Green Coconut Rice
A vegan coconut rice that's made even better cooked with kale and spinach blended with coconut milk! A lightly sweet, aromatic rice that's a healthy side dish.
Yield: 3 cups
Equipment
- blender
Materials
- 1 cup (205 g) sushi rice (or jasmine, basmati, etc)
- 1 cup (25 g) kale leaves, washed & tightly packed
- 1 cup (30 g) spinach leaves, washed & tightly packed
- ⅔ cup (160 ml) water (see notes)
- ½ cup (120 ml) coconut milk (shake can well)
- 2 tablespoons coconut or vegetable oil
- ½ cup yellow onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 1¼ tsp salt (or to taste) (I use Diamond kosher salt)
- coconut chips or flakes, unsweetened, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Place rice in a large bowl. Fill with cool water and stir and swish rice with one hand. Pour off cloudy water and repeat this 2-3 times or until water runs clear. Fill bowl with fresh water and leave to soak while you prep.
- In a blender, combine the kale, spinach, water and coconut milk. Blend until thoroughly smooth. Measure off 1-1/4 cups of green liquid (the amount you get can vary with how tightly you pack the leaves, etc). Discard any extra you may have. If you don't have enough, top off with more water.
- Drain rice. Heat a medium sized pot (that has a tight fitting lid) over medium high heat. Once hot, add the coconut or vegetable oil. Add the onions. Cook, stirring often, until the onions are soft and translucent but not brown. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the rice to the pot. Stir to coat with the oil. Pour in the green liquid and add the salt. Stir to combine.
- Bring to a boil, cover with a lid and immediately lower heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and leave covered to steam and rest for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Garnish with coconut chips and serve.
Notes
-it's best to use a heavy bottomed pot to cook rice on the stove.
-rice may also be cooked in a rice cooker. Add the sauteed onions and garlic, rice, green liquid and salt to a rice cooker and cook on the "sushi rice" setting.
-if using a different type of rice, make the blended green liquid as directed but add more water/coconut milk to get the amount of liquid you need for that particular type of rice. See your package instructions of rice for amount needed.
-coconut milk may be omitted entirely if desired. Just use all water for the liquid amount required.
*recipe adapted from Bryant Terry's Vegetable Kingdom.