228/984 - Grilled flathead tail with fancy coconut and spinach rice

Degustation course number six!

This is just one of the recipes that features in the new rainbow book and not in the original. I followed the instructions until the part where I was supposed to remove the saucepan from the heat and place a tea towel under the lid. I had the tea towel part covered (pardon the pun) but accidentally left the heat on for the 10 minutes of absorption time. 

There was a shriek and possibly some utterances of "no, no, no!" when I discovered my rice still slowly cooking away. I nervously stirred it to see how bad the damage was and discovered that the bottom was only slightly brown, and in fact when I stirred it through it seemed to add an extra hint of flavour to the rice. I must have been due for some nice karma to come my way...

I packed the cooked rice away in the fridge and on the night of the feast used the microwave to heat it through while grilling the fish. It turned out light and fluffy, so definitely a recipe to remember when I need one that can be pre-prepared. 

Coconut and spinach rice may not sound amazing but this recipe was so fabulously good the birthday boy insisted on taking the leftovers home! The secret ingredient is definitely the dried shrimp, although I actually had to substitute this for shrimp paste because it was all I could find at short notice. The flavour was still amazing so obviously it was an appropriate substitution!