COCONUT RICE

Coconut rice is almost like jollof rice but with a different recipe especially the addition of coconut which gives it different aroma and taste!

Ingredients 

*    Rice - 3 cigar cups | 750g 

*    Tomato Stew 500 mls 

*    Coconut Milk 600 mls 

*    Chicken

*    Pepper 

*    Salt 

*    Onions

*    Seasoning – 3 Maggi cubes & Thyme (1 teaspoon) 

Preparation

1.    Prepare the tomato stew if you don't have some in the freezer. It is advisable to prepare tomato stew before hand and keep in the freezer. This is so that whenever you want to cook any jollof rice related dish, it is just a matter of adding it to your cooking. 

2.    If you will use whole chicken, wash and cut the whole chicken into pieces. Place the pieces in a pot; add water till it just covers the pieces of chicken, add the chopped onions, stock cubes and thyme and start cooking. The cooking time depends on the type of chicken. The rooster or cockerel cooks much faster than the hen but the hen is tastier.

3.    Cooking till done and add salt to taste. Put the pieces of chicken in a sieve to drain, then fry with vegetable oil. You can also grill it in an oven. This is to give it a golden look which is more presentable especially if you have guests for dinner.

4.   Extract the coconut milk by removing the meal from the shell, wash and cut into pieces, place in a blender and add small quantity of water and grind into a smooth paste. After blending, extract the chaff by sieving it in tiny holes sieve and use hand to squeeze milk out of the chaff as much as possible.

5.    Parboil the rice, wash the parboiled rice and put in a sieve to drain. 

6.    Pour the chicken stock, coconut milk and the tomato stew into a selected pot. Set on the stove to boil. 

7.    Add the drained parboiled rice, salt and pepper to taste. If necessary, top up with water to bring the water level to the same level as the rice. This is to ensure that all the water dries up by the time the rice is cooked. 

8.    Cover the pot and leave to cook on medium heat. This way the rice does not burn before the water dries up. Confirm that the rice is done by tasting it. That’s the way coconut rice is cooked.