ERIMERI: COCONUT WHITE RICE WITH SHREDED CHICKEN SAUCE AND VEGETABLES

I got an idea to start a new corner on my blog. I decided to name the corner Erimeri which is a word in my language, igbo. The word translates into enjoyment or feast in English language. In this corner I would feature different dishes, teaching you how to prepare them. This corner will be featured at least once every quater.

I'll be launching the corner today with the sumptuous meal of Coconut white rice with Shreded Chicken sauce and vegetables. I prepared this meal on easter day 2011 and my family really enjoyed it. Coconut white rice with shreded chicken sauce is not difficult to prepare at all and it is one very balanced diet.

To prepare Coconut white rice with shreded chicken sauce and vegetables, the following ingridents are important
Rice,
Coconut,
Carrots,
Cabbage,
Spring onions,
Green peper,
Peas,
Onions,
Tomatoes,
Peper and
Chicken.
Those ingridents are only basic as you can mix your desired vegetable combination. As soon as you have your ingridents ready, cooking this dish would involve the following steps:
Grate and extract the milk from your coconut. This can be done by soaking the grated coconut in lukewarm water for some seconds then squeez and seive the content to separate the liquid from the chaff.
Once the milk is ready, pour it into the pot you want to cook the rice with and boil the rice with the milk. You can use normal clean water to make up for the rest of the rice's water requirement. I usually sprinkle some of the coconut chaff on the rice so that the norishment in the chaff is not totally wasted.it also serves as garnishing for the rice.
Once the rice is ready, the next thing is the cooking and shreding of the chicken.season your chicken and allow it cook till it is done. After that, slice the chicken into your desired shapes.
Next is the sauce. For the sauce, you'd need your chicken stock. I usually prefer to used the chicken stock and a little water without any extra oil. The chicken stock contains enough fat/oil. Your vegetables should also be chopped into your desired shapes then pour them in one at a time, starting with the tough ones like carrot. Allow them cook a little before you add your shreaded chicken. It is important to ensure that the vegetables are not over cooked, else the vitamins in them become useless. The vegetables should not be allowed to cook for more than 7minutes.

Once your chicken is in the sauce and your rice is ready, you have your meal of coconut white rice with shreaded chicken sauce and vegetables ready! This is an easy and straight foward method with which you can improvise with condiments you have around you and prepare something you can enjoy.