Rinse the rice thoroughly with running water until the water turns clear. This is done to remove dust and extra starch. Drain the water and add some fresh clean water. Soak it water for 30 minutes. Drain water and keep aside.

Heat a medium sized pressure cooker, add coconut oil, add other whole spices. Fry well until you get nice aroma.

Also add shahi jeera, fry well. We do not add any mustard seeds here as we do in any other Indian recipes.

For adding spiciness to rice, we sauté slit green chilies in oil. Next add in chopped cashewnuts. Fry them well, until they become lightly golden in colour.

We will saute some green peas next.

Next is the key ingredient freshly shredded coconut. Fry well till you get nice aroma of fresh coconut.

Add soaked and drained basmati rice, gently saute (always gently saute rice so that they don’t break into pieces before cooking).

Add thick coconut milk to the rice and gently mix the ingredients. Add salt as per taste, also add lemon juice to balance the flavor. Add water and bring it to boil (on all sides) before pressure cooking.

Close the pressure cooker lid and cook for one whistle on medium heat. Do not release the pressure immediately. Instead wait for the pressure to release slowly for perfectly cooked coconut milk rice.

Open the lid and gently fluff the rice using a fork. This helps in separating the cooked grains, so go ahead and gently show some love to the perfectly cooked coconut milk rice.

Coconut milk rice tastes good on its own, however if you wish can be served with any Indian side dish.

It can be served with onion and cucumber salad, choice of Indian curry. Plain yogurt will also make a great accompaniment. Fried potato wedges also make a great combo with this rice. I have served it with tomato dal and cucumber salad.