Lisa’s Festive Rice with Coconut & Pigeon Peas

This rice with coconut and pigeon peas, or arroz con coco y gandules, is famous in Lisa Kear’s family for its rich flavor and fragrance, so of course it’s on the menu at her yearly Christmas feast. Today, Lisa lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, but she and her sister grew up in Colon, Panama. She remembers this sweet rice recipe as a special-occasion treat made by her grandmother, who was a great cook and Lisa’s inspiration in the cocina.

While most traditional arroz con coco recipes use canned coconut milk, Lisa swears by using fresh milk straight from the coconut. “The extra effort is so worth it,” Lisa said. And if you use a real coconut, she adds, the leftover grated coconut can be used to make so many other Panamanian traditional sweet treats, like enyucado cake and cocadas candy. Lisa especially is proud to use every part of the coconut—the milk and the meat—since it allows her to stay true to her abuela’s philosophy: Don’t let anything go to waste in the kitchen. Her grandmother was a master at making the most of every ingredient, even using the claws and head of a chicken in her sancocho de pollo!

Lisa tells Familia Kitchen she has so many fond childhood memories of making coconut dishes like this one with her abuela. In Panama, her family lived on a home that had lots of coconut trees in their backyard, so Lisa always had access to the freshest cocos. (Plus in Panama, coconut trees grow year round, she says.) Don’t worry. If you are not blessed with coconut trees in your area, many Latino, Asian, and other specialty grocery stores sell whole or halved fresh coconuts, which is where Lisa buys her coconuts today.

Hungry for more home-cooking-style Panamanian food? Visit here for more of Lisa’s traditional recipes, including: her family-famous beef empanadas, her sweet guava-and-cheese empanadas, her Panamanian pollo guisado (stewed chicken) with spaghetti, her Familia Kitchen Recipe Contest-winning Panamanian flan, and her handmade Panamanian corn tortillas. If you do use fresh coconuts and aren’t sure what to do with the leftover grated coconut after you make this rice with coconut and pigeon peas dish, find more coco-licious recipes sent in by our Familia Kitchen homecooking community here.

Ready to Make Lisa’s Rice with Coconut and Pigeon Peas Dish?

Lisa’s Rice With Coconut & Pigeon Peas

Recipe by Lisa Kear

5.0 from 1 vote

Cuisine: Panamanian

Servings

6 to 8

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

25

minutes

Rest Time

1

hour

Ingredients

• 2 cups coconut, freshly grated (from 1 fresh coconut or packaged)

• 3 cups warm water

• 1 can green pigeon peas, drained (15 oz can)

• 2 cups jasmine rice, washed

• 1 tsp salt, to taste

Directions

• If using a fresh coconut, make two or three holes in one end. Drain the coconut water. Place the coconut in a 350°-heated oven for about 20 minutes. Crack it open using a hammer and a knife. It should open easily. Pry apart, remove the meat inside, and grate it.
• Soak the grated coconut in a bowl with the warm water for 10 minutes.
• Push the grated coconut through a strainer, squeezing out all of the water into a bowl. Place the remaining, grated coconut on parchment paper to dry for later use in other coconut dishes.
• Let the coconut water rest for 1 hour
• When ready, skim the thick top layer of the coconut water with a large serving spoon.
• Transfer this top layer to a 4-quart cooking pot. Set the heat to medium-high heat and cook until it turns into coconut oil.
• Add the drained can of green pigeon peas into the oil and stir to combine.
• Add the rest of the reserved coconut water and cook for 5 minutes.
• Stir in the rice and salt. Cover and cook over low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, when the rice is tender and ready. Uncover, fluff and serve hot.

Notes

• This coconut and pigeon peas rice dish is served for the Christmas meal at Lisa Kear’s house each year.