Nigerian Coconut Rice

The Nigerian party rice cooked in coconut milk with blended peppers, onion, thyme, and crayfish until each grain is separate, creamy, and gently hot

Origin: Lagos & the Nigerian Coast

From the journey of Coconut.

Coconut rice is one of the three rices of the Nigerian party table, served beside jollof and fried rice at weddings, birthdays, and Sunday gatherings. Parboiled long-grain rice is cooked in coconut milk and stock with a blend of red peppers, Scotch bonnet, and onion, seasoned with thyme and curry powder, and finished with ground crayfish, which gives it the smoky, savoury edge of the southern Nigerian kitchen. The result is rich and faintly sweet from the coconut, warm rather than fierce from the pepper, and fragrant with the sea. The coconut is at home on the Lagos coast. Portuguese traders brought the palm to the Gulf of Guinea in the sixteenth century, and in 1876 the Catholic mission on Topo Island at Badagry, west of Lagos, planted Nigeria's first coconut plantation; the Badagry coast now holds some two million palms. Lagos cooks the nut in other ways too, from the Good Friday frejon of its Catholic families to the toasted coconut candy sold by roadside hawkers.

Ingredients

Rice

500 g long-grain parboiled rice, rinsed
400 ml coconut milk
400 ml chicken or beef stock

Pepper Base

2 red bell peppers (tatashe)
1 Scotch bonnet pepper (ata rodo), or to taste
1 onion, half blended with the peppers and half sliced
3 tbsp coconut oil or vegetable oil

Seasoning

1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp curry powder
2 tbsp ground crayfish
1 stock cube, crumbled
1 tsp salt, or to taste
150 g peeled prawns or dried shrimp (optional)
2 spring onions, sliced, to finish

Method

Blend the bell peppers, Scotch bonnet, and half the onion to a smooth paste.
Heat the oil in a heavy pot and fry the sliced onion until soft. Add the pepper paste, thyme, and curry powder and fry for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until the raw smell has gone and the oil begins to separate.
Add the coconut milk, stock, stock cube, and salt, bring to the boil, and taste: the liquid should be well seasoned.
Add the rice, stir once, cover tightly, and cook over a low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender. Add a splash of hot water if it dries before the rice is cooked.
Scatter over the crayfish and prawns, cover again for 5 minutes, then fork through gently, add the spring onions, and serve.

Notes

Parboiled rice holds its shape best in coconut rice; if using ordinary long-grain rice, reduce the liquid by about a fifth. Serve with fried plantain, peppered chicken, or coleslaw, as at a Nigerian party.

The Gastrographer

Name: Nigerian Coconut Rice
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Lagos & the Nigerian Coast
Ingredients: 500 g long-grain parboiled rice, rinsed; 400 ml coconut milk; 400 ml chicken or beef stock; 2 red bell peppers (tatashe); 1 Scotch bonnet pepper (ata rodo), or to taste; 1 onion, half blended with the peppers and half sliced; 3 tbsp coconut oil or vegetable oil; 1 tsp dried thyme; 1 tsp curry powder; 2 tbsp ground crayfish; 1 stock cube, crumbled; 1 tsp salt, or to taste; 150 g peeled prawns or dried shrimp (optional); 2 spring onions, sliced, to finish

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control