HOW TO PREPARE COCONUT RICE

                  A little about the Nigerian Coconut Rice

In Nigeria, we have coconut jollof rice, coconut fried rice, my vegetable coconut rice and then the ultimate Nigerian Coconut Rice. In this dish, coconut is the main ingredient, every other ingredient is there to enhance the flavour of coconut. If you use too little, it will taste bland. That being said, it is still a savoury dish so don’t go overboard with the coconut flavour or it will taste like a dessert.

Coconut rice has the tendency to become soggy and burn, so you will need to adjust the cooking temperature at different times. You can use fresh whole coconut, canned coconut milk or coconut powder. If extracting milk from fresh coconut, use a mature coconut to get the full coconut flavour. If using coconut powder, then make coconut milk from the powdered coconut.

Homemade Coconut milk from whole coconut

I make my Nigerian Coconut Rice with a lot of onions, fresh pepper and tomatoes. I don’t fry the tomatoes, this way it adds a lot of freshness to the dish and gives it a tinge of colour.

To prepare Nigerian coconut rice

4 cups rice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 medium onions
8 scotch bonnet (fresh pepper)
1 (400ml) can coconut milk OR 1 1/2 cup homemade coconut milk
3 cups stock+water 
500g fresh tomatoes
3 tablespoons ground crayfish
2 teaspoons dry thyme
4 seasoning cubes 
salt

Optional spices and herbs
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon crushed ginger
curry leaves (partminger)
scent leaf

Process fresh coconut to extract the milk. Use about 2 cups of water (Do not throw away the chaff, see below).

Wash rice, place in a pot, add enough water to cover the rice by about 1 inch. Boil until halfway done. Drain rice in a sieve, rinse under cold water to cool it down and stop further cooking. Set aside in the sieve.

Slice onions and tomatoes, chop pepper's. Place a clean dry pot over medium-high heat, add vegetable oil and fry onions.

When it is soft, add chopped pepper and fry for 30 seconds.

Pour in coconut milk, stock and water to make up to 4 cups of liquid or just enough liquid to cover the rice.

Add sliced tomatoes, crayfish, thyme, crushed seasoning cubes and any other optional spice you decide to use. Stir and cover.

Bring to a boil, taste and add salt.

Pour in the parboiled rice and scent leaf or curry leaf (Partminger), stir and cover.

Cook until the rice is almost dry, stir gently and turn down the heat to a very gentle simmer.

Cook until all liquid has been absorbed.

If the rice is still hard, sprinkle some water over it, cover and keep steaming until the texture is right.  Allow it to dry, then you can serve