Fragrant Jasmine rice cooked in a seasoning of fatty, sweet, and salty coconut milk–this coconut rice recipe goes great with a nice curry or flavorful main dish like Panang curry. This recipe will teach you how to get coconut rice in the span of 30 minutes using a rice cooker.
Background
My first experience eating coconut rice was at a Burmese restaurant called Mingalaba and it blew my mind. It was my first taste of Burmese food and I loved it so much. I quickly learned that coconut rice is a popular side dish in many cultures around the world like India, Thailand, and Africa.
It pairs perfectly with many dishes, specifically Thai curry like beef panang because it’s a simple and sweet flavor to the spicy and flavorful curry dish.
Ingredients in coconut rice
What’s great about this recipe is that it’s also vegan since it doesn’t contain any dairy. This easy recipe has a few ingredients:
- White rice
- Full fat coconut milk
- Water
- Sugar
- Salt
Type of rice to use
I like to use Jasmine rice for this recipe because it’s commonly served with Thai and Burmese cuisine. I’ve also seen other recipes call for basmati or other types of long-grain rice. Long-grain rice is good to use for this dish because it won’t be too sticky or mushy because of the addition of thicker, full-fat coconut milk.
The coconut
For this recipe, I like to use full-fat coconut milk from a can to get a better flavor of coconut rice. I would stick with coconut milk instead of coconut cream because coconut cream is typically thicker and may give you thicker consistency after the rice is cooked.
How to make the coconut rice
To make matters easier in my life, I like to pop all the ingredients in the rice cooker to cook while I prep my other dishes for dinner or lunch. On my rice cooker, I use the regular rice setting and it finishes in about 25 minutes.
If you don’t have a rice cooker you can also cook this on the stove in a similar way as my cooking Jasmine rice on the stovetop recipe. Just make sure to whisk the wet ingredients beforehand to incorporate the sugar and salt properly. Other options to cook rice are using an Instant pot and microwave.
How to serve and store
This basic coconut milk rice dish goes well with so many different dishes. For me, I like to eat it with different Asian dishes like Panang curry, kare kare, or other easy Asian recipes. I think dishes that are rich curries or stews go well with this dish.
You can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for about four days. To reheat, just use your microwave in 30-second intervals until it’s nice and warm.
Easy Coconut Rice (Rice Cooker & Stovetop Recipes)
Ingredients
Rice cooker (2 servings)
- 205 g (1 c) jasmine rice
- water for rinsing
- 177 g (6 fl oz) filtered water for cooking
- 113 g (4 fl oz) full-fat coconut milk
- 4.25 g (1 tsp) white granulated sugar
- .8 g (¼ tsp) salt
Stovetop (4 servings)
- 410 g (2 c) jasmine rice
- water for rinsing
- 420 g (14 fl oz) filtered water
- 354 g (12 fl oz) coconut milk
- 8.5 g (2 tsp) white granulated sugar
- 1.7 g (½ tsp) salt
Equipment Used
- Dry measuring cup
- liquid measuring cup
- Whisk or spoon
- Rice cooker or pot and lid
Instructions
Prepping
- Measure the filtered water and set aside. Measure the rice then pour into a strainer.
- In the sink under running water, briefly wash the rice in the strainer until the water turns clear then return the rice to your cooking vessel.
- In a bowl, combine the filtered water and sugar then mix until dissolved.
- Then whisk in coconut milk and salt and whisk until combined.
Method A: Rice cooker
- Add all wet ingredients to the rice cooker pot.
- Make sure your rice maker is on and follow the manual instructions. Our rice cooker provides a “quick” setting along with a “normal” setting. I more often than not choose “quick” because it gives me the same results for a shorter amount of time. While the rice is cooking, do not lift the lid so as not to lose steam.
- Once the rice is done, leave the cooker closed for an additional 5 minutes.
- Open the lid and fluff the rice with a rice paddle.
Method B: Stovetop
- Add all wet ingredients to the pot.
- Put the pot on the stove on medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and cook for about 4 minutes and 30 seconds or until you begin to see the water level get very close to matching the rice. This happens because the rice soaks the water, and the water evaporates a bit.
- Lower the heat to low and simmering, put the lid on the pot, and cook for 15 minutes.
- Turn off the stove, and allow it to rest for 5 minutes covered.
- Uncover the pot and fluff with a rice paddle. Here's what it should look like fully cooked.