Curry Pineapple Fried Rice 咖哩菠蘿炒飯 (gā lí bō luó chǎo fàn) is a very common Thai dish. However, the one I made caters more to the Hong Kong or Malaysian palette. This is not a quick and easy dish, but what you’ll get is incredible aroma and taste that really work well together!
Since this is a fried rice dish, I want to take this opportunity to get something off my chest. Almost everyone on the internet tells people that authentic Chinese fried rice is made with leftover rice. I really must say that there is nothing authentic about that. As a matter of fact, fried rice connoisseurs will tell you that leftover rice would have lost a lot of its rice aroma. So, it’s not as tasty if you use day old rice. The texture also changes after refrigeration. Restaurants or maybe good restaurants would never use old rice to make fried rice. One of the best things about eating out is the aroma you get when they bring your food to the table!
So why do we use leftover rice to make fried rice? Traditionally, leftover rice that you actually couldn’t finish doesn’t taste as good if you reheat it for the next day. In the spirit of not wasting anything, families would make fried rice with it to make it tastier. But when you set out to make a good fried rice, you would make the rice on the same day. Despite this, I have to admit that frying rice with leftover rice, makes it much easier since the rice is drier and less likely to get mushy.
The key elements to making a good fried rice is using fresh rice that has been air-dried and cooled, don’t add anything that is wet or will give off too much water when cooking, use a wok that has good heat distribution, and have access to high heat. For high heat, most people cooking with gas will have high enough heat. I haven’t cooked on an electric stove for a very long time so I don’t have first-hand information. But my friends who have, tell me that the heat can go quite high on electric as well. The key is to get a wok that can conduct heat quickly and evenly.
I think lots of people have had some version of pineapple fried rice. In my Curry Pineapple Fried Rice 咖哩菠蘿炒飯, the rice is infused with coconut and turmeric before it’s even fried. Serving it in a pineapple bowl is super fancy and not too difficult to do. Imagine bringing this baby to your next potluck!
Looking for more rice dishes? Check out some of my other recipes:
Curry Pineapple Fried Rice 咖哩菠蘿炒飯
Ingredients
- 300 g Pineapple chunks
- 100 g Onions , minced
- 150 g Carrots , minced
- 3 cloves Garlic chopped
- 400 g Prawns , shelled and deveined
- 500 g Uncooked rice (approx. 3 rice cooker cups)
- 2 Large eggs , scrambled
- 2 stalks Green onions , chopped
- 200 g Coconut milk
- 1 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Curry powder
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Light soy sauce
- 1 tsp Shaoxing wine
- 1 tsp Fish sauce
- 6 tbsp Oil (approx. amount in total for frying eggs, prawns and rice)
Instructions
- Wash rice and drain water
- Add 200g coconut milk, 1 tsp turmeric powder and 1 tsp salt into the rice. Mix well and add water to the indicated level on your rice cooker. Cook the rice
- After rice is cooked, put it onto a baking sheet or on a couple of large plates to let it air cool. Rice should be cooled before frying
- Slice pineapple vertically on one side to make the lid and the bowl
- Make a perimeter cut all the way around the lid part. Don’t poke through the skin. Separate the flesh with a paring knife. Place the flesh into a clean bowl
I separated the flesh into 2 bowls. One bowl for the flesh that could be cut nicely for the rice and another for broken or mushy pieces that I used to make Pina Coladas - For the bowl part of the pineapple, cut around the perimeter and make 2 vertical cuts in the center where the core should be.
I did not use the core for the rice nor the Pina Coladas - Use a paring knife to cut out the flesh
- Continue until the pineapple has been hollowed out
- Cut the pieces that you’ve set aside for the rice into chunks and make sure they are well-drained.
Pineapple pieces should be at room temperature and dry to the touch when you add it to the rice - Store the hollowed pineapple in the fridge until you’re ready to put the rice in it
- Prepare onions, carrots, garlic, green onions and prawns
Prawns can be cut into pieces or left whole - Once rice has cooled, you can start making the fried rice.
- Beat 2 eggs
- Heat wok to medium-high heat and add 2 tbsp oil. Fry the eggs and break them down into small pieces by mashing them with your spatula. Remove from wok and set aside
if your eggs are not in small pieces, you can further cut them down to size - Add 2 tbsp of oil into the wok and fry the prawns until fully cooked. Remove from wok. Should take only 3 minutes for large prawns and 1-2 minutes for smaller ones
I did not season them because I usually find them salty enough - If you or any of your guests are slightly allergic to raw pineapples (slight itchy feeling in your mouth), you will need to fry the pineapples first in a bit of oil. Fry them until slightly browned and remove from the heat
You may want to use a separate pan or wok for this because the pineapple will leave some juice in the wok that will make it prone to burning which will then give your rice black specs if you don’t wash it before frying the rice. Also remember to drain the pineapple from any fluids before adding it to the rice. If you’d like your pineapple sweeter, you can sprinkle some sugar on it before you fry and get really good caramelization on it too - Add another 2 tbsp of oil into the wok and fry carrots, onions and garlic. Fry until aromatic and add 1 tbsp curry powder, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp light soy sauce and 1 tsp Shaoxing wine. Mix together
For some added heat, you may also add some chopped chili peppers at this time - Add the rice to the wok, increase heat to high
- Stir-fry until everything is well mixed and keep stir-frying until the rice is toasty (slight browning).
This may take up to 5-6 minutes depending on how hot your wok is. If your wok is very hot, it may only take 3 minutes - Add eggs and stir-fry for another minute
- Taste test. Add some fish sauce for a better seafood taste. Adding more soy sauce is also okay too.
I added approx. 1 tsp of fish sauce to mine. If you want to add more curry powder, you can add it directly but for better aroma, I suggest to heat the powder in a separate pan and then adding it to the rice. - Add pineapple, prawns and green onions. Stir-fry until well mixed.
Note that these ingredients must be dry before adding to the rice so you don’t get mushy rice - Place into pineapple bowl
- Not all of it will fit in the bowl. I used some plastic wrap to cover the bottom of the pineapple so that the rice doesn’t touch the outside of the pineapple
- Serve
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