‍Hi !!! It feels great to know that you are on this side of the internet reading my blog post on how to cook coconut rice.

The coconut rice recipe I will be sharing today is a Nigerian recipe and I have added some tips and tricks on how to get a perfectly cooked fresh coconut rice that is not just delicious but nutritious.

As the name implies, coconut rice is cooked with coconut milk and I believe the best coconut milk for coconut rice is gotten from fresh coconut.

Some popular Nigerian coconut recipes are;

• Coconut tapioca recipe.
• Coconut candy
• Coconut Chips Recipe – Sweet Coconut Flakes
• Coconut fried rice
• And many more

Your line of thoughts may be going towards asking how to get fresh coconut.

In Nigeria, fresh coconut is not a scarce commodity because you can easily buy it at most local markets.

But if you are outside Nigeria, you want to cook fresh coconut rice and do not know where to get coconut. Do not worry, you too can easily get fresh coconut.

The world is now a global village, and the internet is a viable tool to searching for scarce commodities.

Simply open Google and type “fresh coconut near me”. You will be amazed at how fast and easy what you otherwise thought was unavailable will be at your fingertips.

Using this same method, if you crave /miss eating coconut rice but do not have time to cook it, the internet can also come to your rescue too.

Type “coconut rice near me” on Google and you will be able to find the restaurants to have coconut rice on their menu as well restaurant reviews so that you do not end up wasting money.

But if you would like to cook delicious and fluffy coconut rice with a touch of spice, then you should try this recipe.

Ingredients for coconut rice

1 coconut

1 cup rice (I used Nigerian rice)

1 cup vegetable oil

3 cooked Chicken drumsticks

1 cup Chicken broth/stock

1 medium sized onions

4 cayenne pepper (shombo)

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon seasoning powder

1 teaspoon rosemary

6 efirin (basil leaves)

5 cups water

 

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Cooking Procedure

• Clean efirin leaves with clean water and finely slice it
• Drain the coconut water by puncturing one of the holes on the coconut with a key or any pointy object
• Separate the coconut flesh from the shell
• Put the separated coconut flesh into a blender
• Add 2 cups water and blend
• Get a bowl and a sieve
• Pour the blended coconut into the sieve to separate the coconut milk from the chaff
• Set the coconut milk aside
• Blend the onions and peppers to a rough texture
• Pour 3 cups of water into a pot and add the rice
• Parboil for 5 minutes and drain the rice water by simply pouring it into a basket or colander
• Pour 1 cup of groundnut oil into the frying pan and lightly fry the cooked chicken drumsticks
• Take out the fried chicken and pour ¼ cup of the hot oil into a clean pot
• Add the blended pepper and onion mix
• Add salt, seasoning powder and rosemary and stir fry for 1-2 minutes
• Add the chicken stock and coconut milk
• Stir and cover the pot and allow to boil
• When it starts boiling add the parboiled rice and cook for 25 minutes or till you achieve the desired softness depending on the type of rice you are cooking
• After rice is properly cooked to your satisfaction sprinkle the sliced basil leaves all over it and mix well
• Delicious Coconut rice is ready to be served with fried chicken and any cold drink of your choice

You can also watch this recipe on my YouTube channel click here . Also you can subscribe to my YouTube channel to get notifications everytime I post new recipes

Cooking tips for fluffy coconut rice. 

Most Nigerians like there rice fluffy which is commonly referred to as “standing one one” and not gummy or clumpy.

As always I believe sharing the tips I use to cook my coconut rice that makes it fluffy instead of gummy would go along way.

So here are some helpful tips;

1. Always removes as much excess starch from your rice as possible. The easiest way to do this is to parboil your rice for about 5-7minutes first. Then you have to drain out the hot rice water.
2. Always cut the coconut flesh into small pieces before blending. After removing the coconut flesh from the shell the next thing to do is cut the coconut flesh. Unless you are using an industrial blender , you should first cut your coconut into small pieces with a knife. This will make blending and coconut milk extraction easy.