Who has not eaten rice prepared with chicken, shrimp or vegetables? Who has not tasted coconut milk, coconut ice cream or shredded coconut on a doughnut or a piece of cake? However, perhaps not everyone knows that both rice and coconut also go very well together in the same dish, and that this is a well-known combination in tropical countries around the globe.
Delicious and easy to prepare
Rice and coconut together? We can indeed combine both foods and prepare coconut rice, either as a side dish or as a savory main course. But it is not only a delicious combination–it is also very quick to prepare, as you can read in several recipes for easy coconut rice.
To easily prepare coconut rice, only these ingredients are needed:
- One cup of rice.
- One cup of water.
- One cup of coconut milk.
- Two tablespoons of vegetable oil.
- One tablespoon of chopped onion or pepper.
- A pinch of salt.
Just cook the rice as you would normally cook plain rice, substituting one cup of coconut milk for one of the two cups of water. Here is a simple procedure:
- Wash the rice to remove excess starch and prevent the grains from forming lumps, unless, of course, you like lumpy rice.
- While the starch is draining out of the rice, put a saucepan over the heat and then sauté the chopped onion or pepper with the oil.
- Pour in the cup of water and bring to a boil.
- When the water boils, add the rice and stir a little.
- Wait for the water to boil again, add the coconut milk and the pinch of salt, and stir gently.
- Cover the pan and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Do you not have coconut milk, but have coconut oil? No problem: substitute two tablespoons of coconut oil for the two tablespoons of vegetable oil. The texture will not be as creamy, but the taste will be just as delicious.
A versatile combination
Coconut rice is a very versatile combination—it cannot only be served as a main course or side dish, but also be prepared as a sweet dish or dessert by adding an extra cup of coconut milk, substituting several tablespoons of sugar for the onion, and omitting the oil. If coconut milk is not available, you can cook the rice with coconut oil, and give it a creamy texture with a cup of condensed milk. If the condensed milk you are using has sugar in it, it is not necessary to add the spoonfuls of sugar.
Gifts from Asia to the world
We are so accustomed to these two foods, accessible all over the world, that we do not realize that rice, coconut, and coconut rice are food gifts from the Asian continent to all mankind.
Rice is a cereal native to Southeast Asia, from the region between China and India. It has been cultivated there for millennia, but its cultivation in the Western hemisphere only became established in the 18th century, first in Portugal and its colonies, then in the rest of the world.
The coconut palm is also native to Asia, or more precisely, to the Pacific area between the Indonesian archipelago and Melanesia. Its first cultivation in the Western hemisphere was also the work of the Portuguese, although in the Caribbean area the spread of coconut trees was mainly due to the Spanish.
Of course, savory and sweet combinations of rice and coconut were first made in Southeast Asia. There are many traditional coconut rice recipes from countries such as India, Thailand, and Indonesia. Several countries in the Caribbean also have their typical coconut rice dishes.
