Coconut rice is an easy and flavorful rice dish made with fresh grated coconut, tempering spices, curry leaves and rice. It is one of the most basic South Indian foods made for a meal during festivals and occasions. This simple yet delicious coconut rice is flavorful and easy to make. The ingredients like curry leaves, fresh grated coconut, chilies, ginger and hing impart wonderful and unique flavors to the dish.

It is also known as Thengai sadam and kobbari annam in the South Indian regional languages.
It is usually served without any side or accompaniment. However any curry goes really well with this. My mom always made this with a Vegetable kurma or Mix veg curry. Some papads, veg salad & plain yogurt on the side would make a great complete meal.
There are 2 ways a coconut rice is made in South India. The first one is just made by tempering all the spices and curry leaves. To this coconut and precooked rice are mixed. This method of making is the easiest if you have some precooked rice and fresh grated coconut. I have shared this method in this post.
The other version is a one pot dish where the rice is cooked with spices and coconut milk. You can find that version here – Coconut milk rice.
I mostly make this for the kids lunch box and pack with sliced carrots and cucumbers. Kurma curries like potato kurma, paneer kurma, soya chunks kurma also go well with this.
The recipe shared here is a simple one made with basic ingredients. Sometimes I also like adding a handful of grated carrot or little grated raw mango or a tbsp of lemon juice, mint leaves or coriander leaves.
More Coconut Recipes
Coconut milk rice
8 Coconut chutney recipes
Easy Coconut ladoo
Coconut burfi
Preparation
You can skip the preparation section if you have precooked and cooled rice that is grainy. I have shown below how to cook it perfectly to make coconut rice.
1. You can use any kind of rice. Usually in South India ponni or sona masuri is used.

2. Rinse 1 cup rice well a few times and drain the water. Cook the rice in what ever way you like. I usually wash rice thrice and then soak for sometime.

3. Cook rice Method 1: Drain the water and bring 2 cups of water to a rolling boil. Add the drained rice and cook covered on a low flame until fully cooked. Rice must be fully cooked but firm and grainy.

4. Cook rice Method 2: You can also pressure cook in your preferred method. I pressure cook for 2 whistles if using ponni or sona masuri aged rice. If using basmati then you can cook in a pot, then drain off the water. Or pressure cook for 1 whistle with 1¾ cup water.

5. Once fully cooked, fluff it up with a fork and cool completely.

How to make coconut rice
6. Heat 2 tablespoons oil or ghee in a pan. Add the following:
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds (optional)
- 1 tablespoon chana dal
- ½ urad dal
- 12 to 15 cashews
- 1 broken dried red chilli. Saute until the dals turn golden, then add
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 1 to 2 slit green chilies
- 1 teaspoon chopped ginger. If you prefer to keep the cashews crunchy, fry them first and remove to a plate. Then make the tempering.

7. On a low flame fry until the leaves turn crisp, then pour 2 to 3 tbsps water. The water will evaporate soon and soften the chana dal and urad dal. If you want to soften the dals more, add another 2 to 3 tbsps water. When the water evaporates completely, add 1 pinch of hing. I had some bits of coconut left over, I chopped it and added as well. I fried until it turned aromatic and golden.

8. Add 1 to 1½ cups coconut, ½ teaspoon salt and cooled rice. If using frozen coconut, fry the coconut first for a while until hot. Then add rice and salt. Since I used fresh coconut, I prefer not to fry the coconut as the heat in the pan is good enough to partially warm it up.

9. Switch off the stove immediately and mix everything well. Taste test and add more salt.

Serve coconut rice with a simple curry or yogurt and a veg salad.

More Rice recipes
Lemon rice
Ven pongal
Curd rice
Ghee rice
Peanut rice

Coconut rice (Thengai sadam)
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 1 cup uncooked rice (any kind, or 3 to 4 cups cooked rice)
- 1 to 1½ cup coconut grated (fresh or frozen) (adjust to taste)
- ½ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- 1 to 2 green chili (slit or chopped)
- 1 dried red chili (broken to 2 pieces) (optional)
- 2 tablespoons oil or ghee
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds (optional)
- 1 pinch hing (asafoetida)
- 1 tablespoon chana dal (bengal gram)
- ½ tablespoon urad dal (skinned split black lentils)
- 1 teaspoon ginger (fine chopped)
- 12 to 15 cashewnuts or peanuts
Instructions
Preparation
- Wash rice at least thrice and drain the water. If using basmati rice, soak it for 20 to 30 mins.
- To cook rice in pot, bring 2 cups water to a rolling boil and add the rice. Cook covered on a low heat until fully done but not mushy.
- To pressure cook basmat rice, pour 1¾ cups water & pressure cook for 1 whistle. To pressure cook normal rice, pour 2 cups & pressure cook for 2 whistles. The rice must be grainy and not mushy. When the pressure releases, open the lid.
- Fluff up the cooked rice with a fork and cool completely.
- Slit the green chilies, fine chop ginger, and grate the coconut. If using frozen coconut, break up the lumps and loosen the coconut.
Making coconut rice
- Pour 2 tablespoons ghee or oil to a pan and heat it.
- Fry cashews or peanuts until golden. Remove to a plate and set aside.
- Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, red chilli, chana dal and urad dal. Saute them and fry until the dals turn golden and aromatic.
- Then add ginger, slit green chilli & curry leaves. Saute for 30 to 60 seconds until the curry leaves turn crisp. Add hing.
- Optional – Quickly pour 2 to 3 tablespoons water to the pan. This will soften the dals and bring out the flavors of the ginger and curry leaves. If you want your dal to be very soft, then you can add little more water. Cook until all of the water evaporates.
- Then add fresh coconut and sprinkle salt on it. Then add rice. Off the heat. If using frozen coconut, then saute the coconut a bit until it becomes hot. Then add the rice.
- Mix well and taste test. Add more salt if needed. Serve coconut rice with a simple curry or plain yogurt.
Notes
- Avoid using mushy rice.
- You can adjust the amount of coconut to your liking
- Add some lemon juice if you like.
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes


Thila says
HI there
thank you for all your yummilicious recepies 😀
Regards,
Thila
swasthi says
Hi,
You are welcome!
Vijaya Pulivarthi says
Hi, can we use decicated coconut . What changes could be done ?
swasthi says
Hi,
You may try soaking desiccated coconut in little hot milk for a while until it softens. Then use it the same way I mentioned in the recipe. But I am not sure if it tastes the same.
Julie says
I had some fresh coconut and was looking for a recipe to use it. I found this recipe and prepared it last night. It’s so easy and so tasty! My husband loved it. I can’t wait to try some of your other recipes. Thank you!
swasthi says
Welcome Julie
Glad to know it turned out good. Thanks for leaving a comment
🙂
Meenakshi says
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe! I am writing for advice about using frozen coconut. I have some that is in small slices, not grated. Do you have any recommendations for how to prepare it before using it in the rice? I was thinking of frying it slightly and then grinding it.
swasthi says
Hi Meenakshi,
Welcome! You can grind it in a grinder jar to a coarse paste. Add it to the tempering and saute briefly just until hot. Hope this helps
Gaurav Wadhwa says
Thanku so nuch, if came out really good first time only…
swasthi says
Glad to know!
Cameron says
I make this all the time now! Thanks so much for your efforts!
swasthi says
Hi Cameron,
You are welcome!
Sree says
You recipe are soo good . You are indirectly a member of the family to me who is suggesting me the recipe, thankyou me and my family lovin it ❤
swasthi says
Hi Sree,
You are welcome. So happy that you consider me as a member of your family.It means a lot to me! Thank you so much dear!
VASUNDHARA says
SUPER
swasthi says
Thank you
Divya says
Thanks mam very tasty. Ur recipes are very simple and tasty. Am the beginner ur recipes help me to cook better at 1st time itself. Thanks a lot.
swasthi says
Welcome Divya,
Thank you so much for following the recipes. Happy to know they are helpful.
🙂