This South Indian Coconut Rice Recipe is a mildly spiced and light rice dish cooked with fresh coconut. A perfect light recipe that can be served along with kurma, sambar or a thin South Indian curry. Here is how to make it.
Rice and coconut – oh, the combination seems so great, right?
This South Indian Coconut Rice Recipe recommends cooking rice with grated coconut along with dals, curry leaves, and more.
A simple meal, that is apt for your weeknight dinner or to pack in your Lunchboxes.
Coconut is an ingredient that defines South Indian cuisine.
It is added to almost every dish, be it Chicken in Coconut Gravy, Ulli Theeyal, Coconut Chutney, and even desserts like Nariyal Ki Barfi.
And I absolutely love the flavor coconut brings to these dishes.
It is often made during the festivals of Navratri and Pongal.
The prasadam or naivedyam at temples usually comprises of curd rice, coconut rice, and pongal.
Although freshly grated coconut is the best to use, you can even use grated and stored coconut, which may not taste the same.
This rice is also a one-pot dish since you can even add different assorted veggies to make it filling and wholesome.
You can also try other South Indian rice recipes for your weekday meals such as – Curd Rice, South Indian Tomato Rice, South Indian Lemon Rice, and Ellu Sadam.
About the recipe
It is a mildly spiced and light South Indian dish cooked with fresh coconut.
It has a delicious taste and is also easy to make.
Rice is cooked along with fresh coconut and is tempered along with dal, curry leaves, dry red chillies, and cashews.
Coconut is roasted until light brown and then mixed with rice, as it lends a beautiful recipe to this dish.
Serving Suggestions
Sambar, Rasam, Kurma, or any spicy thin South Indian curry will go well with coconut rice.
You can also serve it with pickle, raita, and papad.
A spicy curry-like Kerala Style Mutton Curry or an Egg Roast pairs well with it too.
Storage Suggestions
Coconut rice can be frozen in a freezer-safe container.
To reheat it, first, thaw on the counter for 2 hours and then microwave until warm.
How to make it with Coconut Milk?
In some homes, this rice dish is made using freshly extracted coconut milk.
Rice is cooked in this milk and then tempered. You can try it too.
All you have to do is replace water with thin coconut milk while cooking the rice.
Keep the remaining process the same.
What if I don’t like hard Chana Dal?
I like the crunch that chana dal gives to this dish. But I know some people who don’t like it.
In that case, you can soak the chana dal for a few hours and then drain and use it in tempering.
It will not be hard and crunchy then.
Step by Step Recipe
Heat coconut oil in a pan.
Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, chana dal and hing to it. Let them crackle for a few seconds.
Add curry leaves, dry red chilies and cashew nuts and fry till cashew nuts are slightly browned.
Add green chilies and grated coconut and fry for 2-3 minutes until coconut is slightly browned.
Now add salt and cooked rice and mix gently. Serve hot with Curd or any curry.
Coconut Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Cooked rice
- 2 tbsp Coconut oil
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
- 2 tsp Urad dal
- 2 tsp Chana dal
- 1/4 tsp Heeng
- 15-20 Curry leaves
- 3-4 Dry red chillies
- 10-12 Cashew nuts
- 1 Green chilli (Chopped)
- 1 and 1/2 cup Fresh grated coconut
- Salt (To taste)
Instructions
- Heat coconut oil in a pan.
- Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, chana dal and heeng to it.
- Let them crackle for a few seconds.
- Add curry leaves, dry red chilies and cashew nuts and fry till cashew nuts are slightly browned.
- Add green chilies and grated coconut and fry for 2-3 minutes until coconut is slightly browned.
- Now add salt and cooked rice and mix gently.
- Serve hot with Curd or any curry.
Notes
Enid
Gourmet
msnehamathur
Thnx 🙂
Douglas Hernandez
Hi, I tried this recipe today and I’m not sure if I overcooked some of the ingredients, because it was a bit too “crunchy” and dry. It felt like I was biting small rocks, maybe is the black mustard seed I used? What could I have done wrong? And can I ask you how can I make it more creamy? Can I add coconut milk?
Neha Mathur
Some people don’t like the crunchy Chana Dal. You can either skip adding it or soak the dal in water for sometime before adding. This is otherwise a very basic recipe and I don’t think if you follow the ingredient measurements properly, there is any chance of screwing up 🙂 Make sure your rice is cooked properly.