Heatwave! Time for Herby Coconut Rice with Mango Plus Lots of Flesh

We have a heat wave coming this weekend in sunny Blighty. The Met Office recommends staying indoors (to avoid the sun), turning off non-essential electrical items (they generate heat) and closing the curtains.

What is causing this response (which sounds more like ‘what to do in the event of a nuclear holocaust’)? Temperatures of 30 centigrade (86 fahrenheit). I mean it’s not exactly catastrophic levels is it?

I remember we took the kids to the south of France one year. As we got off the plane we were blasted by a wave of heat. The youngest turned to me and said ‘Dad, is that the engine?’ to which I replied ‘No son, that’s just hot’. We sweltered for four days. Could hardly move it was so hot.

So with that experience in mind I may well say ‘balls to the ‘Elf & Safety’ brigade and ‘chuck another prawn on the barbie’. With some rice.

Levi Roots (a Caribbean chef who has made a packet off the back of an appearance on ‘Dragons’ Den’) created a twist on traditional rice and peas.

Herby Coconut Rice with Mango

• Can of coconut milk
• 11 oz rice
• Can of red kidney beans
• Handful of dried mango
• 2 red chillies
• 3 ½ fluid oz olive oil
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• ½ tsp sugar
• 1 red onion
• Handful cashew nuts
• 2 tbsp chives
• 2 tbsp coriander
• 1 lime, juiced

Put the coconut milk in a pan and then add about ¾ of a can of water. Add the rice to the pan  with the beans, mango and whole chillies.

Yes those are pine nuts but they never made it to the final version….

Cover the pan and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 mins. Turn off the heat and leave covered for 5 mins. These are the instructions. The reality is more like simmer for 10 mins and leave uncovered otherwise the rice will get too soft and starchy.

Make the dressing by combining the oil, vinegar, sugar, onion and salt.

Put your glasses on lad!

Chop up the herbs:

How’s the rice doing? It should look a little like something like this…

Put the rice in a big bowl, remove the chilli and chop it up:

Add the chilli and the herbs and the nuts to the rice. Pour over the dressing and combine:

Squeeze the juice of a lime onto the rice:

Spread the rice onto a platter:

Now serve with meat and fish. You could try a massive (and I do mean massive) fillet steak:

Or you could serve with some salmon and mega-prawns:

For those who hate rice and peas there’s always burgers and hot dogs:

Or of course there’s always sliced sirloin for the connoisseur….

Whatever you do this weekend enjoy the heat….while it lasts!