It seems we’ve been on a streak lately with discovering new-to-us foods. The most recent new-to-us food is edamame- also known as soybeans. I live in farm country, and to me, I’ve never been interested in edamame because it is soybeans. Soybeans are something that farmers grow… they sell some of it, some of it they feed to their livestock, and sometimes they toast some of it up and snack on it like nuts. But eating it fresh like a pea? I don’t know anyone who does that, so I’ve always been hesitant to try it. When I saw the recipe, though, for Coconut Rice with Edamame and Leeks, I thought it sounded so good, that it would be worth hunting down a bag of frozen edamame to make it with.
I had no problems finding the edamame, surprisingly. Luck was also on my side as I was in the produce department, looking for leeks, when I found just four in the bin. Fortunately, they all looked great-which tends to be a bit of an oddity from time to time. So I set about making the rice, and when Abigail saw the can of coconut milk, she lit up – telling me that she likes coconut milk. Where did this girl come from? I steamed the edamame first, and when it was done, the kids and I sampled them to see what they tasted like. They were like a cross between a lima bean and a pea, but with a nutty flavor. Abigail thought they were really good, I thought they were pretty good. Zander told me he didn’t like them too much.
The recipe is pretty straightforward, and I followed the directions to a tee. When it came time to serve it up, I thought I’d have fun with it and serve it pilaf style- using a little cup to mound the rice in and then turning it out onto a plate. Abigail loved that. The rice turned out quite well. The nuttiness of the edamame played very nicely with the nuttiness of the coconut milk. The lime juice made the whole thing pop- and kept the dish light and refreshing. It was quite good the first night we had it, but leftovers were not as good, in my opinion. The leeks kind of slimed up a bit overnight, and the rice just doesn’t taste as good. The recipe indicates that it is a main dish for 4- I think I would have a hard time eating this as a main dish- despite using light coconut milk, I still found it a little rich. We had it as a side dish, so it was perfect, however, since the leftovers suffered, I would scale it back to half a recipe the next time we make it. We’ve decided we rather like edamame, so I will no longer be turning away recipe that call for it.
Coconut Rice with Edamame and Leeks
from AYIAVK by Jack Bishop
1. Bring several cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Place the edamame in a steamer insert or basket and carefully lower it into the pot. Cover and steam until the edamame are tender but not mushy, 7 to 10 minutes. Remove the steamer insert or basket from the pot and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add the leeks and 1/2 teaspoon salt, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are very soft, about 10 minutes. (Lower the heat if the leeks start to brown.) Uncover the pan, add the ginger, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
3. Add the rice and cook, stirring often, until the rice is coated with oil and glistening, about 1 minute. Add the coconut milk and water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in the edamame and lime juice, cover, and continue to cook over low heat until heated through, about 2 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and adjust the seasonings, adding salt to taste. serve.
I’ve never seen fresh edamame in my grocery stores (at least never noticed). But I have bought it frozen… just defrost, sprinkle with tiny bit of kosher salt and eat the beans and toss the outer shell.
The recipe looks so good — just copied it.
Betsy, I’ll have to try that next time. I almost bought the edamame in the shell, but when I dug a little deeper in the freezer I found the shelled ones. I bet the way you describe it, they taste almost like peanuts.
I love love love edamame as Betsy describes. Licking the salt off of the shell and then eating the beans out of the shell is just the most delicious snack.
Your intro to this post totally reminded me of my mom – the first time she had edamame, she loved them. Wow this is so good.. etc etc. Then I said HAH I KNEW YOU’D LIKE SOYBEANS IF YOU WERE OPEN-MINDED! (She had no clue edamame=soybean and she grew up in farm country and thinks of soybeans as cow food.) Well now my mom refuses to eat edamame even though she liked it because is is cow food! She is a crazy lady sometimes 🙂
Lol Josie! It will probably take a while before I stop thinking of it as cow feed myself. ;-p