The summer weather is really hot, and this inspired me to make some tropical food and pretend that we are on a tropical vacation. This is when I remembered a pineapple fried rice dish that seems appropriate for this occasion. I’ve always wanted to make this, as the fun part of this dish is that we get to carve out pineapple to make a pineapple bowl, then put our fried rice into it and serve in it. It looks very tropical and fun to enjoy at home, and this could be an excellent dish to share when friends visit, they will see that you went that extra mile to prepare this wonderful dish for them.

The recipe is very simple with just a few twists that give it a tropical taste. I used shrimp as my protein which you can change to chicken or even just tofu would be great. I also used a little bit of red curry paste to fry my shrimp and veggies initially, then add in a bit of fish sauce and a moderate amount of soy sauce to bring up the taste after adding in the rice to mix and fried everything together. When I went to a Thai restaurant, I saw them add cashew to their fried rice, so I added some cashew to this dish. I use multigrain for my choice of rice, but you can use jasmine rice or brown rice to your preference. Also, because we are doing fried rice, remember to cook the rice ahead of time, like I usually put rice in the fridge overnight before using them for fried rice.

I should probably say the most challenging part of this dish is cutting and carving the pineapple, as it can be a bit hard to miss, so make sure you have a sharp knife. If there is extra juice at the bottom of the pineapple bowl, I scrap it all out including the juice in another small bowl, then I got to make a tropical slush/juice with those fresh pineapple juice or pineapple-inspired drinks.  Even just eating the pineapple on its own is so sweet and tasty, a great dessert after dinner, and a bonus health benefit is that pineapple is great for our digestion.

Pineapple fried rice

Tropical theme inspired pineapple fried rice, will make this cooking experience more fun by serving fried rice from the pineapple bowl that you carved out.

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Course Main Course

Cuisine Thai

Servings 4 serving

Ingredients

  

• 1 whole pineapple
• 3 cups rice
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1-2 cups of shrimp
• ½ cup Cashew
• 1 cup fresh Thai basil
• ½ cup green onion chopped up
• 4 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 Tbsp red curry paste
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce

Instructions

 

• Cut pineapple in half, vertically, and carved out the pineapple meat by using small knives to cut it into cubes, then use a spoon to scoop out the pineapple
• Heat your frying pan on high heat, then add in some oil, then add in red curry paste.
• Add shrimp into the red curry paste, and fry until shrimp is cooked, then add in red bell pepper and pineapple cubes.
• Turn to medium heat, add in garlic and rice and fry for 1 minute, then add in soy sauce and fish sauce, and continue to fry.
• Add basil and green onion, and cashew, and continue to fry for about 5-7 minutes. Then add in basil right before turning off the heat. Continue to fry every for about 1 minute.
• Scoop the fried rice into the carved-out pineapple bowl and serve your pineapple fried rice in the pineapple bowl.

Keyword basil fried rice, pineapple, pineapple fried rice, thai-food, tropical food, tropical idea

Looking for a quick and easy dessert? check out the 3-ingredients cloud cake.