Every Tuesday this fall, the Whole Foods in Town Square (where the contestants did all of their shopping on Top Chef Las Vegas) has been hosting cooking classes taught by different chefs from the Wynn and Encore resorts. I have been to quite a few of them, but perhaps my favourite cooking class was taught by Jet Tila, the chef at the Asian restaurant Wazuzu at Encore. Not only is Jet an incredible chef, but he is also a wonderful teacher and he gladly shared his secrets on how to make restaurant-worthy Thai food at home!

One of the three dishes that he made in the class was this Pineapple Fried Rice, which is a great way to use up leftover rice (or if you are us, we now make extra rice so we can have leftovers for fried rice). Whenever I had previously attempted to make fried rice at home, my rice would always get smushy and not taste anything like it did when I ordered it in restaurants. Rice made the day before or a few days before is the key to any successful fried rice recipe as the rice grains have dried out a bit and hold up better when recooked. Cooking the fried rice over a high heat is also important–I get a bit scared by high heat sometimes and its oil splatters, but it really does get the job done and best mimics the power of restaurant woks.

I love the sweetness of the fresh pineapple against the saltiness of the soy sauce and bacon. This recipe is just a guideline for how to make the fried rice, so be sure to keep on tasting it throughout the cooking process and adding a bit more fish or soy sauce until it tastes just right to you. You can also throw in other meats or veggies into the rice as well if you want. This recipe makes enough fried rice for 4 side dishes at 96 cents per serving.

Pineapple Fried Rice, from Jet Tila at Wazuzu, Wynn Encore
3 tablespoons vegetable cooking oil
3 to 4 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon ginger, peeled and grated
3 tablespoons shallots, diced
1 egg (optional)
4 ounces bacon, diced
4 cups day old rice
2 to 3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 to 2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 1/2 cups pineapple, diced
2 to 3 green onions, chopped
2 teaspoon white pepper
3 tablespoon cilantro leaves, chopped

Pour the oil into a large skillet or wok and swish it around until all of the cooking surface is covered. Pour out the remaining oil and heat the wok over a high heat. Add the garlic, ginger, and shallots and cook them until they are light brown. Add the bacon and cook until the pieces are slightly crisp, around 1 minute. If you want to add an egg to your fried rice, crack it open while cooking the bacon and mix it around until the egg becomes scrambled.

Fold in the day old rice using the back of your spoon so you don’t break the rice grains. Add the fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, and curry powder, and continue to stir the rice for about a minute. Stir in the pineapple and incorporate it well into the fried rice. Cook the rice for another few minutes, folding all of the ingredients into the mixture. Add the green onions and white pepper, and check your seasonings to see if you need to add more fish or soy sauce. Serve the fried rice with a sprinkle of chopped cilantro on top.

We love Indian food, but despite the ethnic food riches available in Las Vegas, we’ve struggled a bit to find much good Indian cooking here (though there is one new candidate). In any case, one of my favorite dishes has always been Chicken Tikka Masala. I know it’s not very “real” Indian cuisine, and it’s not particularly fiery, but I love it all the same. This recipe isn’t tikka masala, but it’s really close — and, maybe, even better. The sauce is a rich, mild, creamy tomato-based one that’s got really deep and comforting flavors. Of course, anything with this much butter should! But in any case, definitely try this one out. If you’ve got leftover chicken or turkey laying around, you could just use that and skip the separate marinating and cooking, and just put the meat into the sauce. You’ll miss a little of the flavor, but not much. This curry recipe makes enough for 6 people at $1.85 per serving.

Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken), from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s The River Cottage Meat Book

1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breasts

For the Tikka Marinade:
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 tablespoon lime or lemon juice
2 tablespoons garam masala
2 teaspoons chile powder
2 teaspoons ground mixed spice (some mix of cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and ground ginger)
2 teaspoons ground fenugreek
golf ball-sized piece of fresh ginger, grated
4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 to 2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
2 to 4 green chiles, finely chopped

For the Tomato Sauce:
1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes
small nugget of fresh ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 to 3 small green chiles, finely chopped
5 cloves
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water

For the Makhani Sauce:
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons tomato puree
4 teaspoons honey
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon fenugreek
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon black pepper

Mix together all of the ingredients for the tikka marinade and then add the chicken. Let the chicken marinate for at least 4 hours in the fridge, although overnight is preferable if possible.

Take out the marinated chicken from the fridge and grill it when you are ready to make the curry. We put our chicken on the bbq, but you can easily cook it on a griddle, or even roast the chicken breasts in the oven.

Put all the ingredients for the tomato sauce into a pan and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and gently simmer the sauce for 20 minutes until it has nicely thickened. Rub the sauce through a sieve and set aside the strained sauce.

To complete the sauce, melt the butter in a large pan, add the ground cumin, and let it sizzle gently for a couple of minutes. Add the reserved tomato sauce, and bring it back to a gentle simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add the tomato puree, honey, cream, fenugreek, lime juice, and black pepper, and continue to simmer, stirring gently, for about 5 minutes, until the sauce is rich, thick, and creamy. Finally, add the cooked chicken, mix and heat through, simmering for a final 5 minutes.

Serve the curry with plain white rice and lots of naan bread to soak up all that creamy sauce.