My Kitchen, My Sanctuary: Toasted Coconut Basmati Rice

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Toasted Coconut Basmati Rice

I like to browse through things.... touching textures/fabrics on clothes, the flip of magazine pages, etc. I love tearing things out that catch my eye or intrigue me or inspire me. (Maybe this is why Amy and I used to make each other collages in college - oh the many, many hours we spent putting together a solid collage to give to the other.) Obviously, cooking magazines are a favorite of mine. I ripped out the following recipe from an insert MONTHS ago. I'm not sure why it caught my eye or when I thought I would make it. However, I came across it in my recipe envelope (yeah, yeah, I know, I need something a little more organized) over the weekend and thought it would be an easy dish to try out.

Toasted Coconut Basmati Rice
1/2 cup of coconut
1 cup of Basmati Rice
2 Cups how water
sliced scallions

Start with a dash of EVOO in a sauce pan. Heat it up and add the coconut, making sure to keep an eye on it. I promise, it will toast up fast. Keep it moving.

Ready, Ready

Once toasted, add water and basmati rice to the coconut. Heat to boiling and then allow to cook for 20 minutes or thereabouts, stirring periodically. Take off heat, allow to sit covered for a few minutes and give a good final stir. Water should be absorbed.

Daily Education Tip: Basmati rice was a new to me purchase at the grocery store. The varieties available seemed a little overpriced, so I went with a small, moderately priced box (I believe it is $2 something). Basmati Rice is longer than other grains of rice, less sticky and comes from India or Pakistan. I like it much, much better than my go to before: generic 10 minute instant rice. BOOORRRING.... that is so 2008.

Slice up some scallions and either top the rice or go ahead and mix 'em right on in. I clearly love scallions, so I threw a ton in. I had also saved a bit of the toasted coconut for the end to top as well. At first, I thought the rice was sort of bland, but the scallions gave it good flavor and I could taste the sweetness that the coconut had infused into the rice. I portioned into three tupperwares and ate one for lunch the next day. Even better after a day of marinating!