Coconut Rice

Alvina Mangrai’s Burmese prawn curry was the recipe featured in our first ever Cooking with Grandma video. In the video, Alvina shows her granddaughter Alyssa how to make the curry that she first learned to make when she was pregnant and living in the United States after moving from Burma. To accompany the curry, she suggests making this coconut rice. Pat Tanumihardja, author of the blog The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook, transcribed the recipe and shared it with CHOW. She’ll also include it in her book, due out in either late 2009 or early 2010.

Game plan: To make perfect rice every time, Alvina suggests sticking your middle finger into the pot and letting it sit gently on top of the leveled rice; the liquid should come up to just below the second joint. This measurement seems to work regardless of finger size, the amount of rice, or how big your pot is!

Photograph by Michael Skrzypek