Coconut Rice

Directions

This is a tastey side dish. Another of my mother's recipes.

First you need to make the coconut milk. It's real easy. For this recipe you're going to need 2 cups of coconut milk.

I just buy pre-shredded coconut but you can go through the fun of cracking a nut, and you get the added benefit of the coconut water. There are various ways of making coconut milk. This is the way my mother taught me.

Mix about 4 cups of shredded coconut with 2 cup of boiling water or until you've got a good slurry going. The less water the thicker the milk. Let it cool until it's merely hot to warm. Blend for about 30 seconds, or thereabouts. You're going to need some muslin or a thin cloth to use as a sieve. Pour the milk through the the cloth into a bowl, then gather the cloth like a bag then wring the juice, squeezing real tight. Hopefully you'll have about 2 cups. :D

For the rice:

2 cups of sweet rice

2 cups of coconut milk

Wash rice. Soak rice in cold water 1 hour. Drain well. Place drained rice in heavy saucepan. Pour in the coconut milk. Bring to a simmer, just before boiling. Turn the fire down as much as possible. Leave the lid off. Without stirring, let rice cook until all the liquid is gone.

Place the rice in a steamer. Have the water already boiling, and steam for 15 minutes, with the lid on. Then take the lid off and remove the rice. Stop the cooking process by dumping the rice, upside down, into a bowl.