Giant Yum Factor!

I heart jasmine rice. I use it almost exclusively (unless I'm making risotto of course). I can sometimes even find brown jasmine but it's not as readily available as white jasmine. I'm always looking for a new way to make rice too. I got to thinking about how rice would taste made with coconut milk. I actually kept coming back to this thought over and over again over a course of time but kept stopping myself because Nick does not like coconut. But I decided I had to try it so I finally bit the bullet and bought myself a can of coconut milk. I was pretty happy to find that Thai Kitchen sells a lite variety of coconut milk that has 65% less fat and 60% less calories than regular. Who'd a thunk!?


It's very easy to find in any ethnic food aisle at the grocery store. I started out like I always start out my rice dishes... 1-2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter in the bottom of your pan, when melted add 1 cup of dry rice and saute the rice for a minute or so. Shake that can of coconut milk very very good before you use it. The ratio for one cup of dry rice is 2 cups of liquid. The can contains 1 and 3/4 cups of coconut milk so I used 1/4 cup of chicken broth to supplement it. Then added a teaspoon of course sea salt.

Because I had them on hand from the night before, I took out my leftover sauteed plantains and chopped them up to add to the rice.



I added them about halfway through the cooking process. It doesn't take long for the rice to cook and you can just see how creamy and delicious it's going to be.



I served it along side chicken burritos (chicken tenderloins, sauteed with diced tomatoes, lime juice, cilantro, scallions and chilies in a whole wheat tortilla).


This rice was so delicious and like nothing I had ever tasted before. It was creamy and kind of dense. More so than when just making rice with broth or water. The texture was different too. It was really yummy. But did Nick like it? Well when he saw it, he immediately knew I did something different just by how the rice looked. He asked what I did and I said, "why don't you taste it first and then I'll tell you." He did. He's a pretty fearless eater. He loved it. I don't think you could really pinpoint a coconuty taste to the rice. Why not give it a try for something a little different? And don't worry about the plantains if you can't find them. I think it would be delish without them too!