This Coconut-Turmeric Rice is a simple flavorful dish recipe that combines aromatic and beautiful ingredients in one pot. You’ll love this healthy colorful vegan side dish.
Vegan | Gluten-free | Soy-free
This is such a long time overdue recipe. I think I first made this recipe a little over a month ago, and I wasn’t able to photograph it until last week. So, it’s about damn time!
Growing up Puerto Rican means that you could have rice for breakfast, lunch & dinner without a care in the world. However, sometimes plain rice can get boring real quick, so I often find myself trying to come up with different ways to get creative with rice.
So, let’s spice it up a bit! With ingredients like coconut milk and turmeric, you can make a flavorful, hearty, and satisfying dish, that’s packed with nutrients! Think of this recipe as a traditional Thai coconut rice but with a classic Caribbean twist.
Get to know the ingredients:
Turmeric: Contains curcumin, a substance with powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Due to its many positive health effects, such as the potential to prevent heart disease, Alzheimer’s and cancer, curcumin may aid longevity. (Retrieved from Healthline 2020)
Coconut: Particularly high in calories, saturated fat, and fiber. It also contains a variety of minerals, including manganese, copper, selenium, phosphorus, potassium, and iron. Look for unsweetened or raw products to minimize your sugar intake. (Retrieved from Healthline 2020)
How To Make Turmeric Coconut Rice?
First thing’s first, you can use any medium grain rice: white, whole-grain, basmati or jasmine rice. But note, that the lighter the rice the brighter the end result will be.
After washing and draining your rice of choice, saute garlic, onions, sofrito, carrots, shredded coconut and celery with some coconut oil in a large pot. Then mix in the rice, along with coconut milk, veggie stock and turmeric. Bring to boil, and then simmer for about 30 to 45 mins, or until all the liquid has evaporated.
Pair with your favorite side dish like: vegan chicharrones de pollo, vegan popcorn chicken, jackfruit pernil, caramelized onions pierogies, crispy tofu tenders, etc.
I love to prepare this recipe as a weeknight dinner, it’s so flavorful, hearty, satisfying, and furthermore healthy. And there’s always leftovers for the next day’s lunch.
Notes:
- This recipe can be easily doubled and adjusted.
- I suggest using unsweetened, full-fat coconut milk.
- Leftovers will last up to 5 days in the fridge.
Recipe: Coconut-Turmeric Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked rice, washed & drained
- 1 (13.5oz) can of coconut milk
- ¼ cup veggie stock
- ½ tbsp avocado/olive oil, (or vegan butter)
- Optional: 2-4 leaves of recao (culantro)
- Optional: 1 tbsp sofrito
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 1 medium carrot, diced or shredded
- Optional: 2 tbsp coconut flakes
- ½ -1 tbsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp ground paprika
- Salt & pepper to taste
Procedure:
- In a large pot, heat avocado oil; add onion & garlic to cook until fragrant and translucent, for about 3-4 minutes.
- Afterwards, add sofrito, carrots, celery, leaves of recao (culantro) and coconut flakes, to cook for an additional 3 minutes. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
- Then mix in the washed/drained rice; make sure it’s completely incorporated and allow to cook for about a minute or so. This will help give the rice an umami flavor.
- Stir in the coconut milk and vegetable broth; both combined should give you about 2 cups of liquid. Add the turmeric & paprika, along with salt & pepper to taste. Cover pot and bring to a boil.
- Cook on a low simmer for 30-45 minutes, or until the liquid has evaporated then turn off the heat.
- Serve with your favorite sides: vegan chicharrones de pollo, tostones, avocado, etc. ENJOY!
Recao (culantro) Leafs 
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