Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice

One of my favorite places to eat while in seminary was a local Thai restaurant not far from campus. While I've come to adore most Thai dishes, just about everyone I ate there with (including myself!) ordered the pineapple fried rice. Not too long ago, while visiting a friend still living in that town, we had lunch at that Thai restaurant and we both ordered - of course - pineapple fried rice.

Imagine my excitement when a friend recommended a great blog, Rasa Malaysia, who had this recipe in her archives!

Mine is quite colorless but let's face it, yellow/beige food is always the tastiest anyways... And super fast! Start to finish, 10 minutes maybe?

Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice
8 oz. leftover rice
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
4 oz. pineapple (cut into small pieces)
4 oz. shrimp (shelled and deveined, leave whole or cut into small pieces)
2 tablespoons cashew nuts (optional)
1 teaspoon shrimp paste (if you can't find it, use extra fish sauce)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 tablespoon pineapple juice
1/4 teaspoon dark soy sauce (for coloring)
1 fresh red chili (seeded and cut into small pieces) - I skipped
2 tablespoons oil

Heat up a wok and add cooking oil. Stir-fry garlic, red chili, and shrimp paste until aromatic. Add shrimp and stir-fry until half-cooked. Add rice, pineapple pieces, pineapple juice, and do a few quick stirs. Add fish sauce and dark soy sauce to blend well with rice. Stir-fry for another minute or so, dish out and serve immediately.

If you have cashew nuts, add them towards the end of the cooking process.