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Tony Tan’s Fried Rice with Pineapple/ KHAO PAD SAPPAROT

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Fried rice in Asia is what risotto is to the West: it comes in hundreds of guises and it always pleases just about any diner. The following recipe from Thailand is intriguing because I have seen it in Vietnam as well as in China’s Yunnan province (although black glutinous rice is used instead). You can use chicken, prawns, chicken liver or any ingredient that catches your imagination. And, if you really want to go all out, you can do as some restaurants do and serve it in a hollowed-out pineapple.

  • Yield: 2 to 4

Ingredients

¼ cup [60 ml] camellia tea oil (from health-food shops), or any neutral oil, plus an extra tablespoon

2 lap cheong (Chinese sausage), diced 

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 to 3 Tbsp finely chopped onion, to taste

1 tsp curry powder

3 large prawns (about 4½ oz [130 g] total), peeled, deveined and chopped

1 egg, lightly beaten

Large pinch of white sugar

2 Tbsp soy sauce

3 cups (about 1 lb 3 oz [550 g]) cooked medium-grain white rice (preferably day-old), grains separated

½ cup [80 g] diced pineapple

1 firm tomato, coarsely chopped

1 spring onion (scallion), thinly sliced

1 cilantro sprig, chopped

Instructions

  1. Heat a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the ¼ cup oil, swirl to coat, then add the lap cheong and stir-fry for 1 minute or until just crisp.
  2. Transfer to a plate, reserving the oil in the wok. Reduce the heat to medium, add the garlic and stir-fry until fragrant and just beginning to colour (about 30 seconds).
  3. Add the onion and curry powder and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, then add the prawns and stir-fry for 2 minutes until almost cooked through. Push all to the side.
  4. Add an extra tablespoon of oil and pour in the egg, scramble for a minute, then add the sugar and soy sauce, and immediately stir in the cooked rice. Stir until well coated and the grains are nicely separated and starting to pop, then add the pineapple, tomato and crisp lap cheong, reduce the heat to low and mix gently until hot.
  5. When everything is hot, add the spring onion and toss it through. Serve sprinkled with coriander.

Notes

Lap cheong (Chinese pork sausages) are sold in plastic packets in Asian grocers. If you can’t find lap cheong, crisp-fried spicy chorizo is fantastic as an alternative.

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