkle each portion with shredded basil and grated Parmesan.