Tag: coconut milk
Quinoa Cooked in Coconut Milk
I am doing a week of quinoa recipes- the first is a simple version with coconut oil and milk…
I love making quinoa regularly. It is a healthy grain my whole family enjoys eating. The good thing about it is that it absorbs any amount of flavor. This one has delicious coconut oil and coconut milk which gives the dish a great nutty flavor.. enjoy!
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 cups coconut milk
Heat a medium saucepan with the coconut oil. Add the quinoa and salt. Saute on medium heat, stirring constantly for a minute. Add the coconut milk and stir. Bring to a boil and simmer according to box ingredients- usually about 15 to 20 minutes.
Coconut Rice
The rice dish goes really well with the kumquat chicken I posted yesterday. Since it had so much flavor, I wasn’t looking for a starch that would compete with the protein. I knew I wanted to serve the chicken dish with rice and coconut kept coming to mind- especially because Spice Market in NYC serves Thai inspired food.. and when I think of Thai, coconut comes to mind.
I saved all the lemongrass stalks and kaffir lime mixture from the dressing for the chicken and added it to the coconut milk. I let the milk simmer with the aromatic herbs till it reduced down to two cups. This ensured tons of flavor… yum!! I added jasmine rice to the delicious broth and cooked the rice.
It is amazing how delicious the rice was- I could make a meal out of it- just the rice. I obviously tasted amazing with the chicken dish. Try this rice dish with any Asian inspired dish- you will never make plain rice again…
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Coconut Chicken Curry
I have been holding cooking classes in my house for high school teenagers. I recently had a second one where I had three classes back to back and had a total of about 20 students. It was a lot of fun interacting with the kids and teaching them some delicious dishes. One of the dishes we made was this coconut chicken curry. Usually a chicken curry takes a while to make. My cooking classes last for about an hour and a half .. and so I wanted to make sure we have plenty of time to cook this dish as well as a rice pilaf. In order to make it quick, I used several tricks. One was to marinate the chicken over night with garlic, ginger, cilantro and lemon juice. The other thing I did was to roast a whole onion in the oven till it was soft and gooey.
When all the ingredients came together, it took no time at cook it up. The curry was delicious with the addition of coconut milk.
The kids really enjoyed the food and thought it was quite easy to replicate…
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Chicken Red Curry with Green Beans
I think I will do Asian dishes this week. Chinese New Year just passed. We love going into Chinatown to eat all the yummy food, especially during New year. Even our favorite local Chinese restaurant had some amazing dishes this year.
This particular dish is a fusion of Chinese and Thai cuisines. I used the prepared red curry paste and added coconut milk. I used the delicious, long green beans I got from a local Asian market. Overall, the dish was a tad bit spicy for my daughter, but she ate it, while sipping lots of milk.
I served the dish with a lime coconut jasmine rice- it was absolutely delicious.
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Coconut Rum Flan
Flan is my all time favorite dessert. I grew up eating it and love everything about it. My Mom would serve it to us with a drizzle of fresh cream. It was the most glorious dessert ever.
Over the years I have tried making it- but have not been very successful. The flan usually doesn’t invert well and breaks apart. The reason is not enough eggs- I don’t like the custard dessert too rich so I don’t end up adding too many eggs. So my solution is to have my Mom make it for us every time she comes to visit. She doesn’t have a set recipe for me to follow and I have never watched her make it.
Last year I modified a recipe and tried it- no luck- it broke apart. Finally the other day while I was cooking for some friends, I decided to make flan. I was watching food television and saw someone make coconut rum flan. That is all I needed to get inspired. I tweaked the recipe to my taste and came up with this recipe.
I am thrilled with it. The texture is perfect- soft yet firm. It is not too sweet- exactly the way I like it. Everyone enjoyed it a lot. I also like it because I can make it with low fat milk and although it has quite a few eggs- at least the dessert has protein.
For caramel
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ cup water
Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved, then wash down any sugar crystals from the side of pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water. Boil, without stirring, swirling pan occasionally so caramel colors evenly, until dark amber.
Pour into the glass dish and swirl so caramel coats the bottom.
For flan
- 1 cup 1% milk
- 1 (14 ounce) low-fat coconut milk
- ½ cup sugar
- 5 eggs
- 2 tablespoons dark rum
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut, toasted
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
You will need a round 9-inch glass dish and a large roasting pan.
Heat the milk and coconut milk with the sugar until the mixture simmers. Whisk the eggs, add the rum, salt and vanilla extract in a small bowl. Add ½ cup of hot milk mixture to the egg mixture and mix well. Add the tempered egg mixture into the milk mixture mixing well. Strain the entire mixture before pouring it into the glass dish.
Place the glass dish into the roasting pan and fill the roasting pan with hot water- about ½ inch high. Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes until just set but still wobbly in center. Refrigerate over night or at least 2-3 hours.
Top with the coconut and serve chilled.
Dry Spice Shrimp Curry
I have been making this shrimp dish for at least six or seven years. I remember one of my husband’s friend had come over for dinner. He and his wife are from Switzerland and were living here in the US for a few years. They loved Indian food and wanted to come over for a meal. I made this dish for the first time then and haven’t stopped since. He devoured the dish and actually finished it. Even years after that meal, he talked about it anytime we met.
I made this dish since it was very different than my usual shrimp concoctions- which tend to be more North Indian style. This one has coconut milk but also has a very interesting mix of spices. The cumin seeds, peppercorns, fenugreek seeds and the dry chilies are roasted and then ground to a powder. The mix is then cooked with the onions, ginger and garlic. The spice mix gives the dish a very earthy, almost sweet and spicy flavor. It has flavors found in dishes from Kerala– South of India.
I am fascinated by all the seafood and meat dishes in the South of India. The flavors and spices are so different than what I grew up with in the North. I am always trying to find new recipes to cook and enjoy! This is definitely one of them. It’s in my repertoire, especially when we are entertaining.
We had friends coming over and so I made this dish amongst others- it was a big hit as usual. Definitely give it a try next time you entertain…
- 1 pound jumbo shrimp, cleaned with the tails off
- 3 tablespoons extra light olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 inch piece of ginger, minced
- 10 to 12 curry leaves
- ¼ cup crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup coconut milk
- Salt
Spice Mix
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon peppercorns
- ¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- 2-3 dry red chilies
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro for garnish
Dry roast cumin seeds, peppercorns, fenugreek seeds and red chilies in the oven or on the stove until they are aromatic. Let cool and grind them in a spice grinder to form a powder. Keep aside.
In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil on high heat. Saute the shrimp for about 30 seconds on each side. Take out and keep aside. In the same oil add the onion, ginger and garlic. Saute on medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the dry spice mix and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes and coconut milk. Mix well and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and salt. Cook for another minute or so, careful not to overcook the shrimp. Garnish with fresh cilantro.
Coconut Lemongrass Rice with Spinach
Everyone has rice in their pantry. I have a few different ones in mine. I have the Indian basmati which is my ‘go to’ rice. I also have Jasmine– to use when I am making Asian dishes- it isn’t as aromatic as the previous but has a very nice sticky texture that goes very well with stir-fries, etc. I also keep brown rice– I have started using more of it now. It is so healthy and I personally love the nutty flavor of it. It is not as quick to cook as the others so it requires a little more planning. Lastly I have Arborio rice- for risottos. I love making risottos- all kinds- with shrimp, mushrooms, peas, asparagus- the sky is the limit (I just realized I have not posted any risotto recipes on this blog!- will have to do it very soon!). Anyway, a few other things I always have to make all the different kinds of rice I mentioned, are chicken broth and coconut milk. I used to cook my rice with water but realized a few years ago how much flavor these liquids impart.
I was thinking about the lemongrass rice I had at Ming Tsai’s restaurant, Blue Ginger. It was creamy and buttery with a subtle citrus flavor. I decided to use coconut to cook this rice since it is always on my mind and I thought the mango shrimp would go really well with the creamy rice. If you cannot find lemongrass, lime zest can be easily substituted. I also needed to make a vegetable with the dinner- so I decided to add baby spinach in the rice. It worked well with all the flavors and best of all with the cilantro I added, my daughter didn’t even notice she was having a vegetable!
So, my question to you is- what is your ‘go to’ rice?? Also, what is your family’s favorite rice dish?
- 1 cup jasmine rice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup light coconut milk
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup lemongrass, chopped (just the white part in the center)
- Zest of one lime (If not using lemongrass, add zest of 2 limes)
- Juice of ½ lime (If not using lemongrass, add juice of 1 lime)
- 6 ounces fresh baby spinach
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
In a wide shallow pan, heat the olive oil. Add the jasmine rice and sauté for a minute on medium heat. Add the coconut milk and broth and bring to a boil. Lower the heat once bubbles begin to form on the surface. Once the liquid has evaporated from the top, lower the heat and place the lid on the pan. Cook for 20 minutes. Take the lid off and add the lemongrass, salt, lime zest and baby spinach. Place the lid back and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Turn the heat off and mix the spinach into the rice well. Add the limejuice and taste for seasonings. Garnish with cilantro.