Recipe Coconut Fried Rice

Recipe Coconut Fried Rice - Coconut fried rice is another delicious variation of the basic fried rice. It is quite easy to prepare and always a welcomed change from the usual Nigerian fried rice.
Although the difference isn't that much, the simple addition of coconut; be it in form of coconut milk, coconut shavings or coconut oil; will surely excite your palate.
Here's how to prepare a delicious, rich and flavorful Coconut fried rice, with a lot of tips, so you can't go wrong with this one.
++Nigerian fried rice recipe
++Egg fried rice recipe

Ingredients
• 500g long grain white Rice
• 200ml Coconut Milk(click to see how to make coconut milk)
• 1 handful Coconut flesh/meat(optional)(check below ingredients tip)
• 300ml Chicken stock/broth Or Water(check below ingredients tip)
• 100g cleaned Shrimps(fresh or frozen)(you can also use fried liver or beef)(optional)
• 2 large Carrots
• 1 handful/50g Green Peas or Runner Beans
• 1 large Green bell pepper
• 1 large Red bell pepper
• 1 handful/ 50g Sweet corn(from the can)
• 1 large Onion bulb
• 2-3 tablespoonful Curry Powder
• 1½  teaspoonful Garlic Powder
• ½ tablespoonful Black or white pepper (optional)
• ½ teaspoon ginger powder/ grated ginger (optional)
• 1-2 Cooking spoonful Vegetable Oil/Coconut oil(see how to make coconut oil)
• 2-3 stock cube/seasoning cube 
• Salt (to taste)
 
Notes:
 - If you want a strong coconut flavor you can make use of coconut oil and also add some finely grated coconut(coconut shavings) during the stir-fry, but for a mild taste only coconut milk will be fine.

Cooking Directions
1a. The first step is to prepare the ingredients for the coconut fried rice.
If you don't have chicken stock, See how we prepared it in Nigerian fried rice recipe.
You can also use plain water, but you'll have to add extra seasoning to make the coconut fried rice as tasty as when stock is used.

1b.  Parboil the Rice using this method HERE; place in a sieve to drain out excess water.
Tip: Parboiling helps to reduce the starchy content of the rice which makes the grains to clump together when cooking, if you are ''anti-parboiling'', no problem, but I strongly advice this when making coconut fried rice because the oil from the coconut milk tends to clump the rice and makes it sticky if you don't work smart. But that's just my opinion.

Now to prepare the Vegetables 
 1c. Wash all the vegetables. Peel the carrots & cut into small sizes.
  Dice the onion, Remove the seeds of the green  and red bell peppers & cut into smaller sizes.
  Remove sweet corn from can, rinse and strain.
Tip: Fresh veggies are the best for coconut fried rice, frozen vegetables can also be used(after thawing/defrosting).
1d. Place the carrots & green peas in boiling water for 3 minutes, strain out and place in a bowl of cold water, leave to cool in the water, then pour into a sieve and set aside.
Tip: this method is called blanching. It helps to par-boil the vegetables without cooking it through, thereby cutting down the stir-frying process. It also helps to preserve the vibrant color of the vegetables.
If you like crunchy carrots, you can skip this step.

2. Pour the chicken stock and coconut milk  into a large pot and bring to a boil.
As the mixture begins to boil , add 1 seasoning cubes(stock cubes), 2 tablespoons curry powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, half of the diced onions and salt to taste. Mix well and add the parboiled rice. Leave to cook on medium heat.

Tip: The liquid should be at almost the same level as the rice, so that it dries up completely when the rice is done.
If you don't have stock, double the seasoning you'll be using and use water and coconut milk
3. When the rice is almost done or starts to bubble, place the cleaned shrimps on top of the rice and leave to cook until done. Mix well, open up the pot and leave the rice to cool a bit.

4. Heat up the oil; add the diced carrots, sweet corn, peas, red&green bell pepper, coconut shavings and diced liver/meat(if using); then add the white/black pepper, ginger, and the remaining garlic, curry &seasoning cube to taste, stir fry for 1 min and transfer all the veggies into a bowl.

Coconut fried rice CANNOT be classified as fried rice if it is not stir-fried, so we will be doing that in small batches as we do with all our fried rice recipes.

5. Divide the stir-fried vegetables into equal portions depending on how much your frying pan/wok/skillet can take.
  Place a portion of the stir-fried vegetables into the pan; add a portion of the cooked coconut rice and gently stir-fry for about 2 to 3 minutes to get enough heat into the rice.
   Repeat this process for the remaining rice and vegetable mix. 

And now you have a delicious, rich and tasty Coconut fried rice. You can serve accompanied with Crispy Chicken, Salad, moi- moi  or fried plantains. ENJOY!
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