Delicious Coconut Rice Bowls with curried jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk and topped with crispy tofu, seasonal vegetables, fresh cilantro and mint, with toasted coconut flakes. Vegan with a video.
Always keep your eyes open. Keep Watching. Because whatever you see can inspire you. ~ Grace Coddington
The beauty of this Coconut Rice Bowl is that you can adapt it to seasonal veggies and use whatever protein you prefer! Here we are using tofu as our protein along with asparagus and peas in honor of Springtime. The rice is rich and delicious, cooked in coconut milk with a little curry powder giving it gorgeous color and warm flavor undertones without being overpowering. While the rice cooks, the tofu and veggies are prepped, seared, and sautéed.
Finishing this dish with fresh mint, cilantro, lime, and toasted coconut flakes makes the real magic in this dish! Bright herby toasty amazing flavor and texture that will completely elevate your meal. You really don’t want to leave these out! See all our Buddha Bowls!
Coconut Rice Bowl Video
Variations on Coconut Rice Bowls
- Rice: brown rice or white jasmine, brown or white basmati, or other grain like quinoa (follow cooking directions on package using coconut milk as part of the liquid required and the remaining with water.)
- Protein: chicken, shrimp, or even fish
- Vegetables: green beans, broccoli, snap peas, colorful bell peppers, carrots, cauliflower, spinach, shiitakes, salad turnips
Ingredients in Coconut Rice Bowls
- Jasmine Rice
- Coconut milk
- Aromatics, Herbs, and Spices: ginger, garlic, lemongrass, cilantro, mint, Yellow Curry Powder
- Protein: tofu (or chicken or shrimp)
- Vegetables: asparagus, green onions, peas (or sub broccoli, snow peas, green beans, peppers, or carrots)
- Coconut oil
- Sriracha (or sambal olek)
- Soy Sauce
- Coconut Sugar
- Toasted Coconut Flakes
- Lime Juice
How to make Coconut Rice Bowls
Step one
Cook the rice: Add rice, coconut milk, water, curry powder, salt, and 1 teaspoon of ginger. Bring to a simmer. And cook for 20 minutes.
Step two
Make the Sauce: Whisk together sriracha, soy sauce, and coconut sugar. Set aside.
Step three
Pat tofu dry and cut into thick strips.
Prep veggies. Here we are using asparagus, but you can swap out for your season favorites.
Cutting the asparagus at an angle with cook it more quickly.
Step four
Sear Tofu (or cook chicken, fish or shrimp if using): Heat a pan to med-high (we like cast iron).
Add 1 tablespoon coconut oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Add tofu and sear for about 3 minutes without moving tofu around, flip over and sear for another 3 minutes. Set tofu aside.
Step five
Sauté Veggies: In the same pan that you cooked the tofu in add 1 tablespoon coconut oil sauté asparagus (or other vegetables) for about 1 minute.
Add garlic, lemongrass, ginger and stir over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes, until asparagus is tender. Add green onions and 1 tablespoon of water, scraping the pan to loosen all the stuck bits, cooking for another minute more.
Step six
Combine: Add tofu, sauce, peas, and lime juice, stirring to combine. Take off the heat.
Serving Suggestions
Place rice in the bowls with a scoop of the sautéed tofu and veggies. Liberally sprinkle mint, cilantro and coconut flakes on top.
Storage
Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for 3-4 days. Gently reheat to serve. Coconut rice can be frozen for up to 3 months.
More Bowls recipes you may enjoy
Hope you enjoy!
More Favorite Rice Recipes!
- Moroccan Rice
- Korean Tofu Rice Bowls
- Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice)
- Crispy Sesame Tempeh Bowl
- Miso Salmon Bowls
- Wild Rice Pilaf
Coconut Rice Bowl
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings
- Category: main, vegan main, buddha bowl
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Delicious Coconut Rice Bowl is healthy and adaptable! Curried jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk topped with your choice of protein, and seasonal vegetables all tossed with a simple sauce, fresh cilantro, mint and toasted coconut flakes.
Ingredients
Coconut Rice
- 2 cups rice, (jasmine is nice but other white rice is fine.)
- 1 can coconut milk, about 400ml or 13.5 oz
- 1 3/4 cups water
- 2 teaspoons yellow curry powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt (less if using table salt)
- 1 teaspoons ginger, minced or grated
Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons sriracha (or sambal olek) Adjust to taste- start with less if you like less spice.
- 1–2 tablespoons braggs liquid aminos or lite soy sauce (use half fish sauce and half braggs if desired)
- 2 teaspoons coconut sugar (or other sweetener)
Tofu and Veggies
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 16 oz tofu
- 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons lemongrass, minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced or grated
- 1 pound asparagus, cut into 1 inch julienne pieces (or use green beans, broccoli, snap peas, bell pepper, carrots)
- 2 green onions, chopped
- ——-
- 1/2 cup peas (frozen is fine just give a quick rinse under cool water to thaw quickly)
- juice of a lime, about 2-3 tablespoons
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
- 1/4 cup fresh mint
- 1/2 cup toasted coconut flakes (unsweetened)
Instructions
- Cook the Rice: In a pot with a lid, add rice, coconut milk, water, curry powder, salt, and 1 teaspoon ginger. With the lid on, bring to a simmer. And cook for 20 minutes. Turn heat off and let sit with lid on until ready to serve.
- Make the Sauce: Whisk together sriracha, braggs or soy sauce, and coconut sugar.
- Sear Tofu (or cook chicken, fish or shrimp if using): Pat tofu dry and cut into thick strips. Heat pan (we like cast iron) to med-high. Add 1 tablespoon coconut oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Add tofu and sear for about 3 minutes without moving tofu around, flip over and sear for another 3 minutes. Set tofu aside.
- Sauté Veggies: In the same pan, add 1 tablespoon coconut oil sauté asparagus (or other vegetables) for about 1 minute. Add garlic, lemongrass, ginger and stir over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes, until asparagus is tender. Add green onions and 1 tablespoon of water scraping the pan to loosen all the stuck bits. Cook for another minute more.
- Combine: Add tofu, sauce, and peas, and lime juice stirring to combine. Remove from the heat. Taste for saltiness adding more braggs or soy sauce if needed.
- Serve: Place rice in the bowls with a scoop of the sautéed tofu and veggies. Liberally sprinkle mint, cilantro and coconut flakes on top.
Notes
Variations on Coconut Rice Bowls Rice: brown or white jasmine, brown or white basmati, or other grain like quinoa (follow cooking directions on package using coconut milk as part of the liquid required and the remaining with water.) Protein: chicken, shrimp or even fish Vegetables: green beans, broccoli, snap peas, colorful bell peppers, carrots, cauliflower, spinach, shiitakes, salad turnips.
The nutritional information includes everything except the protein addition.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 373
- Sugar: 6.1 g
- Sodium: 480.7 mg
- Fat: 10.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 8.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 60.3 g
- Fiber: 3.8 g
- Protein: 7.9 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
I’m always looking for new ways to cook rice, and this one’s a winner!
Awesome Rose!
Really enjoyed! I used a green curry paste for the lemongrass vibe and it was delicious!
Love the improvising!
Simply divine. The rice by itself is already a straight-up winner. Everything else puts this recipe over the top fantastic. Thank you for all your wonderful work, Sylvia!
Happy you are enjoying Maria!
So delicious! Sounded so good and decided it would be a good recipe to try out on a party of 10. :). It was so yummy! Everyone loved it. The fresh herbs really take it over the top. I made salmon as the protein. Thanks for another wonderful recipe!
So great to hear Anna!
This was so easy and delicious! I threw all the ingredients for the rice into a rice cooker and it came out perfect. Will definitely be making again.
Good to hear!
Any suggestions on how to preserve this recipe? I would love to make this and divide it up for lunch all week, but don’t know what I should cook in advance or if I could cook everything, divide into small servings, then freeze?
Thats what I would do, cook it all and divide it up into individual servings. Not sure about freezing though. It should hold in the fridge for 4-5 days just fine.
I could eat this rice every day and be so happy. So fluffy and flavorful!! Comforting too. I sliced Brussels sprouts for my bowl, it was perfect with the tofu. Thank you so much for a lovely recipe!
Glad you like this one! Brussels sound good.
Just delicious. Easy, healthy, very tasty. This is going into my regular rotation. I wouldn’t change a thing.
Thanks for letting us know Delphulia! So happy you enjoyed.
Can I use dried lemongrass or lemongrass powder?
Thanks!
I think that should work!
This recipe was delish! It’s definitely a keeper.
Great to hear!
Absolutely delicious! I cant have soy so I mixed worceistire sauce and fish sauce together instead, also used green beans and chickpea instead of tofu and Asparagus.
The flavours are unreal
Wow, nice combos, so glad you enjoyed!
Two questions: can you use a rice cooker and put the ingredients for the rice in the rice cooker? Do you need coconut milk that comes in a can, or can you use coconut milk from a carton?
Hi Amanda, I am not sure about adding other ingredients to the rice cooker, you may check the manual. Canned coconut milk is much richer and more concentrated than Coconut milk in a carton. It would probably work but the flavor may be different.
Solid and nourishing. Protein is plentiful.
Glad you enjoyed Hercules!
Super easy and delicious! This one hit the spot. Will be using this coconut rice for so many other dishes now. Thanks!
Yay! Great to hear.
Such a delicious dish!
For the rice I used good quality curry madras, one of my favorite spice blends and it worked very good in this recipe. Also I can’t handle garlic and onions that well and instead used asafoetida and a leek. For the sauce I replaced the shiracha sause for a very small teaspoon of sambal badjak.
I love all your recipes, they are so full of flavor and very easy to adapt to your own taste. I am cooking for the forth week in a row from this amazing source of delicious food recipes! And I am clearly not done yet 😉 thank you!
Great substitutions Stevie, and happy you enjoyed this!
This was so good. I made it for some visiting guests last minute and I didn’t have lemongrass but it still came out great. I love the coconut rice. Can’t wait to try it with some different veggies.
Glad to hear it Lisa!
I also used Paneer instead of Tofu and it worked out great
oh yum! I like it!
I’m new to tofu. Any recommendations?
As far as purchasing it? Buy firm or extra firm, organic tofu in the refrigerated section.
Just found this site. This was a great recipe.
Thanks so much Jen!
This is amazing! Another stunningly delicious recipe from Feasting At Home. I’ve tried dozens and every one is a winner!
So happy you are enjoying!
This makes a big batch and allows me to make meat on the side for the non-vegeraians. We love the rice!
Perfect!
This dish looks beautiful and delicious! Can’t wait to try it!
Excellent Gina, let us know what you think!