About:

And the rice!! with coconut  and basil, totally cozy and totally delicious. I loved it! It’s incredibly simple to make.

And it can be served as is for lunch or breakfast or for packed lunch or serve it with chutney/any dip of choice.

I love basil, It’s the best smell, and in my opinion one of the best herbs. So instead of rice with loads of cilantro, which I do love too, I added some basil to this, mostly for a nice summery kick. Pretty sure you are going to love it.

Health Benefits

Basil with a rich green hue and delicate aromatic flavor, fresh basil adds instant interest to a range of healthful recipes. It’s also virtually calorie-free — a quarter-cup serving of chopped basil contains just two calories — and low in sodium. Using fresh basil to flavor your meals makes it easier to skip fatty or salty seasonings

Yields-2-3 servings
Preparation time-20 minutes (cooking time of rice)
Soaking time-1 hour
Cooking time-10 minutes

Ingredients: 

• Brown basmathi rice-1cup
• Grated fresh coconut-1/2cup
• Fresh basil- a handful
• Salt- to taste

For tempering:

• Oil-2tsp
• mustard seeds-1tsp
• cumin seeds-1tsp
• urad dal/split black gram-2tsp
• channa dal-2tsp
• curry leaves-2sprigs
• roughly chopped cashewnuts-8-10

Procedure:

Preparation step:

• Wash and rinse thoroughly brown rice and soak for 30minutes-1hour
• After soaking time-drain water from soaked rice and set aside.
• Now boil enough water in a big saucepan and cook rice until fluffy- once cooked drain water and spread it on a broad plate/dish and let it cool completely.

For coconut rice:

• Heat oil in pan add mustard seeds and fry in medium high flame- as it splutters
• Add cumin seeds, urad dal, channa dal, red chillies, curry leaves, cashew and saute until dal and cashew turns golden brown.
• Add the shredded coconut,Basil leaves to this and stir for a minute or two or until it leaves a toasted aroma.

• Finally add cooked rice, salt and mix gently until well combined and simmer for 2-3minutes or until heated through.
• Check for the seasoning..turn off the flame, garnish with fresh basil leaves.

• Serve hot with

Peanut chutney

Roasted daria chutney

Onion chutney

 Note:

• Make sure the cooked rice is cooled completely and grains are separated- mushy rice doesn’t taste good for this rice.
• Left over rice can also be used.
• Basil can be replaced with fresh cilantro/coarinder.