Background
My first experience eating coconut rice was at a Burmese restaurant called Mingalaba and it blew my mind. It was my first taste of Burmese food and I loved it so much. I quickly learned that coconut rice is a popular side dish in many cultures around the world like India, Thailand, and Africa. It pairs perfectly with many dishes, specifically Thai curry like beef panang because it’s a simple and sweet flavor to the spicy and flavorful curry dish.
Ingredients in coconut rice
What’s great about this recipe is that it’s also vegan since it doesn’t contain any dairy. This easy recipe has a few ingredients:
White riceFull fat coconut milkWaterSugarSalt
Type of rice to use
I like to use Jasmine rice for this recipe because it’s commonly served with Thai and Burmese cuisine. I’ve also seen other recipes call for basmati or other types of long-grain rice. Long-grain rice is good to use for this dish because it won’t be too sticky or mushy because of the addition of thicker, full-fat coconut milk.
The coconut
For this recipe, I like to use full-fat coconut milk from a can to get a better flavor of coconut rice. I would stick with coconut milk instead of coconut cream because coconut cream is typically thicker and may give you thicker consistency after the rice is cooked.
How to make the coconut rice
To make matters easier in my life, I like to pop all the ingredients in the rice cooker to cook while I prep my other dishes for dinner or lunch. On my rice cooker, I use the regular rice setting and it finishes in about 25 minutes. If you don’t have a rice cooker you can also cook this on the stove in a similar way as my cooking Jasmine rice on the stovetop recipe. Just make sure to whisk the wet ingredients beforehand to incorporate the sugar and salt properly. Other options to cook rice are using an Instant pot and microwave.
How to serve and store
This basic coconut milk rice dish goes well with so many different dishes. For me, I like to eat it with different Asian dishes like Panang curry, kare kare, or other easy Asian recipes. I think dishes that are rich curries or stews go well with this dish. You can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for about four days. To reheat, just use your microwave in 30-second intervals until it’s nice and warm.
