Rice cooked and then stirred with salted coconut milk until it binds, pressed flat on a banana leaf and cut into diamonds — the first meal of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year.
Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Rice section’s regional pages and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.
Ingredients
- 2 cups kekulu rice (or another short- or medium-grain white rice)
- 3¾ cups water
- 400 ml thick coconut milk (1⅔ cups; 1 can)
- 2 teaspoons salt, divided
Directions
- Cook the rice. Wash and drain the rice. Cook it in a rice cooker, Instant Pot or pot with the water and 1 teaspoon of the salt — a little less water than you would normally use.
- Season the coconut milk. Dissolve the remaining salt in the coconut milk so it tastes a little salty.
- Bind. As soon as the rice is done, while it is still hot, stir in the coconut milk until the grains break down and stick together. Cook 2–3 minutes more if a raw coconut smell remains (or 5–8 minutes on keep-warm).
- Press. Turn it out onto a banana leaf while hot and press flat into a round or square.
- Cut into diamonds with a knife wrapped in plastic and dampened with coconut milk. Separate once slightly cooled.
Notes
Source Adapted from Roshani Wickramasinghe, “Kiribath (Sri Lankan Milk Rice),” Hungry Lankan.
A correction to the source Its instruction reads “a little bit of water than you’d normally use” — a word is missing, and “less” is clearly meant. The 3¾ cups water per 2 cups rice is the only figure it gives.
Serving With lunu miris (onion and chili relish). Kiri means milk and bath rice.
The Rice section’s South Asia page (/rice/south-asia/) covers the history and technique behind this dish.