Made pineapple fried rice again for lunch. The garnishes are there for a reason, to make the dish look better and to make the whole thing taste better. Remember how I said Aaron used to work in a Thai Restaurant? This dish was on the menu and they always serve it with chicken floss. The only thing missing here is coriander which I have subsequently substituted with alfalfa sprouts because I wanna make our lunch more wholesome by sneaking in more veggies. The sprinkling you see in the picture, right smack at the centre, that's my homemade serunding ayam or chicken floss. They are not flossy at all. I've pulsed them in a food processor before proceeding because I was lazy to shred chicken. Apart from the funny look, it taste all parts like a good old chicken floss. The minted green peas also add a nice flavour to this simple dish.

I adapted this recipe from Ellie of Almost Bourdain and because I have been making this so frequent this is almost a regular in our menu. Also because we always have leftover rice and because I am no where near Zurin who has no problem making fried rice with fresh rice and because we both agreed on pineapple and curry being good friends.

It's best to cook this in small portion to get the lup-lup delight from the rice grain else they'll stick and clump together. I use half the recipe and always cook it for just one meal, enough to serve us two.

1 cup rice, cooked in rice cooker and left overnight, fluff and separate grain upon frying
1 piece chicken thigh fillet, cubed
4 medium sized prawns, peeled with tail intact
1/2 cup fresh chopped pineapple (I used canned pineapple but fresh would be great)

1/4 cup frozen minted green peas
1 French Shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1-2 tbsp EVOO

Mix together:
1/2 tbsp heaped meat curry powder
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce

A pinch of turmeric powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:
Alfalfa Sprouts or Coriander
Chicken Floss
Chopped fresh chilli for the extra kick

Heat the oil in a large frying pan until smoky and toss in the chopped shallot stir fry until lightly brown. Add in the minced garlic and toss until almost brown. Add chicken, continue to stir fry until it changes colour. Add prawns and stir fry for another minute. Add the rice and pineapple cubes and break up lumps from rice as you go. Pour in the combined seasoning sauce and coat and toss well to flavour rice. Do a taste test and toss in the frozen peas. Heat it thoroughly and dish up. Garnish and serve immediately.

I call this dish Chinese-Style because the whole 'Nai You' rave was generated and created by Chinese. This is adapted and modified from Food-4-tots. Instead of prawns, I use fish and I shallow fry the fish first until it is golden brown on both sides. Can't use prawns because of Aaron. Seriously, I've given up trying to make him eat prawns. The only Crustaceans he'll eat are just lobsters/crayfish and Moreton Bay Bugs. He might take Crabs occasionally. Expensive tastebud eh?

For this dish, I have doubled the curry leaves because I love it and fried half of them. They give the dish a better presentation and really does taste better. Have you not tried eating fried curry leaves before? They are crispy and very delicious! I also serve the fish over a bed of lettuce which is optional but is good to mop the remaining sauce off the plate.


Chinese-Style Creamy Butter Fish
(serves 2)

For the fish:
2 large fish fillets, cut into large slices, washed and pat dry
Salt and black pepper
Rice flour
Curry powder
Enough oil to shallow fry

Mix the seasoning together and dredge the fish slices into the flour mixture. Shallow fry it on both sides until golden brown and almost cooked through. Drain on wire rack with newspaper lined underneath and set aside.

For the sauce:
3 tbsp butter
6 tbsp curry leaves, fry half and set aside
2 tsp meat curry powder
2 bird's eye chillies, finely chopped
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp sugar
Salt to taste
Lettuce (optional)

Heat up your pan and melt butter until it is almost brown and nutty. Add in the fresh curry leaves, chopped chillies and curry powder. Stir fry until fragrant. Add in the evaporated milk, sugar and salt to taste. Bring to boil and then simmer until the sauce starts to get thicker. Add in fried fish slices and toss to coat quickly. Dish up and serve. over a bed of shredded lettuce. Garnish with more chopped chillies for the extra kick and the fried curry leaves.

Serve immediately.