Pineapple Chicken

Tonight, we tried something new and made some delicious Pineapple Chicken, complete by serving it in the shell of the pineapple. Start by cutting your chicken into cubes and setting aside. Next, cut the pineapple in half lengthwise. Use the knife tip and carefully slice around the edge of the pineapple halves, careful not to slice through the skin. Slice down and across the pineapple, separating the core, and then carefully scoop out the pineapple chunks and set aside. Finish cleaning the pineapple halves out, discard the core, and set the cleaned halves aside.

Get your rice cooking by boiling 2 cups of water and adding 1 cup of rice, bring to a simmer, and cook, covered, for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Fry for approximately 10 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through. Remove the chicken and set aside. Add the pineapple, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, and garlic paste and cook for a few minutes. NOTE: We doubled the sauce recipe and also added extra hoisin and soy sauce after reading comments.

Next, stir in the chicken stock, bring to a boil, and then simmer. Make sure to stir occasionally until the sauce has thickened. Add the chicken back to the pan and stir until thoroughly coated with the sauce. Add the cooked rice to the pineapple halves and top with the chicken. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve.

Ingredients:

• 1 large pineapple
• 2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
• 6 boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size cubes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon garlic paste
• ½ cup chicken stock
• cooked rice, for serving
• sesame seed, for garnish

*** NOTE: The sauce recipe in the ingredients section does not reflect the doubled recipe or the additional ingredients we wound up using.