WALI WA NAZI
ZANZIBAR
The way coconut milk is made in Zanzibar—and elsewhere like India or Indonesia, for that matter—is quite fascinating. First you need to grate fresh coconuts, which in Zanzibar is done with a specialized piece of equipment: a wooden stool on which the cook sits with a metal grater attached to its side. The cook places a bowl underneath the grater part, then takes coconut halves and rubs them back and forth against the teeth of the grater to release the flesh. Once she (home cooks are almost always women) has enough grated coconut, she adds water and mixes it with the coconut before she starts squeezing it to extract the milk. The first squeezing produces the thick coconut milk, or coconut cream as it is often sold, then more water is added and the coconut squeezed again for a thinner milk, and finally she may do it a third time for a really diluted result. Obviously this is not practical in the West, so you need to buy coconut milk—or, to be more accurate, coconut cream—in cans. Those that specify 25 percent fat are the thick coconut milk or cream. If you can’t find lower-fat ones, mix the coconut cream with water (2 parts milk to 1 part water) to make thin coconut milk. This rice cooked in coconut milk has a lovely flavor and goes well with fish, such as the Zanzibari Grilled Fish or curries.
SERVES 4 TO 6
1⅔ cups (425 ml) thin coconut milk
1⅔ cups (425 ml) coconut cream
2 cups (400 g) long-grain rice, soaked for 30 minutes in lightly salted water
Sea salt
Put both the coconut milk and cream in a pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. As soon as the coconut milk has come to a boil, drain the rice and drop it into the milk. Add salt to taste. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and let the rice simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until it has absorbed all the liquid. Take off the heat. Wrap the lid with a clean kitchen towel and replace over the pot. Let the rice steam for a few minutes.