Coconut rice

Rice is a staple of Kerala and we love eating rice or rice dishes for at least one meal a day. Interestingly, various kinds of rice are cooked in the kitchens in different parts of Kerala. While some like the iconic Palakkadan matta, some others prefer kuruva rice. Biryani rice too is available in many varieties and sizes. While jeerakasala rice is used for cooking biryani in the Malabar area the traditional basmati rice is preferred elsewhere. Delicious and fragrant coconut rice could be prepared using any variety of rice including matta, kuruva, jeerakasala and basmati rice.

Moreover, there are many ways in which the dish could be prepared. The traditional method is to cook the rice in coconut milk. However, it could be prepared by adding grated coconut in the water in which the rice is cooked. While some add shallots others prefer onion. Tomatoes too could be added as per your taste. In Malabar, there are two ways in which fenugreek and curry leaves are either added or not. There is no need to separately add the first and second extracts of coconut milk; you could add as much water depending upon your taste and requirement. The amount of coconut milk too would differ depending upon the time taken for the rice to get cooked. For 1 cup jeerakasala rice, 1 ½ cups coconut milk is required. Meanwhile, matta and kuruva requires 3 – 3 1/2 cups coconut milk. Around 1 ¾ - 2 cups coconut milk is needed in case you are using basmati rice. Check out the pretty simple recipe of coconut rice.

Ingredients
1 cup jeerakasala rice
1 ½ cups coconut milk
¼ cup shallots (crushed)
3 tbsp coconut oil
2 green chillies
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander rice
½ tsp fennel powder
½ tsp garam masala
2 cloves
2 cardamom pods
2 cinnamon sticks
Salt as required
Curry leaves as required

Preparation
Soak the jeerakasala rice for at least half an hour
Heat coconut oil in a pan
Roast cloves, cardamom pods and cinnamon sticks
Now sauté the crushed shallots
Into it add coconut milk
Add green chillies, coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, curry leaves and salt
Mix well
Pour water and allow it to boil
Add the soaked rice when this water begins to boil
When the water boils rapidly, lower the flame to simmer
Cook for 5 more minutes with the lid on
Delicious coconut rice is ready
In case you don’t have time to extract coconut milk, you could add grated coconut and then pour hot water as required.