As for any typical Palaghat Iyer, with parents from Kerala (southern India), any dish without coconut, had no identity growing up.
Coconut was the key ingredient in any dish, you name it. May it be part of main course meal such as vegetable dishes (Poriyal), Kootu, Avial, Sambhar, Thuviayal, or breakfast items such as Puttu, sevai, coconut rice, or desserts such as ada pradaman, shakkara pongal to just name a few. When I married an Iyengar, who was not used to all this coconut business in his meals, it took him very little time to understand that he would ever get a meal with NO coconut in it.
In the US, one of our favorite restaurants to eat out was Thai. Anybody wants to guess why? Well, it is the coconut milk in their dishes that made the cut. Both me and my hubby were fans of the Tom Ka soup (Vegetarian soup with coconut milk) and any curry dish made with coconut milk. I also loved their Thai tea that was the sweetest tea I have ever tasted with loads of coconut milk.
In all potlucks, the signature dish that I would bring to the table is coconut rice made the south Indian style. So, when I thought of making something new yesterday and came upon the recipe with coconut milk.. I was intrigued, inquisitive to see how a savory dish will turn out with the sweetness of coconut milk for it did not have any hot spice that Thai cooking entails.
Rice with Coconut milk
Courtesy: The Little Big Vegetarian Book - Page 376
Ingredients: 1 finely chopped onion, 1 clove garlic, 5 cloves, 1/2 stick cinnamon, 1-2 tsp garam masala (you will get it in Indian store), 2 Tbsp ghee (clarified butter or refined oil), 2 cups short grain rice (I used Kolam rice), salt to taste and 1 liter coconut milk (used 200 ml Tetrapak coconut milk).
Saute the onion, garlic, cloves and cinnamon in ghee/oil in a wok/pan until light golden brown. Add salt, garam masala and coconut milk (200 ml) and cook for 3-5 min. The recipe asks for you to add 1 litre of coconut milk and cook the rice in low heat. Since I already had cooked rice, I decided to add only 200 ml of coconut milk with the cooked rice and mixed it up well like fried rice. The moisture from the coconut milk was good to not let the rice stick to the pan and let it cook for 3-5 min in low heat to absorb the flavor. Serve it hot with Cucumber Raita (cucumber yogurt salad).
Cucumber Raita: Take a bowl and add grated cucumber (2-3) and finely chopped green chilli (2-3) with plain yogurt. Add dash of salt and red chile flakes.
Both of us were wowed by the unique taste of spicy coconut milk in the rice and we never experienced this taste before which was neither South Indian nor Thai. It went very well with the Raita that I had made on the side. There were no leftovers!
I totally
recommend this dish for you to try as it is easy to make and take my
word, delicious.
Coconut was the key ingredient in any dish, you name it. May it be part of main course meal such as vegetable dishes (Poriyal), Kootu, Avial, Sambhar, Thuviayal, or breakfast items such as Puttu, sevai, coconut rice, or desserts such as ada pradaman, shakkara pongal to just name a few. When I married an Iyengar, who was not used to all this coconut business in his meals, it took him very little time to understand that he would ever get a meal with NO coconut in it.
In the US, one of our favorite restaurants to eat out was Thai. Anybody wants to guess why? Well, it is the coconut milk in their dishes that made the cut. Both me and my hubby were fans of the Tom Ka soup (Vegetarian soup with coconut milk) and any curry dish made with coconut milk. I also loved their Thai tea that was the sweetest tea I have ever tasted with loads of coconut milk.
In all potlucks, the signature dish that I would bring to the table is coconut rice made the south Indian style. So, when I thought of making something new yesterday and came upon the recipe with coconut milk.. I was intrigued, inquisitive to see how a savory dish will turn out with the sweetness of coconut milk for it did not have any hot spice that Thai cooking entails.
Rice with Coconut milk
Courtesy: The Little Big Vegetarian Book - Page 376
Ingredients: 1 finely chopped onion, 1 clove garlic, 5 cloves, 1/2 stick cinnamon, 1-2 tsp garam masala (you will get it in Indian store), 2 Tbsp ghee (clarified butter or refined oil), 2 cups short grain rice (I used Kolam rice), salt to taste and 1 liter coconut milk (used 200 ml Tetrapak coconut milk).
Saute the onion, garlic, cloves and cinnamon in ghee/oil in a wok/pan until light golden brown. Add salt, garam masala and coconut milk (200 ml) and cook for 3-5 min. The recipe asks for you to add 1 litre of coconut milk and cook the rice in low heat. Since I already had cooked rice, I decided to add only 200 ml of coconut milk with the cooked rice and mixed it up well like fried rice. The moisture from the coconut milk was good to not let the rice stick to the pan and let it cook for 3-5 min in low heat to absorb the flavor. Serve it hot with Cucumber Raita (cucumber yogurt salad). 
Cucumber Raita: Take a bowl and add grated cucumber (2-3) and finely chopped green chilli (2-3) with plain yogurt. Add dash of salt and red chile flakes.
Both of us were wowed by the unique taste of spicy coconut milk in the rice and we never experienced this taste before which was neither South Indian nor Thai. It went very well with the Raita that I had made on the side. There were no leftovers!
This sounds delicious and simple, will definitely try it out! I have heard of some people making pulao by cooking rice in coconut milk, but never really tried it myself thinking it might make it sweet. Will try your recipe :)
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