Coconut Rice Bowl
Fragrant coconut rice topped with quick-pickled vegetables, edamame and a lime-peanut drizzle.
Cooking rice in coconut milk instead of water changes it completely, giving a soft, faintly sweet base that needs sharp things around it. Quick pickles and a lime-heavy peanut sauce provide exactly that contrast.
Watch
Video coming soon
How to make Coconut Rice Bowl
Ingredients
Quantities scale automatically. Cooking times stay the same.
Coconut rice
Quick pickles
Lime peanut sauce
To serve
Equipment
- Saucepan with tight lid
- Small bowls for pickling
- Whisk
Method
-
1
Start the pickles
Warm the rice vinegar, sugar and salt until dissolved, pour over the carrots, cucumber and onion, and leave for at least 15 minutes while everything else cooks.
-
2
Rinse the rice
Rinse the jasmine rice in several changes of cold water until it runs clear. Skipping this gives you sticky, gluey coconut rice.
-
3
Cook the coconut rice
Combine the rice, coconut milk, water, salt and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil, stir once, then cover and reduce to the lowest heat for 15 minutes.
-
4
Rest it
Take the pan off the heat and leave it covered, untouched, for 10 minutes. Then fluff with a fork. Lifting the lid early ruins the texture.
-
5
Whisk the peanut sauce
Whisk the peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, maple syrup and garlic, adding warm water a tablespoon at a time until it pours in a thick ribbon.
-
6
Build the bowls
Spoon the coconut rice into bowls, add the drained pickles and edamame, drizzle generously with peanut sauce, and top with herbs, peanuts and chilli.
Cook’s tips
- Use full-fat coconut milk. Light coconut milk is mostly water and gives you plain rice with a faint smell of coconut.
- Stir the rice only once, at the start. Stirring releases starch and turns it claggy.
- Make double the pickles. They keep two weeks and improve almost any bowl or sandwich.
Variations
- Add crispy tofu, grilled prawns or shredded chicken for more protein.
- Swap peanut butter for almond or sunflower seed butter if you need it nut-free.
- Use brown jasmine rice, increasing the liquid and cooking time to 35 minutes.
Storage and make-ahead
Components keep 4 days separately; pickles last 2 weeks. Coconut rice hardens when chilled, so reheat with a splash of water under a lid to steam it back.
Nutrition per serving
| Calories | 574 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 18 g |
| Carbohydrates | 68 g |
| Fat | 26 g |
| Fibre | 8 g |
| Sugar | 10 g |
| Sodium | 680 mg |
Nutrition is estimated from ingredient averages and will vary with brands and portioning.
