Spicy Shrimp Pineapple Fried Rice

A lesson in utilizing this blog better for saving even the quickest recipe I came up with: I clearly remember utilizing this NYT recipe for Hot Honey Shrimp to make something REALLY good last summer, with several tweaks.  I can't remember for the life of me what that was, but at least my attempts to remember resulted in this recipe.

I recently learned that fried rice is incredibly easy to riff off of, and also to hide an assortment of veggies in.  For best results, use at least day-old rice - a little bit drier is better.

This recipe is super quick if you buy already-cooked shrimp, and can easily be packed for lunch.  The shrimp and veggies each have a kick, but the sweetness of the pineapple and coconut rice counter it nicely.

For shrimp (adapted from NYT recipe above):
1/2 lb pre-cooked shrimp, defrosted if needed
2 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon honey
A pinch cayenne
¼  teaspoon lime zest
¼  teaspoon grated or minced ginger
1  clove garlic, minced
¼  teaspoon salt
¼  teaspoon ground pepper

For rice:
1 cup coconut rice (replace half of the cooking water with coconut milk)
1 bell pepper or three sweet mini peppers
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 cup of corn kernels
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
3 Tbsp. oil (I used coconut oil)
Sambal Olek hot sauce
Juice of 1 lime
2 eggs
1/2 pineapple. cut into bite-size pieces

First, cook rice in a rice cooker (it's best if it's about a day old).

In a medium frying pan, melt butter.  Add honey, shrimp and the rest of the ingredients.  Continue to cook until shrimp is opaque white, about 8 minutes. Set aside when done.

Meanwhile, saute bell pepper, garlic, corn kernels, and carrots in 1 T coconut oil until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add rice and addition 2T coconut oil to the pan.  Mix well with vegetables, then press rice against the bottom of the pan and let sit for a few minutes.  You want it to get nice and crispy, but not to burn - if you have a lid for your pan, that will help.

Once rice has some nice crispy bits, mix it in the pan again. Clear a space in the side of your pan, and break the eggs into the cleared space. Scramble them with a fork or spatula a bit, then once mostly cooked mix them in with the rest of the rice.

Add shrimp, season with Sambal Olek and lime juice to taste.  Mix in pineapple and serve.