Recipe: Pineapple and Ham Fried Rice
A sweet-and-savory 10-minute dinner, by cookbook author Clarissa Wei
A few weeks ago, I invited another family of three over for dinner because our kids were having so much fun at their playground play date. It was a totally spur of the moment invitation, and I was thrilled they said yes. Not just because we love their company (we do!), but because one of my goals as a parent is to have my daughter learn how to welcome others into our home and life. As a recovering perfectionist, this is an ongoing project for me. It wasn’t until having a kid that I stopped marathon cleaning before anyone set foot in my home.
More about that impromptu dinner for six. I had all the ingredients to make cookbook author and fellow Substack writer Clarissa Wei’s delicious pineapple and ham fried rice recipe, since I was in the swing of recipe testing. I didn’t have enough in my fridge to double the recipe, so I rounded things out with edamame, steamed chicken dumplings, and I offered the kids extra pineapple. The pineapple and ham fried rice was the star. To say the recipe was a hit with both the preschoolers and the parents at the table would be a massive understatement.
A new mom herself, Clarissa embraced the challenge I gave her of creating a weeknight dinner that comes together fast. When we were talking about possibilities, her mind went right to fried rice, thanks to how adaptable it is and how quickly it comes together. Fried rice is also fantastic way to repurpose leftovers. And, bonus! I’ve found that for kids who sometimes balk at veggies and/or proteins, fried rice is a great workaround.
Clarissa ups the ante in this fried rice by brightening things up with pineapple, bringing together Taiwan’s love of tropical fruit and America’s love affair with Hawaiian pizza. After testing, we added peas to make it a more complete one-pan meal and topped with plenty of cilantro for a fresh, herbal finish. This recipe is such an easy win, it’s going straight to the MVP recipe list.
Here’s what Clarissa has to say about the recipe:
Savory fruit dishes are really common in Asia (mango salad, sweet and sour pork, duck with plum salad). This is Hawaiian pizza in fried rice form. The key is using a really sweet and ripe pineapple, which we have an abundance of in Taiwan. The protein can be anything, really. I use uncured wildflower honey and maple ham from Costco. Spam would be a gorgeous alternative, and gives off a more savory finish. The only prep for this is to make the rice ahead of time. You want dried out and loose kernels, [so] use leftover rice from the day before.
Please let Clarissa and me know if you make this recipe by sharing your results in Table Chat and tagging us on Instagram: @hillarydixlercanavan and @dearclarissa.
And, if you like this recipe, here are some others you might like too:
Easy Fried Rice (J. Kenji López-Alt, Serious Eats)
Hawaiian Pizza (PJ Hamel, King Arthur Baking)
Stir-Fried Pork and Pineapple (Linda Lau Anusasananan, adapted by Mark Bittman, NYT Cooking)
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