Rice with Sweet Corn and Coconut

When the Japanese occupied Indonesia from 1942 to 1945, almost everyone found themselves with very little to eat. In particular, rice was in short supply, and this was serious; we are a rice-eating people, and if we haven’t had rice we feel we haven’t eaten at all.

In this recipe, the sweet corn and coconut were originally intended simply to give bulk. When the war ended and – eventually – rice became plentiful again, this dish was not cooked very often, because no one wanted to be