Coconut Chicken and Rice is a dump it and forget about it kind of meal! Throw uncooked rice and veggies in a pan and be amazed as they get cooked to perfection in creamy coconut milk broth. Top the coconut rice & veggies with rotisserie chicken and a coconut-cilantro sauce and enjoy!
PREP: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Very generously spray a glass or ceramic (not metal) 9x13-inch pan. Without shaking, open the can of coconut milk and remove 1/3 cup of the coconut milk solids and put into a small blender or food processor. Pour the remaining coconut milk into the prepared 9x13-inch pan.
BAKE: Right into the pan with the coconut milk, add the uncooked basmati rice, chicken stock, soy sauce, 1 tablespoon olive oil, ginger & garlic, salt to taste (I add 1/2 teaspoon) entire package of un-thawed edamame, and unthawed frozen corn. Stir with a wooden spoon until ingredients are incorporated. Spread in one even layer and cover tightly with foil. Bake for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, remove the foil and bake for 15 more minutes.
SAUCE: Meanwhile, shred/chip chicken into small pieces and prepare the sauce by blending together the 1/3 cup coconut milk, remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/2 cup cilantro, 1 tablespoon jalapeno, 3 tablespoons lime juice + 1 teaspoon zest, and salt to taste (I add 1/4 teaspoon). Blend until JUST combined and cilantro is broken down (don't over blend) and place in the fridge until ready to use.
ADD CHICKEN: Once dish has baked for 15 minutes without the foil, remove from the oven. Don't stir. Sprinkle the chicken over top of everything and then drizzle 2 tablespoons lime juice and 1 teaspoon zest over everything. Cover dish again with foil. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.
ENJOY: After 10 minutes, gently mix everything together and lightly fluff rice with a fork. Serve on plates and generously drizzle sauce over everything on individual plates.
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Notes
Note 1: I recommend Imperial Kitchen's coconut milk. Be sure to not shake it up to combine -- we want to pull out the cream for the sauce. If there is no separated cream from liquid in your can, it's okay, the sauce will just be a little less thick. Note 2: We tested this recipe with all different kinds of rice and the only one we found success with is basmati rice. Other grains of rice gave very inconsistent results -- ranging from very mushy to unevenly cooked (some hard grains/some mushy)Note 3: Chicken stock is very important to flavor -- use a full bodied (not low sodium) stock. We love Swanson's stock best.Note 4: OR use fresh ginger and garlic; simply grate (with a microplane) ginger root and individual garlic cloves into the dish -- no other preparation necessary.Note 5: Coarsely chop a jalapeno without seeds or ribs and measure to get 1 tablespoon.