Coconut Fried Rice

Coconut fried rice is rice cooked in coconut milk and stock rather than water, then combined with fried vegetables. It is made across an enormous range of countries, from the Indian subcontinent through Southeast Asia to South and Central America, East and West Africa, the Caribbean and Oceania, which is why no single country is claimed for it. In Nigeria it is a party dish, and the version here reads that way: turmeric for colour, cabbage and mixed vegetables, habanero, and hotdog sausages as an optional addition, which is a distinctly Nigerian party-food touch. It sits alongside jollof rice and fried rice on the same table. The name is slightly misleading, and the source acknowledges it. This is rice cooked in coconut milk rather than fried rice in the strict sense: the coconut milk and stock are absorbed during cooking, and the vegetables are fried separately and folded through at the end. That order matters. Cooking the rice in the coconut milk is what gets the flavour into every grain, and frying the vegetables separately keeps them from going soft in the liquid. The frozen vegetables need to be thawed and patted dry, or their water thins the whole thing.