Sausage Pineapple Stir-fry Rice

In our fast-paced society, it seems that cooking from scratch is a semi-lost art, used by professional chefs and baking fanatics, but not by the average family cook. There's an idea that cooking from scratch involves long, drawn-out processes, and even those who don't eat out every single meal seem to rely on prepackaged, precooked foods that simply need to be warmed up to prepare their evening meal.

And yet, there is hope. The recent increase in popularity of Home Fresh and other meal kit companies is a testament to the growing sense in our culture that freshly prepared, clean food minus all the preservatives and additives found in prepackaged food is healthier, tastier, and cheaper to consume. People are discovering that it isn't as hard or time-consuming to prepare home-cooked meals as they once thought, and I think we're all better for that realization.

For my family and myself, well, my husband is allergic to MSG, a flavor enhancer in an unbelievable amount of prepackaged food, so cooking from scratch is a way of life for me. And, frankly, I enjoy it. There's something very satisfying about taking a variety of raw ingredients and turning them into something healthy and delicious for my family to enjoy! And it doesn't get much easier (or more delicious!) than this yummy Chinese recipe!

I cannot claim the credit for this dish; it comes from a Chinese cookbook called Wok and Stir-fry that I picked up at a discount bookstore several years ago. I've tried several different recipes in the book, and this is the one that I come back to the most. It's quick, it's easy, it's healthy, and my kids scarf it down😉! Must be the pineapple....though there are lots of other healthy veggies in there as well!

A few notes on the recipe: The recipe calls for sliced onions; I usually dice mine as small as possible in order to sneak them in there-it doesn't make a difference in taste. My kids have an unreasonable prejudice against onions; they think they don't like them, but I put them in everything and they eat it all just fine! 😄 I think it's all in their heads! So as long as they don't see them, they'll eat them without a problem.

The recipe also calls for Chinese sausage. Honestly, I have no idea what that is; I just use whatever sausage I have on hand. It's all good!

Finally, it's very important when cooking any kind of fried rice that your rice be cooked ahead of time and given time to cool. In fact, this is the perfect recipe for leftover rice that's been in the fridge a day or two! Cold, precooked rice doesn't tend to get mushy when added to the stir-fry, and nothing ruins a good stir-fry more than mushy rice! Of course, if you're like me and tend to forget to make any rice ahead of time (oops!), simply make the rice first and then stick it in the coldest part of your fridge to chill while you prepare the rest of the meal. By the time you need to add in the rice, it should be cool enough to turn out fine.

There aren't many ingredients to this recipe, and they're mostly things common to a pantry--no special grocery trips here! Slice up your sausage and onion, and cut your carrots into really thin sticks. When cooking any kind of stir-fry, it's important for all the different ingredients to be about the same size, so that they will all be done at the same time. Obviously, the longer something takes to cook (like carrots and onions), the smaller and thinner it needs to be in order to be finished at the same time as everything else.

As you can see from the picture below, Tater wanted to help me make this dish, so you get to admire his excellent stirring skills while I added in the different ingredients! 😄

Saute your sausage in a skillet until it's brown, then add in the soy sauce and cook the two together until it makes kind of like a sweet, caramel-ly syrup.

Add in your veggies and pineapple and stir-fry until they are the desired tenderness (I tend to cook mine a little longer than called for so that the veggies won't be too crunchy for my kids to chew).

Add in your rice, a little at a time, and stir to combine. It's important not to cook it too long, or it will get mushy in spite of your precautions!

As soon as the rice is heated through, drizzle the beaten egg over the top and gently toss or fold it into the rice until the egg is set and no longer raw. This gives the dish a silky texture that is absolutely delicious! Sprinkle on some parsley, and you're done!

I told you it was easy! I hope your family enjoys this dish as much as mine does!