Recipes - Curried Coconut Rice

Most of the time I like my rice plain with a little butter.  I have changed from Jasmine or Basmati long grain rice to sushi short grain.  I love the flavor and the texture.  When I do something else with rice, such as make paella or fried rice, I use the long grain.

I recently posted a recipe for biryani – a wonderful rice dish with lots of spices, especially garam masala.  It should have a slightly sweet taste and added cloves, cardamoms, and cinnamon result in a well-balanced dish.

This recipe for Curried Coconut Rice gives a lot of the same flavor as biryani, but takes far less time.  The flavors are less intense, but the result is a fragrant, delicious dish.

Curried Coconut Rice

* 1 cup basmati or jasmine rice

* 1 cup coconut milk

* 1 cup water

* 1 Tbsp. garam masala

* 1 Tbsp. Madras curry powder

* 5-6 whole cloves

* 7-8 whole cardamoms, pounded

* 2 tsp. unsalted European style butter (my favorite, but regular butter OK)

* salt to taste

- Bring the water and the coconut milk to a boil

- Add the spices and butter and stir well, returning the liquid to boil

- Add the rice, stir with a fork once or twice, lower the heat to a low simmer and cook  for  25 minutes.  If the rice still looks wet, then add five more minutes.

- Let sit for 1 hour (to dry any excess liquid)

- Serve