Pineapple fried rice has always been one of those dishes that I’ve passed up when going to eat Thai food, opting instead for noodle dishes, curry or spicy basil.  When it comes to cooking Thai food at home though, pineapple fried rice is one of my favorites.  The recipe I use here was literally thrown together in a matter of minutes and included lots of jalapenos and basil for that kick that I dig.  The nice thing about this rice is that you can really make is as spicy as you want – include whatever peppers you might have at hand or in your local store – it’s literally a conglomeration of ingredients if there ever was one.

One note about using rice for making fried rice – you want it to be a little bit sticky, but not like fresh short grain sticky rice, like that of sushi.  If possible, you are looking for some moderately sticky rice that’s a day or two old.  Let it chill out for a little bit in your fridge before you prepare the dish.  The texture of the rice will benefit from the rest and loose some of the intense stickiness.

For this variation of the dish, I decided to add some fresh American wild shrimp and create a basic Thai stir-fry sauce incorporating brown sugar, lime juice, fish sauce and Sriracha – among other things.  The results tasted good and is awesome as leftovers – much better than that old Chinese takeout box of rice that’s probably sitting in your fridge right now.  Try it out for yourself!

Ingredients for the Rice

• 2-3 cups of leftover (preferably short grain) white or brown rice – rinsed thoroughly
• 2 medium or 1 large yellow onion – diced
• 2 jalapeno peppers – seeded and chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves – diced
• A knob of ginger – peeled and grated
• 12-15 shitake mushrooms – steps removed and chopped lengthwise
• 1/2 a medium pineapple (around 1.5 cups) cored and chopped into 1″ cubes
• 1/2 cup scallions – diced on the bias
• 12 large wild shrimp (16-20) – around 3/4 – 1 lb. – peeled and tails removed
• 4 medium organic eggs – beaten with a splash of milk
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil

Ingredients for the Sauce

• 1.5 Tbsp. brown sugar
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. sriracha sauce (add more if you want it really spicy)
• 1 tsp. oyster sauce
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. garlic chili sauce (awesome stuff!)
• 1 tsp. hoisin sauce

Method

Start with the aromatic vegetables: heat a pan over medium heat, add the oil, onion, jalapeno and garlic and cook slowly, until the vegetables have sweat out a little.  Add the mushrooms and continue to cook down until combined and incorporated.  Add the ginger, scallion and pineapple and toss to incorporate together, cooking until the vegetables are soft and basically cooked through.

In a separate large non-stick pan, melt the butter and add the eggs slowly, covering the entire bottom of the pan.  Cook the eggs like an omelet, folding them over into thirds, trying to keep them thin but creating one rather large omelet.  Remove the eggs from the pan and chop them up a little bit into thin ribbons.  Incorporate them into the vegetables and stir together.

At this point, you want to make the sauce – mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl or jar until they’re well incorporated.

The final piece to this puzzle is the rice – add it into the pan and mix it together with all of the vegetables.  I actually had to add some of the veg to another pan to fit it all.  Add in the rice and make sure it’s well incorporated before adding in the sauce.  Once it’s all mixed together, get some low heat on it and serve immediately – you can top it with some more scallions and some almonds for that great crunch.  Enjoy!

See the title of this post?  Really just fancy talk for coconut shrimp that you can get all over the place, but these really are good – especially when you can dip ‘em in some awesome sauce.  The Panko breadcrumbs also are a great addition, coarse and crunchy – they add a great flavor and texture to these delicious morsels.

I don’t know about you, but I’m the type of guy that usually goes into a market with a plan of what I feel like cooking or eating – but I’ve found that these plans can get screwed up thanks to bad looking ingredients or lack of ingredient altogether.  Today was no different, as I was planning on making some salad as the main event of tonight’s dinner, and was going to accompany it with some seafood – salmon or something.

So after becoming fed up with the seafood at the local supermarket, I decided to make the somewhat longer trip over to the local fish monger – New Deal Fish Market in East Cambridge.  The first thing I noticed was that fact that they had some great looking Monkfish, which is pretty hard to find (local markets are AWESOME).  They also had some awesome looking clams, but as you can see from the previous post, that would be redundant. The shrimp also looked great, and were wild and American which is awesome too.  These are the shrimp that you just want to buy.

So salad and shrimp it was – Aimee’s Caesar in this case, which really goes with anything it’s so good (especially when she makes it).  The orange maple mustard is a great accompaniment (original from the fringe of my fridge BTW) – check below for the recipe.  Here’s how the shrimp turned out:

• 12 (21/lb) Raw Shrimp – Peeled and de-veined, tails on
• 2 heaping Tbsp. all purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup shaved dried coconut
• 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
• Orange Maple Mustard (see below)

Start with the oil and a heavy bottomed pot – a dutch oven or cast iron skillet (skillet in my case, thanks to Taylor’s Xmas gift).  Heat the oil to 350F, or until you see a tiny bit of current coming from the bottom of the pot.

Set up 3 bowls.  Add the flour to one, the egg to another (scramble it with a little water), and the panko and coconut to another.  Mix the coconut and breadcrumbs together.

Once the Shimp are prepped, start with the flour, coating the shrimp but dusting off any excess.  Take them from the flour to the egg wash to the Panko and into the oil.  Fry, turning once and then move them to a rack or paper towels.

For the Orange Maple Mustard:

• 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 2 Tbsp. orange marmalade
• 1 tsp. grade A maple syrup
• 1 to 1.5 tsp. lemon juice (depending on taste)
• Few drops Tabasco

Mix ingredients together well and serve alongside shrimp.