Once again, Marian led in the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors. For this kitchen, Marian shared her family recipes with us.

The first recipe is Marian’s Pineapple Fried Rice. This is Marian’s mom’s recipe and was handed down to her when she was thirteen years old.

In this kitchen, we also learn about the benefits of pineapple. Here is the excerpt shared in the kitchen.

Pineapple is a member of the bromeliad family and the only edible bromeliad. It is extremely rare that bromeliads produce edible fruit. It is a multiple fruit, i.e. one pineapple is made up of dozens of individual flowerettes that grow together to form the entire fruit. Each scale on a pineapple is evidence of an individual flower.

Pineapples stop ripening the minute they are picked. There is no special way of storing them that will help ripen them further. Color is relatively unimportant in determining the ripeness.

Choose your pineapple by smell. If it smells fresh, tropical and sweet, it will be a good fruit. The more scales on the pineapple and the bigger the scales, the sweeter and juicier the taste.

Pineapple is a remarkable fruit. It is lush, sweet and has an exotic flavour. It’s health benefits includes easing indigestion, arthritis and sinusitis. Pineapple juice has an anthelmintic effect which helps to get rid of intestinal worms.

Pineapple is high in manganese, a mineral that is critical to the development of strong bones and connective tissue. A cup of fresh pineapple juice will give you nearly 75% of the recommended daily amount of manganese. It is particularly helpful to older adults, whose bones tend to become brittle with age.

Pineapple contains bromelain, a proteolytic enzyme which helps to break down protein; which is why pineapple is known to be a digestive aid. It helps the body to digest proteins more efficiently. Bromelain is also considered and effective anti-inflammatory agent. Regular ingestion of at least one half cup of fresh pineapple daily is purported to relieve painful joints common to osteoarthritis. It produces a mild pain relief. In Germany, bromelain is approved as a post-injury medication because it is thought to reduce inflammation and swelling.

Ingredients

• 1 cup finely chopped celery
• 1/2 cup finely chopped or grated carrot
• 1/2 cup frozen green peas
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 250g chicken breast or 2 pieces breast fillet, cut into cubes
• 2 eggs (optional)
• 1 can crushed pineapple
• 4 cups cooked rice
• garlic powder
• ginger powder
• salt and pepper
• sesame oil (optional)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 whole pineapple for presentation (optional)

Source: Marian

Serves 4 to 6

Instructions

Marian demonstrated how to prepare a pineapple to be used as a vessel to store the fried rice. This is just for presentation, it’s not necessary to have a whole pineapple.First, cut off one third of the pineapple as shown. Use a paring knife to cut around the pineapple and cut fish bones like cuts in the flesh.

Use a spoon to lift up the pineapple flesh, leaving a hollow pineapple shell, saving the pineapple flesh.

Discard the hard core and crush the rest of the pineapple, saving the juice and set aside.

Scramble the eggs. A simple trick to have soft scrambled eggs is to add a little water or milk to the beaten eggs.

Fry the chopped onion with the oil until translucent.

Add the chicken cubes, carrots and celery. Stir fry until the meat is cooked.

Add the crushed pineapples and frozen peas. Season with ginger powder, garlic powder, sesame oil, salt and pepper.

Add the cooked rice and break up the rice as you stir fry all the ingredients to blend well. Add the scrambled eggs at the end and mix well. Serve warm.