This is the best tasting chard recipe I have ever had. Easy to prepare, and any kind of chard will do. This is a great recipe to use up leftover rice that is low-fat, easy, and delicious. Oh, and it is vegan too :)
Feel free to add less or more rice as your taste may desire. Alternatively, if no leftover rice is available, you can make a fresh batch and eat the chard over a small amount of fresh rice.
Pineapple Coconut Rainbow Chard
Hands down the tastiest way to eat chard I have ever had. A perfect blend of flavors complementing the chard, not hiding but enveloping it into a wonderfully inviting dish that one can guiltlessly go back for seconds and thirds on. This is vegan, yet could be AIP if made with cauliflower “rice”. Cauliflower rice would also be fewer calories. I have found people notice when I replace rice with cauliflower, but no one notices a difference when I mix cauliflower rice with regular rice.
Pineapple Coconut Rainbow Chard
This recipe is vegan and could be AIP if made with cauliflower “rice”.
Pineapple Coconut Rainbow Chard
Ingredients
1/2 of a large onion cut into 1/2” pieces
1 large pinch of Pink Sea Salt (or equivalent)
1/2 Tablespoon coconut oil
1 bunch of rainbow chard (about 5 to 7 large leaves)
juice of one small lemon (roughly 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of juice)
3 to 5 small cloves of garlic
Approximately 1 cup of leftover cooked rice (can be more or less depending on taste and availability)
Approximately 1/2 cup of pineapple cut into small pieces (roughly 1/2” size)
Splash of Hot Sauce
Soy sauce to taste (or substitute)
Fry chopped up onion and salt in frying pan on medium low heat in coconut oil while removing stems off chard and chopping them into about 1/2” pieces. Add the stem pieces to the onions cooking in the pan.
Chop the rest of the chard while this is cooking in large chunks. Set aside.
Dice garlic into tiny pieces and add to onions and chard stems to cook a little. Cook until garlic is moist but not browned.
Add cut up chard leaves and lemon juice. Cook until they wilt.
Add rice and pineapple. Cook until warmed. Add a splash of hot sauce and soy sauce to taste.
Enjoy!
Hint- Adding the salt when cooking the onions helps draw out the moisture and cooks them faster. This continues to help when adding the chard stems and leaves.
One of the things that makes this so tasty is adding the acid (lemon and pineapple) because the chard is so basic the flavors balance out and the chard is no longer bitter but mild and wonderful.