Pineapple Cashew Rice

A sweet, savoury & spicy tropically inspired treat!

Prep & Cooking: 25 minutes (with cooked and cooled rice)
Serves: 4-6

Main Ingredients:
3 cups brown rice cooked and cooled – if you don’t have or like brown rice, use what you have or prefer
1 cup fresh pineapple, diced – if you prefer, or for convenience you can use canned pineapple, but be sure to drain the juice
¾ cup shelled edamame (soybeans) – frozen is just fine, if edamame is not available you can substitute ¾ cup fresh or frozen peas
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium-large red bell pepper, diced
2 green onions, chopped
½ cup or more roasted, salted cashew nuts

Sauce:
4 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
1 tbsp hot sauce such as sriracha – if you want to tone down the heat you can omit or decrease the amount of hot sauce
1 tbsp lime juice – lemon also works as a substitute
1 tsp fresh grated ginger root OR 1 ½ dried, ground ginger
1 ½ - 2 tsp fresh garlic, minced OR 1 tsp garlic powder

Optional Garnish:
1-2 green onions chopped
Chopped cilantro

Method:
In a large non-stick pan, over medium heat, sauté onion until soft, approximately 2-3 minutes, add a tablespoon of water if your onions begin to stick to the pan. Reduce heat to medium-low and add bell pepper and edamame, if using frozen edamame cook until beans are heated through, otherwise sauté ingredients, stirring occasionally, for approximately 5 minutes until the peppers are soft.

You can make the sauce now, while the peppers and edamame are cooking, or wait until the rice portion of the dish is complete – do what you are comfortable with.

To prepare the sauce, you will need either a small bowl and a whisk or fork, or a jar with a secure, tight lid. Into your container of choice pour tamari, hot sauce and lime juice and add ginger and garlic. Whisk together or shake a lidded container until all ingredients are incorporated.

Add cooked and cooled rice and stir to combine with the vegetable and beans. When rice is combined add pineapple and green onion, continue to heat on medium-low for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid burning (especially the pineapple), until rice is heated through.

Optional: In a small, dry pan over low heat toast the cashews until just browned.
Remove from heat, add cashews to the rice, and pour the prepared sauce over the warm rice, stirring to coat.
Top with green onion, cilantro and/or additional cashews.


Tips & Variations:

• This dish is very tasty warm, but is also nice cold – a nice change for a packed lunch
• If you are using canned pineapple avoid using the crushed variety, ‘tidbits’ are best but if you can only fine or have rings then just chop them up
• If you want to switch things up, substitute noodles for the rice, cutting the bell pepper into long thin strips and chopping the cashews finely