Rice cooked in coconut milk with a few diced vegetables and finished off with pickled peppers and cilantro makes an easy and exciting side dish for several types of meals.
*See Kitchen Notes for more information.
Taste and add more salt if needed
Rice - I usually use Jasmine, but basmati also works.
Coconut milk – This recipes works with coconut milk of any level of fat. For a rich dish, use a high fat coconut milk (22%), also called coconut cream. Lower fat content milks yield a lighter dish, but quite delicious.
Pickled peppers – Sweet and spicy pickled cherry bomb peppers yield a very special flavor, but almost any type of pickled pepper can be used. Just be aware that different pepper have different flavor profiles, so pick one you enjoy.
Why “pickled” peppers? I like a little acid in coconut rice to cut the sweetness of the coconut. That’s why I always add lime. The vinegar of the pickled pepper supplied the acid.
Green Onion (Scallions) – If you don’t have green onion, do not fear. Regular onion works great. Just replace the green onion with 1 cup diced onion.
Fish sauce – If you are vegan or vegetarian, omit the fish sauce of course. Also, I know a lot people that don’t keep fish sauce in their fridge, so if you don’t have any, just leave it out. The dish will still be quite delicious.
Recipe author: MJ of MJ's Kitchen