A deep earthenware bowl of soft white rice in thin, milky coconut milk, with a pewter spoon and a whole brown coconut beside it on a weathered plank. — Boiled rice in thin coconut milk, served in a deep bowl with a whole coconut beside it.

Rice with Coconut Milk (1697)

Name: Rice with Coconut Milk
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Cuisine: International
Ingredients: ⅓ lb freshly grated coconut, from about half a brown coconut; 1½ cups hot water, for the coconut milk; 8 cups water, for boiling the rice; 1 tsp salt; 1 cup long-grain white rice

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Rice with coconut milk, which William Dampier wrote in 1697 that English seamen ate at sea in place of rice-milk: boiled rice finished in milk pressed from fresh coconut.

By The Forgotten MenuPublished Oct 28, 2026

Recipe makes: About 4 cups, 4 servings
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 25 min
Total: 45 min

Prep includes 15 minutes for the grated coconut to steep. Start the rice water heating while it steeps.

Jump to recipe Read the story

Boiled rice in thin coconut milk, served in a deep bowl with a whole coconut beside it.

The story behind the recipe

English sailors in the tropics had a way with rice and coconuts, and William Dampier wrote it down. In A New Voyage Round the World, printed in 1697, he says seamen put coconut milk into boiled rice and ate it in place of rice-milk, the English dish of rice cooked in cow’s milk. They carried coconuts to sea for the purpose, and he says they learned it from the people of the coconut countries.

Why did coconuts make good sea stores?

They kept, and they carried their own milk. Rice was the other half of the dish, and Captain Swan’s company left Guam in 1686 with both: as many coconuts as they could stow and a good stock of rice, after the Spanish governor had sent six or seven packs of it. Guam itself grew little rice: Dampier says the islanders sowed only a little, because the soil was dry.

A ripe coconut was not a dead one. Dampier noticed that nuts left hanging in the sun for three or four months, or “thrown about in a House or Ship,” would sprout like onions, a small spongy ball growing inside until it filled the shell. He also warned that the hard ripe kernel was “very hard to digest” and seldom eaten, except by strangers who did not know its effects.

Making it today

Dampier gives no amounts and no seasoning, so we chose the quantities and added salt. It comes to the table loose and spoonable, the way rice-milk was eaten. He mentions no sugar; a little at the table brings it closer to an English rice pudding. Its coconut milk is the same milky water Dampier says meat was boiled in, which makes it a natural partner for the coconut milk pork broth. What Did Buccaneers Eat When They Reached Guam in 1686? follows the rice from the governor’s packs into the ship’s hold.

English Seamen put this Water into boil’d Rice, which they eat instead of Rice-milk, carrying Nuts purposely to Sea with them. This they learn from the Natives.

William DampierA New Voyage Round the World (London: James Knapton, 1697), p. 294

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Ingredients

For about 4 cups, 4 servings. Quantities are shown as written.

Quantities as written here, for about 4 cups, 4 servings.

Freshly grated coconut, from about half a brown coconut0.33 lb
Hot water, for the coconut milk1 1/2 cups
Water, for boiling the rice8 cups
Salt1 tsp
Long-grain white rice1 cup

Ingredients as written here

⅓ lb freshly grated coconut, from about half a brown coconut
1½ cups hot water, for the coconut milk
8 cups water, for boiling the rice
1 tsp salt
1 cup long-grain white rice

Equipment

Large heatproof bowl
Sieve lined with a double layer of cheesecloth
Large saucepan, about 4 quarts
Colander

Instructions

Put the grated coconut in the bowl, pour the hot water for the coconut milk over it, stir and leave it for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring the water for boiling the rice to a boil in the saucepan with the salt.
Set the lined sieve over a jug or bowl, tip in the coconut and its water, gather up the cloth and squeeze hard until no more milk runs out. Discard the pressed coconut.
Rinse the rice in a sieve under cold water. Stir it into the boiling water and boil, uncovered, for 12 to 14 minutes, until the grains are tender all the way through.
Drain the rice well in the colander and return it to the empty pan.
Pour the coconut milk over the rice. Set the pan over low heat and stir gently for 5 to 8 minutes, until the rice has drunk up about half the milk and the rest is creamy. Don’t let it boil hard.
Spoon it into bowls and eat it hot.

Nutrition

260calories per serving

Recipe makes: About 4 cups, 4 servings
Servings: 4

Estimated per serving (4) from USDA FoodData Central values for long-grain white rice and raw coconut meat, assuming about half the coconut’s fat passes into the milk.

Recipe notes

When adjusting quantities

Doubles easily; boil the rice in a larger pot so it has room to move.

Notes

Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the servings.

Dampier’s “boil’d Rice” comes without a method; boiling in plenty of salted water and draining is our choice. In place of fresh coconut and the hot water, use 1 cup of canned unsweetened coconut milk thinned with ½ cup of water. Chill leftovers within 2 hours, keep them up to 3 days and reheat until steaming, to 165°F (74°C), with a splash of water.

Scaling changes the ingredients only; pan sizes and cooking times need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.