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Coconut Rice Wedding Style

Coconut Rice Wedding Style is the elevated, party-scale version of the beloved Nigerian Coconut Rice — prepared with premium proteins, maximum coconut flavour and a generous hand with all spices and seasonings. Served at the most glamorous Lagos and Abuja weddings and events, Wedding Coconut Rice uses significantly more coconut milk, adds premium seafood such as king prawns and crayfish, and often incorporates a small amount of coconut cream for extra richness.

Coconut Rice Wedding Style, Nigerian cooking

Ingredients

  • 5 big cups of parboiled long-grain rice, washed
  • 3 large tins of coconut milk plus the cream from 2 fresh coconuts
  • Half a medium chicken, cooked and fried golden
  • 1 big handful of large king prawns, deveined
  • 1 big handful of stockfish, soaked
  • 1 big handful of smoked fish, soaked and deboned
  • 3 big handfuls of ground crayfish
  • 3 Atarodo (hot chilli peppers), blended
  • 2 big onions, sliced
  • 3 cooking spoons of vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon of curry
  • Fresh thyme sprigs
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 3 seasoning cubes (Knorr), crushed
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • Salt to taste

Method

  1. 01

    Building the Coconut Broth. Combine all coconut milk and coconut cream in a large pot. Add blended Atarodo, sliced onion, curry, thyme, bay leaves, seasoning cubes and salt. Bring to a simmer. Taste — the broth should be rich, fragrant and well-seasoned.

  2. 02

    Adding Proteins. Add the fried chicken, stockfish, smoked fish and ground crayfish to the coconut broth. Cook for 10 minutes.

  3. 03

    Cooking the Rice. Add the washed rice to the coconut broth. The broth should just cover the rice. Stir once. Seal with foil and lid. Cook on medium heat for 25 to 30 minutes until fully cooked.

  4. 04

    Adding Prawns. In the final 5 minutes of cooking, scatter the king prawns on top of the rice. Re-seal and allow to steam through.

  5. 05

    Finishing. Add butter and fluff gently. Remove bay leaves. The Wedding Coconut Rice should be brilliantly white, extravagantly fragrant and glistening with richness.

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