Roasted Persimmon and Coconut Sticky Rice

My oldest loves rice and is always checking out the different types of rice when we are grocery shopping. Recently she found a couple new ones, one of which was purple sticky rice. Can you believe there are over 40,000 types of rice? I don’t even think I could attempt to try them all in my lifetime and I am sure the list is always growing. The first batch wasn’t quite this batched turned out to be a very dark purple, almost black. One of my favorite desserts, as I have mentioned before in some previous recipes, is Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango. With persimmon being in season and tasting so good I decided to roast them up one morning and put with some of the leftover purple sticky rice mixed with coconut milk. Yum! Yes I really like “dessert” for breakfast, and this is a delicious and healthy one way to satisfy that craving. I made it again as a big batch for dessert after a Thai dinner. You can make it more traditional without the ginger and cinnamon but I really like the warming notes they add and pair well with the persimmon. It really works for breakfast or dessert.

Do you ever eat left over grains for breakfast? I love turning rice I used for a savory dish one night into a sweet breakfast the next morning. Just be sure not to grab rice you made with vegetable stock or added something to the night before, it is not a good surprise in the morning.

Roasted Persimmon and Coconut Sticky Rice

Makes 1 serving

1 ripe fuyu persimmon (if not ripe place in the freezer to ripen)

1 tsp coconut oil, or coconut oil spray (coconut oil spray works well for really ripe persimmon)

1/2c cooked rice of choice*

2TBSP- 1/4c canned coconut milk (used So Delicious Culinary Coconut Milk as it is thick and doesn’t have the liquid you find in most canned coconut milks)

1 packet of stevia in the raw, 1 tsp coconut nectar, honey, or sweetener of choice

1 TBSP shredded coconut

1/4 tsp cinnamon, optional

1/4 tsp grated ginger, optional

*If making for 4 people you can cook rice, cooking 1 cup of dry rice, as you are roasting the persimmon and stir coconut milk and sweetener into warm rice while the persimmon cools.

Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with foil, or use a silpat mat. Remove steam and cube persimmon (cut into wedges and cut wedges in half) and toss with melted coconut oil, toss with ginger and or cinnamon if using, and arrange on prepared baking sheet. If using coconut oil spray, spray the prepared foil pan with coconut oil, toss persimmon with cinnamon and or ginger, arrange on prepared baking sheet and lightly spray with coconut oil. Bake persimmon for 20 minutes. Warm rice, or you can keep it cold if it is cooled/leftover rice, and mix with coconut milk and sweetener. Spoon into bowl, top with roasted persimmon, and sprinkle with coconut. Enjoy!