A lovely treat for breakfast or dessert the Samoan cocoa rice is very easy to make.
Great on it’s own or with aerosol cream.
Full recipe and ‘step by step’ instructions below.

How to make Samoan cocoa rice
Ingredients:
- 300ย gย Rice
- 700ย mlย Water
- 240ย mlย Coconut milk
- 100ย gย sugar
- 50ย gย Cocoa powder
- 0.5ย tspย Orange extract
Equipment
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 Mixing bowl
Instructions
- Pour the rice and water into the saucepan and bring to the boil
- Boil until cooked โ about 15 to 20 minutes
- Pour the coconut milk into the mixing bowl
- Add the sugar and cocoa and mix until there are no lumps. Finally add the orange extract
- Pour the contents of the mixing bowl into the saucepan
- Stir and simmer for 5 minutes until nice and thick.
- Serve and enjoy
How to use the cocoa rice
Just put in a bowl and enjoy.
2 important items to making Samoan Cocoa Rice (Koko Laisa)
1. The orange leaf
The original Samoan recipe tends to use an orange leaf, which are simply not available in supermarkets. The alternative (as in this recipe) is to use orange extract, although you could also use Orange grate or even orange juice.
2. The cocoa powder
The cocoa powder you use that will make all the difference to the Samoan cocoa rice. In the recipe I used the best quality I could find but authentic Samoan cocoa will make it taste even better.
Samoa Cuisine
Many of the Samoa recipes are a very lovely treat, you would enjoy eating ‘now and then’. Based very much on combining local root vegetables (like taro and potatoes) with coconut and either fish or meats like pork.
However the recipes do tend to be full of carbs and calories but are very enjoyable.
Similarly the western culture of 3 meals per day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) is only loosely followed and there is a history of simply eating when hungry.
The beauty of the cocoa rice recipe is that it can also be used whenever you fancy eating. OK, mostly it’s used for breakfast or dessert but if you get hungry mid-morning it’s very simple and quick to make.
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Samoan Cocoa Rice
Equipment
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 Mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 300 g Rice
- 700 ml Water
- 240 ml Coconut milk
- 100 g Sugar
- 50 g Cocoa powder
- 0.5 tsp Orange extract
Instructions
Boil the rice
- Pour the rice and water into the saucepan and bring to the boil
- Boil until cooked – about 15 to 20 minutes
Make the flavour
- Pour the coconut milk into the mixing bowl
- Add the sugar and cocoa and mix until there are no lumps. Finally add the orange extract
Finalise the cocoa rice
- Pour the contents of the mixing bowl into the saucepan
- Stir and simmer for 5 minutes until nice and thick.
- Serve and enjoy
Video
Nutrition
The country recipe challenge.
This recipe is part of my country recipe challenge, where I am trying to find 1 recipe from each country in the world.
The easiest way to keep updated is to follow me on either my Instagram or Facebook page.
Have you made the recipe?
Would love to hear what you thought of it


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