Savory Indian-style coconut rice, with onions, garlic, grated coconut, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon.
Do you like curry? I love curry of all sorts, served of course with a side of long grain basmati rice. Usually we pay more attention to the curry than we do the rice. But the rice can be a star all on its own.
Lately I’ve been experimenting with coconut rice, not the sweet dessert rice that accompanies mango slices, but the savory type, more like a pilaf, cooked with grated coconut and aromatic spices like cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon. If you like coconut (hello dad!) this one is for you.
I’ve made several versions of this recipe, with clarified butter, with plain butter, with coconut oil. My favorite is clarified butter but the coconut oil version is really good too! I keep eating it and coming up with excuses to make more.
This recipe is loosely adapted from a recipe in a cookbook from the 60s, called A Taste of India,
by Mary Atwood.
Savory Coconut Rice Recipe
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 45 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6
You can use either coconut oil or clarified butter for this recipe. Clarified butter will add a wonderful buttery flavor to the rice if you use it and is more traditional for this Indian style rice. Use coconut oil for vegan option.
To make clarified butter, take 4 Tbsp of unsalted butter and melt in a saucepan on medium low heat. Skim the foam. Strain through cheesecloth into a bowl, straining out the solids. (If pressed for time, you can skip the straining step for this recipe, and just skim the foam.)
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp coconut oil (for vegan option) or clarified butter
- 1 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 clove garlic, minced (1 teaspoon)
- 1 1/4 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
- 2 cups basmati long grain rice
- 1/2 cup grated, unsweetened coconut
- 2 cups unsweetened coconut water*
- 1 3/4 cups plain water
- 3 cardamom pods
- 5 whole cloves
- 1 stick cinnamon
* If you don’t have access to packaged coconut water, add 1 cup of grated coconut to 4 cups of water, bring to a simmer, cover and remove from heat, let sit for 15 to 20 minutes, then strain. Use in place of the coconut water and plain water for this recipe.
Method
1 Cook chopped onions, add garlic, cayenne, salt: Melt coconut oil or clarified butter in a medium sauté pan (that has a cover) on medium low heat. Add the finely chopped onion and cook until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic, cayenne, and salt, and cook a minute more.
2 Add the rice: Stir the rice into the onion mixture to coat with the oil or butter and cook for 3 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
3 Add coconut, coconut water, water, spices, simmer and cover: Add the grated coconut to the rice onion mixture and stir in the coconut water and the water.
Stir in the cardamom pods, cloves, and cinnamon. Increase heat to bring the rice mixture to a simmer.
Lower the heat the low, cover, and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
4 Remove from heat and let the rice steam in the residual heat, covered, for 10 more minutes.
5 Remove lid and remove cardamom pods, cloves, and cinnamon. Fluff with a fork.
