Coconut rice recipe made with easy ingredients that can be made in 25 minutes. Rinse the rice, add cooked peas, coconut milk. Garnish with lime and cilantro
This rice recipe is going to change up your rice routine because it is simple and delicious. Even the most cooking challenged person can make this and devour it!
The first thing you should know about me is that I am a rice lover!
I am also a rice snob!
If rice doesn’t taste good, you will hear me bellyache about it.
I am Indian, so, eating rice is in my DNA. If I go 3 days without rice, I go through some serious withdrawal pangs. Yes, It is that serious!
For me, no other rice exists. There is only Basmati!
If you don’t mind, please allow me this momentary “shouting from the rooftops” moment. I love everything about basmati rice. It is easy to cook, it gets really long in size when cooked, it is very aromatic and it can be used in any cuisine.
In my case, I am actually going to put it into a Mexican recipe. I think I just sensed you gasp at the thought of fusing an authentic Asian recipe into a Mexican staple!!
Its ok to gasp, but, you will end up loving that Mexican recipe because it was AH-Mazing.
(Yes, I am tooting my own horn)
So, how do you make coconut rice without needing exotic spices?
Most cultures have a version of coconut rice which can be a bare-bones version. Once you have the base version, you can add any kind of spices or ingredients.
My version has only 5 main ingredients: rice, peas, cilantro, lime juice, salt and oil. Those are the bare essentials for a coconut rice recipe. After that, I can add cashews, brown raisins, almonds, cinnamon powder, red onions, tomatoes (duh!), cumin powder, peppers of any kind and the list is endless……..
The most important secret to cooking the perfect basmati is, {drumroll} rinsing the rice!
Yes, you heard that right!
Basmati rice and any rice in general SHOULD be rinsed before cooking. When they are packed, they have husk dust or some rice might have been crushed in the process of transporting it and so many other reasons. All of these junk will take away from the taste of its delicious flavor.
If you want to see my snobbish side, serve me unwashed rice! I will give you an earful about the importance of rinsing it.
What is your favorite rice ingredient?
How to make coconut rice
Coconut Rice
Ingredients
- 1.5 cup Basmati rice uncooked
- 1 cup Sweet Peas thawed
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp lime juice optional
- 1 tsp lime zest
- Cilantro for garnish
Instructions
In a medium sauce pan, add rice. Place the pan under a tap and fill it up half way.
Using your fingers, stir the rice until you see the water start to turn cloudy
Drain most of the water without straining the rice.
Repeat the above 3 steps two more times
Fill the rice with water. I tend to fill up the pan about 3/4 of the way.
Place the pan on the stove top and set it to boil on medium heat
Stir it frequently using a fork
When the rice has fluffed to about 3 times its size, turn off the heat. It shouldn't take more than 20 minutes to fully cook the rice
Use a sieve to drain all the water. Using a fork, stir the rice. This will aerate it and make them fluffy. Set it aside
- While the rice is cooking, prepare the peas. I used 1 cup of frozen sweet peas that I thawed (You can microwave them for 30 seconds). Before cooking them, I removed all the water from it.
In a medium pan, add 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil and warm it up on medium heat
Add 1 cup of thawed peas to the oil
Add 1tsp of salt and stir. Cook for 5 minutes (do not brown them). Turn off the heat and let it stay on the stove.
When the rice is done, gently add it to the peas
Add 1 cup of coconut milk and mix well
Transfer to a serving bowl. Garnish with cilantro and lime zest before serving
Recipe Notes
** Calorie count is for 1 serving (1 person) and it is approximate
Wow! This was my entire dinner tonight. I’ve never rinsed my rice before and I’ve never made Basmati rice. I’m hooked. This whole recipe was one new experience after another. I now have a new way of cooking rice. Hopefully I’ll be amazing people with my new rice cooking skills in the future.
Thank you so much, Karen. I am so happy that you like it. Rinsing the rice makes all the difference in taste. You will definitely wow people with your rice recipe.