Crazy Ingredient Challenge--Tomato & Coconut

Today I am so happy to share with you a recipe that I made for a monthly challenge I participated in that my pal Jutta from Hungry Little Girl put together. If you know me, you know that I am a VERY picky eater. You also know that I am not an adventerous eater/cook. I stick to things I know. So, when the Crazy Ingredients were announced, I freaked out. How in the world I am going to put these together to make something tasty? I dug into some cookbooks and searched a little online. Come to find out, these aren't that crazy of ingredients afterall, in some cultures, anyways. Here is my take on the challenge. At the end, you will find other bloggers that took part in this challenge and a link to their creation. I encourage you to check it out!

Tomato & Cocount Rice
adapted from DivineTaste Recipe
6 servings

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups Basmati Rice
1 can  Coconut milk
1 can Tomato Puree
6 cloves
1 “ piece cinnamon
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp salt or to taste

Directions:
Wash and rinse the rice in a colander under water for about a minute or until the water runs clear. Next soak the rice for 30 minutes, with enough water to cover the rice.

In a medium sized pot with heavy fitting lid, heat the oil on medium heat. Add the cloves, cinnamon, and bay leaf, stir and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the spices release their flavors into the oil. (remove cloves, bay leaf and cinnamon before adding rice) Change the heat to medium-low, strain the rice and add into the spiced oil. Stir for a few minutes. Pour in the tomato puree and coconut milk, add the salt, cover the lid and cook on low heat for 25 minutes. When the rice is cooked, remove lid, allow the steam to escape for about 2 to 3 minutes, fluff with a fork and serve hot.

So, I ended up taking this to a family gathering to celebrate my husband's grandpa's 89th birthday. I figured I would get "real" responses on the dish. Well...EVERYONE brought side dishes galore!! My rice dish was barely touched. Was it bad? No. Was it amazingly delicious? No. Would I make it again? Probably, with a few tweeks. I think it needs the chile pepper that the original recipe calls for but the grocery store I visited didn't have them. I couldn't taste the coconut in the rice. It was like a "sweet, spiced" tomato rice. The cloves were more apparent then the coconut. Try it out and let me know what you think!

Now, go check out the rest of these dishes:

If you have problems with the linky above, you can try this one: