Coconut milk rice is a simple one pot traditional rice recipe made by cooking rice in coconut milk along with spices. The aroma of this coconut milk rice is simply exceptional & outstanding. It is usually eaten with some curry or a raita. Coconut milk rice is quite popular in coastal regions of South India & is made in many ways.

This recipe is from my mum which she would prepare on weekends to go with a chicken curry or veg kurma or egg curry.

Coconut milk rice can also be eaten without any accompaniment & it tastes good on its own. Just use enough green chilies to spice it up.

This recipe requires no unusual ingredients and can be made with just some pantry staples.

Step-by-step photos

Preparation

1. Wash and soak rice till your coconut milk gets ready.

2. Grind chopped coconut pieces or grated coconut with 1.5 cups water. Filter and extract the milk. Use 1 1/2 cup coconut milk. Set this aside. Alternately you can use store bought milk.

3. Heat ghee in a pan, fry cashews, add little coconut fry until fragrant. Set aside. sauté all the spices and green chilli for a min.

saute spices in ghee for coconut milk rice

4. Add ginger paste.

5. Fry until it begins to smell good.

fragrant ginger in ghee for coconut rice recipe

6. Add veggies if using, and fry for a min or two.

7. Pour the coconut milk and water. Add salt as well. Taste the milk and add more salt if needed. The milk has to be slightly salty.

addition of milk salt for coconut milk rice recipe

How to make coconut milk rice

8. While the milk comes to a boil, drain the rice to a colander. When the milk begins to boil rapidly, add the rice. Mix well.

addition of soaked rice for coconut milk rice recipe

9. Cook till the rice is done fully.

cooking rice on a low heat to make coconut milk rice recipe

10. You can cover and cook. If rice is under cooked, you can sprinkle little water and cook further. If cooking in a pressure cooker, allow the cooker to whistle once. Next if using normal rice 2 whistles.

pressure cook covered for coconut milk rice recipe

11. When the pressure goes off, open the lid and fluff up the rice.

fluffing up andhra style coconut milk rice

12. Once the rice is done, garnish with fried cashews and fried coconut. coconut milk rice is ready to serve.

Tips to make coconut milk rice

Coconut milk: This recipe can be made with canned or fresh coconut milk. We usually make this with fresh homemade coconut milk which includes the thin and the thick milk. Thin milk is the second extract and thick milk is the first extract.

If using the canned coconut milk that is too creamy then dilute it with equal amount of water and use.

Rice: Any non sticky variety of rice works well. We usually use the short grain rice or the aged basmati rice. Any kind of fragrant rice too works wonderfully well. Just ensure you rinse the rice well to avoid turning it to a sticky texture.

Spices: We use whole spices to infuse the aromatic flavors to the coconut milk rice. This makes a lot of difference to the rice but you may skip them if you do not have. I use bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms, cumin & star anise. You can use whatever you have in hand.

Mix veggies are optional in the recipe and can be skipped. You may just add a single veggie too like peas. Traditionally we use soaked chana dal but sometimes I use mixed veggies like carrots, peas, beans and corn.

This way I ensure that we do not miss our daily quota of vegetables.

Nuts: I have used cashew nuts here for garnishing which you can skip completely or even include some raisins if you desire.

To make this coconut milk rice fragrant with subtle aroma of coconut you can also garnish with some toasted coconut.

For more Coconut recipes
Coconut chutney
Easy Coconut ladoo
Easy Coconut burfi

More simple rice recipes
Lemon rice
mint rice
Veg pulao

Recipe