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Hainan coconut rice
Yēzi fàn (椰子饭): sticky rice steamed inside a whole coconut until soaked with its milk and flesh
Across Hainan island, in Wenchang and Haikou especially, cooks fill whole mature coconuts with glutinous rice and steam them for hours until the rice is sticky, sweet and full of coconut flavour. The coconut is cut open at the table and served in wedges with the white flesh still attached. Look for brown, mature coconuts that slosh when shaken. Soak the rice for 4 hours first. Chef's tip: a cleaver tapped round the shell's 'equator' near the top opens it more safely than trying to saw it.
- Total time
- 120 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Find the softest of the three 'eyes' on each 2 mature brown coconuts and pierce it with a screwdriver. Drain the coconut water into a jug and keep it.
Step 2: Hold the coconut firmly on a folded towel. Tap round it with the back of a heavy cleaver about 3 cm below the top, turning as you go, until a crack appears and a lid lifts off.
Step 3: Drain 7 oz glutinous (sticky) rice and mix with 1 tbsp sugar and 1 pinch salt. Spoon into the coconuts until about two-thirds full.
Step 4: Pour in the coconut water until it comes 1 cm above the rice, topping up with ½ cup coconut milk if needed. Common mistake: filling to the brim; the rice swells and pushes the lid off.
Step 5: Put the lids back, stand the coconuts upright in a steamer (wedge them with crumpled foil) and steam over a medium-high heat for 1½ hours, topping up the water every 30 minutes. Check one: the rice should be soft, sticky and pale cream.
90 minStep 6: Let them rest for 10 minutes, then cut each coconut into 4–6 wedges with a cleaver and serve warm, scraping the flesh off with the rice.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 420 kcal
- Protein
- 6 g
- Carbs
- 52 g
- Fat
- 22 g
- Fibre
- 6 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does hainan coconut rice take?
- About 120 minutes in total: 30 minutes to prepare and 90 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of coconut milk?
- Single cream, same amount (not dairy free).
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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