Recipe - Khao Pad Sapparot (Stir Fried Rice And Pineap

1 md Pineapple, sweet & juicy
2/3 tablespoon Chopped shallots (purple
onion)
One half tablespoon Grated ginger
13/16 Red chilis finely julienned
2 Green of 2 spring onions,
coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon Chopped coriander/cilantro
2 tablespoon Dried shrimp
2/3 tablespoon Garlic, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon (to 2) fish sauce
1 teaspoon Sugar
2 cup Steamed rice, cold(garnish)
Coriander leaves (garnish)

Cut the pineapple in half lengthwise, and scoop out the fruit (my wife uses
a curved "grapefruit knife", but any knife will do...) then chop it into
bite sized chunks.

Put the fruit in a bowl and add the shallots, chili, ginger, scallion and
coriander, mix and set aside. Add a pinch of salt to bring out the juice...

In a wok, heat about a tablespoon of oil, and stir fry the shrimp until
crispy, and the oil is aromatic. Remove the shrimp with a slotted spoon and
drain, then set aside.

Add a further tablespoon of oil, and stir fry the garlic until golden
brown. Add the rice, and stir thoroughly. Add the fish sauce and sugar, and
continue stirring. When the rice is heated through, add the pineapple
mixture and cooked shrimp, and stir until thoroughly heated through.

Pour the mixture into the pineapple shells, garnish and serve.

Note: if you prefer fried rice to be darkish brown in colour, then replace
half the fish sauce with dark sweet soy sauce.

Variation: do not cook the fruit mixture. Instead put the fruit mixture and
the stir fried rice in the fridge (separately) and chill all the
ingredients, then just before serving mix them and put them in the
pineapple skins. If you are serving cold then you can also add a few
mareschino cherries as garnish. This cold variant makes an excellent
counterpoint to hot curries and spicy chilli dishes on a hot day (and it
gets *hot* here I can assure you, with the shade temperature topping 40
celsius on many a day.)

This is an unusual recipe for Thai food because it is essentially a
vegetarian dish they are not common in Thailand, where even nominally
vegetarian dishes often have quite a large amount of meat. This one has a
little dried shrimp, and the true vegetarian could easily leave that out.

It is also unusual in that it is rather a theatrical dish: though the
theatricality comes from a Thai habbit of frugality, and perhaps a desire
to have less dishes to wash!

For two people you need a medium sized pineapple: choose carefully it
should be sweet and juicy.

From colonel@korat1.vukorat.ac.th Sat Feb 10 12:14:52 1996 Colonel Ian F.
KhuntilanontPhilpott Systems Engineering, Vongchavalitkul University,
Korat 30000, Thailand

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini