Recipe of the Month (maybe): Coconut Rice with Greens

There was some question in my mind as to whether the dish we had last night really qualified for Recipe of the Month status. Way back when I first introduced my Veggie of the Month posts back in 2013, the idea was that trying lots of new veggies and fruits would encourage me to make fruits and veggies a bigger portion of my diet overall. And that goal has stayed consistent, even as I've modified my actual plan to achieve it—first deciding to switch from new fruits and veggies to new fruit and vegetable recipes, then limiting myself to only soup and salad recipes, and finally expanding my requirements to include any recipe that centers on fruit or vegetables. In short, the point of the whole exercise is to eat a more veggie-centric diet.

Now, this recipe certainly contains vegetables, but I'm still not sure it really meets that standard. The dish as originally presented in the New York Times, "One-Pot Turmeric Coconut Rice With Greens," certainly looks like it contains a reasonable amount of veggies, but the amount of green stuff it actually calls for—"1 medium bunch kale, spinach or Swiss chard"—is kind of vague. When Brian discovered the recipe, he decided to pick whatever amount of arugula we had left in our garden that hadn't bolted yet and call that "1 medium bunch," but based on the result, it was probably a considerably smaller medium bunch than the creators of the recipe had in mind. As you can see from the picture, by the time he got all the greens cooked and stirred into the rice, they looked more like a seasoning than a main ingredient.

Mind you, this shortage of veggies wasn't a major shortcoming for the dish. It was still quite tasty, with a faintly Caribbean flavor from the coconut milk, lime juice, and lime zest, and a touch of crunchy texture from the toasted coconut and sesame seeds. (Speaking of crunchy, the bits of rice that stuck to the pan and browned slightly turned out to be even tastier than the rest of the dish.) But as we discovered, it really wasn't substantial enough to make a whole meal by itself. Brian had a notion that maybe if we cooked the rice in the pressure cooker with some chicken, the way we make the "Chicken-Rice Roger" out of Peg Bracken's I Hate to Cook Book, that could serve as a complete meal—but that wouldn't really be consistent with our goal of reducing the amount of meat and dairy in our diet.

Our conclusion: As is, this dish isn't really worth making again. It's not hearty enough for a main course, and it's a bit too much trouble to go to just for a side dish. If we ever make it again, we'll try modifying it, as I notice many of the commenters on the New York Times article did. One "added chopped snap peas, beet greens and prawns [shrimp] that steamed in the last 5 minutes"; another "added firm tofu with the greens." Either of these changes—along with beefing up the volume of greens—might make this substantial enough for a complete meal. But for the time being, we'll probably shelve it.

Since this dish is a little bit of a stretch as a Recipe of the Month, I'll keep my eye out for new veggie and fruit dishes that we can try in June, and I'll add a new Recipe of the Month post if we manage to find something more appropriate. If not, I'll let this stand as the Recipe of the Month for June and promise to make it up to you with a proper vegetable or fruit dish in July.