Chicken and Pineapple Fried Rice

The literary magazine’s December issue arrived on Vanderbilt’s campus in early January in the campus magazine bins outside the dining halls and the library. The silver bells recipe and the chocolate-shop profile run across the four-page holiday spread, and three different students stopped me in the seminar hallway last week to compliment the recipe page — one of them was a graduate student in food studies who said the silver bells were “a recipe that respects the reader,” which is the kind of phrase that lands well with me. The Vanderbilt food-studies graduate program has reached out to me through Dr. Choi about possibly auditing one of their courses next semester. I am thinking about it.

Sunday I made chicken and pineapple fried rice because the apartment had a fresh pineapple Aunt Linda had sent as part of the same birthday gift basket and Dustin had requested the dish specifically — he’d eaten a version at a Memphis Hawaiian-Chinese fusion restaurant called Honu Kitchen back in college and had been wanting me to recreate it. The Hawaiian-Chinese fusion is a specific regional style that lives in Hawaiian-American communities across the southern United States and that combines Cantonese stir-fry technique with Hawaiian fruit-and-pork ingredients.

The technique: a pound of boneless skinless chicken thighs cubed and stir-fried in a hot wok with a tablespoon of vegetable oil for three minutes until just cooked through. Out to a plate. In the same wok, two tablespoons of butter, four cloves of garlic minced, a two-inch piece of fresh ginger grated. Cook thirty seconds.

One cup of fresh pineapple cut into half-inch dice (fresh pineapple is mandatory; canned pineapple is too sweet and loses its texture in the wok), added with a half-cup of frozen peas and a half-cup of finely diced red bell pepper. Stir-fry three minutes until the pineapple has caramelized slightly at the edges.

Three cups of day-old cold jasmine rice (the day-old-cold rule for any fried rice). Two large eggs scrambled in a separate small pan and added to the wok. Two tablespoons of low-sodium soy sauce, a tablespoon of oyster sauce, a tablespoon of mirin, a teaspoon of sesame oil. The chicken returned. Stir-fry for three more minutes to combine.

Off the heat, a generous handful of fresh chopped cilantro, three sliced scallions, a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Plated with crushed roasted peanuts on top and lime wedges.

Dustin had two large bowls. The dish reads as a Memphis-Hawaiian-Cantonese fusion that wouldn’t be on any restaurant menu in Nashville. The pineapple is the move that pulls the whole thing together.

Fresh pineapple, day-old cold jasmine rice, ginger and garlic in butter. Here’s the build.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 cups cooked white rice, day-old preferred
1 cup fresh or canned pineapple chunks, drained
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots, thawed
3 green onions, sliced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

Cook the chicken. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the chicken pieces, season with salt and pepper, and cook 5–6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cooked through and lightly browned. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Scramble the eggs. Push any remaining bits to the side of the pan. Add a small drizzle of oil if needed, then pour in the beaten eggs. Scramble them quickly over medium heat until just set, breaking into small pieces. Push to the side.
Sauté aromatics and vegetables. Add the remaining tablespoon of vegetable oil to the pan. Add garlic and ground ginger and cook 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the peas and carrots and stir-fry 2 minutes.
Add the rice. Add the cold cooked rice to the pan, breaking up any clumps. Stir-fry 3–4 minutes, pressing the rice against the hot pan occasionally to get a little char and texture.
Combine everything. Return the chicken and eggs to the pan. Add the pineapple chunks, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Toss everything together and stir-fry 2–3 minutes until heated through and well coated.
Finish and serve. Taste and adjust seasoning. Garnish with sliced green onions and serve immediately straight from the pan.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chicken and Pineapple Fried Rice