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August 03, 2007

Iron Chef Series: Pineapple Fried Rice

It's time for another exciting episode of Iron Chef Series!!! Before I introduce the main dish for this installment, let's see what's the fundamental problem to melonpan:

so that's it! both the bread and cookie has different baking time! So how did our hero solve this problem?

Sushi Melonpan!? Oooh! He baked the 2 doughs separately and stick it together using melon jam, much like how nigiri-zushi is made! ingenious!!

Today's Iron Chef is non other than my mum! A gifted cook, my mum has been cooking non-stop since i came back from the States. Some of her creation that i've tasted includes deep-fried taro dumpling, hakka's abacus seeds, niang tou fu (stuffed tofu), stir-fry dry bee hoon, sweet potato doughnuts and many more! This is a photo of her deep-fried taro dumpling:

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But that's not our main dish today. Instead she's going to show everyone how to cook pineapple fried rice!

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My mum has been a very health-conscious person for as long as i know, so in today's recipe she substituted normal white rice with organic brown rice. Brown rice has more nutritional value compare to white rice. By preserving the bran layer, brown rice has a higher content of vitamin B1 and B3, iron, magnesium, fatty acids and fiber. Brown rice is also good for constipation prevention.

Pineapple is a good source of manganese (a very important co-factor), vitamin C (anti-scurvy) and vitamin B1 (good for heart and neural system); pineapple juice can enhance digestion, prevent inflammation and tenderize meat. And it's refreshing just to drink it during the blazing hot summer.

In cooking this fried rice, my mum choose to use Sarawak pineapple as the Sarawak variety is very sweet and fragrant. You can use any type of pineapple but the taste might be different.

Ingredients:
1 Sarawak pineapple (nenas Sarawak)
4 cups of Somaly's Cambodian Organic Brown Rice
150g lean pork, minced
100g shrimp, cleaned and shelled
100g carrots, shredded
Half a can of green peas
2 green chillis, sliced
2 eggs
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 stalks of spring onion, chopped finely
pepper, to taste
soy sauce, to taste
curry powder, optional

Methods:

1. Wash the brown rice and rinse it twice. Cook the rice using the rice cooker. (note: please add less water than normal so that the rice can have a medium hard texture and not too sticky for frying later)

2. Split the pineapple into 2. Cut out the sweet flesh by leaving a 1 cm border from the skin to form a 'boat'. take 1/4 of the fruit and dice it for later use.

3. Heat frying pan with oil. Fry garlic till fragrant. Add pork and carrot and stir-fry until the pork turns golden brown. Then, add the pineapple cubes, green peas, green chillis, half of the spring onions, and prawns. Stir-fry until the prawns turn reddish. Turn off the heat and scoop up the whole lot.

4. Heat frying pan with oil again. Fry the eggs into bite-size pieces.

5. By now your rice should be cooked. Dump in the rice and the rest of the cooked ingredients from step 3 and stir fry under medium heat. Sprinkle soy sauce, pepper and curry powder (optional) and continue stir-frying until well mixed.

6. Scoop out the fried rice into the pineapple halve. Garnish with the remaining spring onions. Serve while it's hot.

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And after you have enjoyed a sumptuous meal of pineapple fried rice, you can remove the pineapple's crown and plant it. Help keep the environment green!

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It might bear another sweet pineapple for your next craving :) who knows?

Posted by peixin at 12:33 AM | Comments (0)