Mixed Seafood Coconut Fried Rice

 In this delicious mixed seafood coconut fried rice recipe I’ll be showing how to cook coconut fried rice with a seafood medley of fresh crab meat, shrimp and calamari, using fresh homemade coconut milk!

I am a coastal girl. I grew up close to fishermans’ markets, and they always had their fresh catch for sale everyday. While there was no lack of customers looking to buy the fresh seafood on offer, there were usually leftovers from the day’s catch. Typically, leftover seafood is smoked and dried to prolong its shelf life, and is later sold to use in local stews and soups. Sometimes however, fishermen just ate the leftover catch of the day, utilizing their catch to create a seafood mix of local dishes, especially if there was an abundance of smoked or dried seafood. This mixed seafood coconut fried rice is a dish also locally known as fisherman’s rice and a rendition of one of the delicious meals that could be made with the daily leftover catch. In this delicious recipe I’ll be showing how to cook coconut fried rice with a seafood medley featuring a mix of fresh crab meat, shrimp and calamari, using fresh homemade coconut milk!

Where to Buy Fresh Seafood

I sourced all the ingredients used in this coconut fried rice and seafood medley locally, so if possible, I recommend getting the ingredients fresh from around your neighborhood. This mixed seafood coconut fried rice is made more delicious because of the fresh seafood that gives it that extra oomph! If you live in the US, fresh seafood is usually available at your local fishmonger or large Asian markets, which is where I buy my fresh seafood. Where I grew up, there was also a lot of seafood available for sale in the night fish markets.

While I used a few locally available ingredients (specifically  fresh crab meat, shrimp and calamari) for my seafood mix, please feel free to experiment and get creative! This is a seafood medley so go ahead and toss some scallops, oysters or any other local shellfish you fancy. Thankfully, I still live close to a coast so I can find affordable fresh seafood near me, which has been such a blessing. I cannot imagine my kitchen without the access to fresh seafood like I had growing up. Furthermore, crab season is almost upon us, so I am really looking forward to cooking a bunch of crab this  summer.