Coconut Rice is an easy, tasty and vegan Indian fried rice perfect for accompanying spicy curries or the main course dishes.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Jump to:
About Coconut Rice
If you travel across the coastal and southern regions of India, one rice dish that you will easily find everywhere is coconut rice. It is also known as Thengai Sadam. The word ‘Thenga’ means coconut and ‘sadam’ is for rice.
Coconut Rice is nothing but a bowl of vegetarian fried rice made with cooked rice, coconut, cashews, and other staple South Indian ingredients. Like any other fried rice recipe, it is too an ultimate comfort food that you can enjoy during any hour of the day.
The addition of curry leaves, red chilies, chana dal, and urad dal not only gives a crunch to the rice but also a subtle flavour.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- easy one-pot dish
- meal prep friendly
- gluten-free and vegan
- perfect for toddlers and kids
- compliments spicy curries, and meat dishes
Ingredient You’ll Need
- Rice: Leftover cooked rice is my first choice for making thengai sadam. Use short to medium-grain rice.
- Coconut: Fresh coconut is the key to making a bowl of delicious coconut rice. You can use frozen grated coconut as well. Avoid using packaged desiccated coconut.
- Tadka (tempering): Black Mustard Seeds (rai), White Urad Dal, Chana Dal, Curry Leaves, Dried Red Chilies, Grated Ginger
- Nuts: Add either cashew nuts or peanuts.
- Salt, Coconut Oil, or any other cooking oil
Watch Coconut Rice Video
Serving Suggestion
What to serve with coconut rice? It is one side dish that tastes excellent with a variety of South Indian Curries like prawn ghee roast, chicken Chettinad, mutton stew, or any other fish curry.
For a pure vegan meal, you can serve it with dal, veg stew, or any vegetarian curry.
I like to enjoy it on its own on busy weekdays for a quick lunch. You can pack it for kids’ school lunch boxes. Easy to eat, digest, carry around and remains fresh for hours.
More Indian Rice Recipes
- Chana Pulao
- Pudina Pulao
- Vegetable Pulao
- Mushroom Pulao
- Paneer Tikka Pulao
- Curd Rice (Thayir Sadam)
- Lemon Rice (Elumichai Sadam)
follow us on Youtube and Instagram for video recipes.
Coconut Rice Recipe (Thengai Sadam)
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoon coconut oil
- 2 teaspoon black mustard seeds (rai)
- 1 teaspoon chana dal (Bengal Gram)
- 1 teaspoon white urad dal
- 2 dried red chilies
- 2 tablespoon curry leaves
- 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
- ¼ Cup cashews (kaju)
- ½ Cup coconut, grated
- 2 Cup cooked rice
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil in a stir frying pan or wok.
- Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, chana dal, urad dal, red chilies, curry leaves, and ginger. Saute for less than 1 minute or till urad dal turn light golden.
- Add cashew, and saute till they become light golden followed by the grated coconut. Do not fry the coconut for too long as it might burn and taste bitter.
- Add cooked rice, salt, mix and stir fry the rice for 2 minutes more. Turn off the heat. Coconut Rice is ready to serve.
Recipe Notes:
- Use only fresh grated coconut for making this fried rice. Do not use dry desiccated coconut. Both have different tastes and textures.
- Do not fry the coconut for too long as it burns very fast and then tastes bitter.
- Pre-cooked rice is always the best choice for making any type of fried rice.
- I prefer making a large batch of coconut rice and storing it in the refrigerator. Transfer the leftover fried rice to an airtight container. Seal and store in the refrigerator for 1 week. Reheat in a microwave before eating or in a frying pan.
Leave Your Rating & Comment