Pineapple Coconut Fried Rice- from Leftovers!

This month’s Recipe Redux theme is all about utilizing leftovers:

“We’re all about cooking once and eating twice. In short, double dinners are better. Show us how you take a favorite recipe already on your blog – and ReDux the leftovers into a new dish”

This theme made me smile-I couldn’t help but think of my mother and her leftover turkey. When I was growing up, my mom would always buy several turkeys around Thanksgiving. She would freeze them and occasionally during the next year, she would pull one out of the freezer and roast it for the sole purpose of using it for leftovers. Once roasted, she would turn it into turkey sandwiches, turkey salads, even stock or soups.  My sister and I would ask what she had in the oven and she would say “leftover turkey” even though it was a fresh roasted bird! We used to laugh when she would do this, but as I have gotten older I have learned the value of leftover turkey or any leftovers for that matter.

However, that being said, I don’t like knowing I am eating leftovers. They are invaluable as a source of food during the week, but I don’t want to simply rehash my dinner over and over and over again like some weird food version of Groundhog’s Day (you remember that old movie, right?). Fortunately, this iteration of leftovers is so different from the original you would never even know! Add some pineapple, a fun new coconutty sauce and boom- leftovers disguised! Take this recipe, Pineapple Coconut Fried Rice, it uses the leftover almond coated pan-fried chicken from this recipe and leftover rice. The chicken recipe has a garlicky, basil flavor which complements, but at the same time, is completely different from the sauce in the fried rice. Adding coconut, pineapple and a few chilis as a sauce and pairing it with black rice creates a whole new, exciting dish instead of a rehash of the same old dinner. You would never know that they came from the same dish, the taste is so different, but both are so delicious! Truth be told, this recipe would probably work better with another kind of brown rice- a non-sticky variety. But I love the antioxidants that come with the black rice, plus it was what I had leftover. That is the beauty of this meal, I can use any leftover meats (although the crispy almond coating goes so well with the coconut), any veggies I have on hand and any rice, making for a little variety in the leftovers!