I don’t cook very often. By “cook” I mean making a non-dessert. I’m usually exhausted after work, so I don’t have the energy to make something just for myself. It just seems like so much effort for so little output. Baking desserts, on the other hand, usually results in something that can be shared with a bunch of people. Maybe I’m just trying the wrong recipes for non-baking…
Even though I’m not a big fan of coconut in general, one thing I really do enjoy is coconut rice, which you can often find at Thai restaurants. It seems simple enough to make, so I thought I’d try to make some at home. It’s basically jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk. I just wonder how this dish came to be. I mean, coconut milk is not the most natural thing to cook rice in. Probably somewhere in Thailand, there was some kind of conversation. Perhaps between a married couple named Alice and Bob (or whatever the Thai equivalents would be).
Alice: Say Bob, would you mind putting the rice on the stove? I want some rice with my chicken satay tonight.
Bob: Okee dokee, I’ll throw some rice on.
[Bob gets the rice out of the cupboard.]
Bob: Honey, I cook the rice in water, right?
Alice: Yes, dear, water.
Bob: OK. And… where’s the water?
Alice: Aiya, do I need to do everything myself? Get the water out of the [mumble].
Bob: Wha? [pretending his hearing isn’t going] Oh OK, out of the can then.
[Bob reaches into the cupboard and gets an unmarked can out and opens it.]
Bob: [thinking to himself] Gosh this is cloudy water. Must be calcium or something. Well, it’s from a can, so it has to be safe, right? Right.
[Bob dumps the contents of the can, which is actually coconut milk, into a saucepan, and dumps some jasmine rice in.]
Bob: OK baby, I started cooking the rice!
Alice: Thanks hon! You’re the best! Just make sure you stir it so it doesn’t burn.
[Bob stirs occasionally for the next half an hour, while occasionally checking out Alice’s butt while she’s doing step aerobics in front of the TV.]
Alice: Is it done Bob? Can you check?
Bob: Yeah, it looks like it’s soaked up all the water, and it’s nice and soft. Time for some chicken satay!
Alice: OK! I’ll just grab the chicken satay and stick it in the microwave.
Bob: I love when you cook!
[Alice heats up the chicken satay, and they both sit down at the table. Bob puts some rice in a bowl for Alice.]
Alice: [sniffing the rice] Bob, where did you get this water?
Bob: Oh I used that can from the cupboard, like you said.
Alice: Aiya Bob, you’re going deaf. I said faucet, not can. Jesus, that was coconut milk!
Bob: Ruh roh. Is the rice bad then?
Alice: Well… we may as well give it a try. I mean, coconut milk is perfectly good, potable liquid.
Bob: OK.
[Alice and Bob try the rice with the chicken satay.]
Alice: Oh this is marvelous! I bet with a bit of salt and sugar, and maybe some shredded coconut, this would go well with curries and barbecue meats too!
Bob: I’m a culinary genius!
OK so that’s probably not how it went. I’m guessing it’s a really old recipe that predates the microwave, and it was probably a lot more intentional than the imagined dialogue above. But I did find an easy recipe for the rice cooker. You just set it and forget it!
Coconut Rice
2 rice cooker cups (about 1 1/2 real cups) jasmine rice
1 can (400 ml) coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons shredded coconut
I just washed the jasmine rice and put it in the rice cooker, along with the rest of the ingredients, and stirred them together.
Yeah, it just looks like a bunch of white liquid with little white bits. Then I set the rice cooker to cook the rice as normal.
Less than an hour later, it’s done! For some reason, the rice crept up the sides, leaving a little crater in the middle. I don’t know why, since it doesn’t do that for regular rice.
I love the smell of coconut rice. This recipe actually makes a not-so-sweet coconut rice, despite the addition of the sugar and the sweetened shredded coconut. I suspect you’d just have to increase the sugar and/or coconut to make it sweeter, but I like it to not be too sweet when I’m eating it with my entree.
I guess it’s kind of cheating to call this “cooking” when all I did was mix a bunch of stuff together and stick it in a rice cooker.