Name: Peanutty Rice with Crispy Fried Shallots
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 6-8 Servings
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons peanut oil; 2 small shallots, thinly sliced (about 1/3 cup total); 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided; 2 cups basmati rice; 1 3/4 cups peanut milk (I used Milked Peanuts from Elmhurst 1925); 1 3/4 cups water; 1/2 cup chopped cilantro; Chopped peanuts, for garnish (I used skinless, salted)

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This post has been compensated as part of my partnership with #Foodiechats and the Georgia Peanut Commission and may contain affiliate links. As always, all opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep me creative in my tiny kitchen!

Peanut milk gives this simple, vegan side dish a protein boost along with a subtle nutty flavor. Great with Asian stir-fries and Indian meals!

My family loves rice. I’m always looking for interesting new ways to jazz it up to serve alongside dinner.

And one of the best ways to infuse flavor into rice is to change up the cooking liquid!

I like switching things up by using chicken stock or veggie broth to cook my rice in instead of water occasionally. So when the Georgia Peanut Commission sent over a package that included Peanut Milk by Elmhurst 1925, I knew I wanted to experiment with rice.

What is peanut milk? How can peanuts be milked?

As someone who lives with 2 lactose intolerant people, I’ve tried my fair share of dairy-free milk alternatives. We typically keep almond milk on hand, but I was really intrigued by peanut milk.

I will admit, however, that every time I hear about a new type of milk, my mind immediately goes to that scene from Meet the Parents when they talk about milking a cat. So I may giggle a bit, but I’m totally open to trying all sorts of milks and “mylks” (the way that some people distinguish plant-based milk from animal milk).

According to Elmhurst:

The word “milked” best describes Elmhurst Milked’s unique process of using water to separate and draw out all the nutrients from the peanuts. Once released, these valuable nutrients re-combine naturally to form a smooth, creamy beverage without the use of chemicals or thickeners. The milking process allows Elmhurst Milked to use more peanuts per glass, resulting in a more delicious and nutritious non-dairy beverage.

The “cold-milking” process produces an incredibly creamy, rich product that really tastes like peanuts. It’s made using only whole, raw peanuts sourced exclusively from Georgia, never pre-processed, and doesn’t contain the industrial stabilizers, whiteners, emulsifiers, or gums found in many other plant-based beverage brands.

Both the Milked Peanuts and Milked Peanuts – Chocolate are non-GMO, gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, lactose free, and Kosher. They don’t contain high fructose corn syrup or carrageenan.

My family really enjoyed drinking these 2 types of milk, and both are also great to cook with! The chocolate peanut milk is made with Dutch cocoa and is incredibly rich and luscious. YUM!

Cooking with peanut milk

I wanted to use the peanut milk as the cooking liquid for my basmati rice. I wasn’t totally sure how the texture of the milk would affect the rice during the cooking process, so I decided to go with half milked peanuts and half water.

This ended up being a great ratio – the rice had a nice peanutty flavor without being overpowering. When I opened the lid after the rice was done steaming, there was a bit of frothy looking peanut milk bits up top (kind of coagulated but not in a gross way). Once I fluffed and stirred the rice, it wasn’t as noticeable visually, and it didn’t affect the texture at all.

I bet this peanut milk would be great for lattes and steamers as well, and the chocolate milk would be great simmered for hot chocolate.

I’m not sure how it would react to being cooked down in sauces, but I’d love to play around with it some more! Sometimes creamy sauces can separate a bit, so I’d have to do some experimenting, but the flavor would be great in a lot of different applications!

Making crispy shallots without flour

I love the flavor of crispy onions and shallots, but they’re often coated with flour, which can take away from the flavor of the actual vegetable.

To make these, I decided to fry them up in the same pot I’d be using to cook the rice. That way the oil would be infused with shallot flavor as well.

Be sure to start with the heat off. You want a thin layer of oil on the bottom of your pan, and you want to be sure to separate the rings of the shallot a bit with your fingers as you sprinkle them down into the oil. This will help them cook evenly.

Once the shallots are all in, turn the heat up to medium-high and let them cook, stirring occasionally, until they get nice and brown and crispy. It will seem to be going slowly at first, but once they start getting brown they’ll get dark pretty quickly.

Do not look away from the pan. Trust me.

On a related note: burnt shallots are extra crispy and still pretty tasty. But I kept them to the side to keep them out of the recipe photos.

Use tongs to remove the shallots to a plate lined with a kitchen towel or paper towel, and immediately sprinkle them with a little salt. They may seem like they aren’t crispy when you remove them from the oil, but they’ll get firmer as they cool and dry.

To finish the rice, I stirred in some fresh cilantro at the end. I then sprinkled it with some chopped peanuts to really drive home the peanutty flavor of the rice, then topped it with the crispy shallots.

This rice made the perfect side dish to a chicken stir-fry that I made with a bunch of odds and ends that I had hanging out in my kitchen (recipe coming soon!). It would go beautifully with Indian dishes like butter chicken or lamb roganjosh.

It would be great with Thai food as well! It has a mild enough flavor to not overpower whatever it’s served with, but feels much more special than plain steamed rice.

We stir-fried some of the leftovers with some tamari, egg, and peas to go with leftovers and it was absolutely delicious as well!

Check out some of our favorite simple side dish recipes:

Recipe for Peanutty Rice with Crispy Fried Shallots