Purple rice with coconut bok choy

Hi, lovely readers. I created this dish, purple rice with coconut bok choy, by simply combining ingredients that “go along” with each other. This recipe is perfect for all my vegan friends, but also for vegetarians and for the all-eaters as well. Rice is the base of the dish. As you could guess, I used the purple rice. Then I chose bok choy, lemongrass, lime and cilantro.

Let me say just a couple of words about cilantro; you love it or you hate it. Somehow, some people say it tastes like soap. Well, I am lucky. I taste the real cilantro. The ones of you who are unlucky, simply use parsley or maybe Thai basil. Back to the recipe. There is one more ingredient, that is a must. What better than coconut to bring all these ingredients together? The creamy coconut milk is a great choice.

Ingredients for 2-3 portions of purple rice with coconut bok choy:

• 120 g rice
• 3 small bok choys
• 200 ml coconut milk
• 1 red chili
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2-3 tsp of peanut oil
• cilantro
• 1 lemongrass
• 1 lime
• 1-2 lime leaves
• salt

Start with preparing the rice. Put a spoon of peanut oil in a pot. Slightly smash the lemongrass with the back side of your knife. Like that it will release all the aromas. When the oil gets hot, add the lemongrass and rice. Stir until it gets glossy and shiny. Then pour in the water, a pinch of salt and cook for about 8-10 minutes. Remove the lemongrass.

In the meantime, clean and chop the garlic and chili. Cut off the bottom of bok choys, in order to separate single leaves. Wash them and the lime leaf as well. Drizzle some peanut oil in a larger pan, add the lime leaf, chopped garlic and chili. After a minute add the bok choys to the pan.

Season well and add the coconut milk. I always use the canned coconut milk. I think is way more creamy than other coconut milk products. Yummy! Then, reduce the heat, cover and cook for about 5 more minutes. Wash and roughly chop the cilantro. Don’t forget to remove the lime leaf from the pan.

Just before serving the purple rice with coconut bok choy, sprinkle it with some cilantro. At the end add a slice of lime. I guarantee you’ll love this dish. It doesn’t matter, vegan or not.

Enjoy!