Virundhu Choru/Coconut rice

This is a show-stopper! It’s my all time favourite and I love the way it pairs with all curries and condiments. Again this is so Lankan and Tuticorin. My in-laws are from Tuticorin and they call it ‘virundhu choru’, meaning ‘feast rice’. As the name suggests, this is made on all occasions in our communities. In my house, we always make it with some meat curry, salad, pickle or achar and a vegetable, mostly beet or brinjal. I have had Lamprais with coconut rice as base and it is absolutely outstanding. Lamprais is derived from a Dutch word that loosely translates to ‘food packet’. It’s a combination of a flavoured rice/rice, two or three curries, sambal, achar, vegetable and meat balls or cutlets, all packed in a banana leaf and baked in an oven. Let me assure you, there isn’t an aroma that will whet the Lankan appetite as much as that of a lamprais. Speaking of the coconut rice, I usually use basmathi rice for its rich taste and aroma, but it is traditionally made with the par-boiled rice or ponni rice. Without further rambling, here is the recipe!

Long grained rice, simmered in coconut milk and spices and finished off with roasted cashews!

---

Ingredients

Basmathi or ponni rice – 2 cup

Ghee – 1 tbsp

Coconut oil – 2 tbsp

Shallots (china vengayam) – 5 small

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp

Green chilies – 2 slit

Tumeric powder – ½ tsp

Cinnamon – 2 inch

Cardamom – 3

Clove – 4

Cashews – as desired

Coconut milk – 2 cup

Water – 1 cup

Salt – to taste 

---

Method,

1. Place pressure pan on the stove and add coconut oil.

2. Add whole spices, finely chopped shallots. Add GG paste and cook till the raw smell fades away. Add turmeric, salt, coconut milk and water. Mix well and bring to a slow simmer.

3. Add in washed and soaked (soak rice for half an hour to one hour) and stir once gently.

4. Place the lid and wait until you see steam gushing out of the whistle nozzle. At this point turn the flame to low and place whistle.

5. Exactly time 10 mins and turn off the stove.

6. In a small ladle, heat ghee and roast cashews till they are slightly brown.

7. Open the pressure pan, garnish with roasted cashews and serve.

*Notes

• After cooking, when you open the pressure pan, you will observe that the green chilies and whole spices have settled on the top. This is a good point to weed them out if you do not like any irritants while eating.

• Coconut milk: you can combine all three milk for this; the thick and thin coconut milk can be combined and measured to make a cup.

• For ponni rice, use 2.5x of water for 1 cup of rice.

• If you like the rice to be a little soggy, you can leave it for an extra five minutes on low flame (15 mins instead of 10 mins). You’ll get perfect results. I like mine grainy.

• You can also use either GG paste or whole spices, instead of both. It will still taste good and a little less spicy.