A few years ago, good friends of mine moved to San Francisco. Upon visiting them for the first time, I fell in love with the city. The beautiful scenery, unique people, and delicious food (among other things) completely won me over. While my heart will forever be in Chicago, there’s a part of me that has a serious crush on San Francisco.

While there, we went to Burma Superstar, a fantastic little restaurant that serves — you guessed it — Burmese cuisine. Burma is a country in Southeast Asia, with Thailand to the southeast and India to the northwest. The food is a mix of those cultures and is full of flavor and completely fantastic. We ordered several dishes, but my favorite was the coconut rice. Probably the most simple out of everything we tried, the creamy, chewy texture and amazing coconut flavor totally blew me away. Ever since then, I’ve had a special affinity for coconut rice, and Burma Superstar remains one of my all-time favorite restaurants.

When I saw this Coconut Ginger Fried Rice recipe on Sassy Radish, one of my favorite food blogs, I knew I had to try it. I loved the idea of turning an already awesome dish into something even more special. To make it a full meal, I seared some mahi mahi fillets — my favorite fish — to go along with it. Let’s just say this dish did not disappoint. It’s just like a vacation on a plate.

Until we meet again, San Francisco…

Coconut Ginger Fried Rice with Seared Mahi Mahi (serves 2 with leftover rice)

Recipe from Sassy Radish

What you need:

• 2 5-ounce mahi mahi fillets, deboned
• 1 cup uncooked rice (I used brown jasmine)
• 2 1/4 cups coconut milk (I used a mix of full fat and light)
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons ginger, finely grated
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
• 1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 teaspoons Sriracha
• Juice of 1/2 lime

How you do it:

For the coconut rice:

1. Put the coconut milk and rice in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes.
2. Once the rice is done cooking, preheat a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add vegetable oil and heat until shimmering. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring constantly, for one minute. Add the coconut rice and cook for four minutes, stirring constantly. Add white parts of scallions and half the cilantro; cook for two minutes. Add the fish sauce; cook for a minute. Add Sriracha, green parts of scallions and remaining cilantro. Squeeze the juice of half a lime on top, and stir to combine. Remove from heat.

For the fish:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat an oven safe pan over high heat. Salt, pepper and lightly oil the flesh side of the fish. Put the fish in the skillet, flesh side down, and cook for 3 minutes. Flip fish over onto the skin side and put the skillet in the oven. Cook for 15 minutes or until the fish is flaky and cooked through. (Cooking time may vary depending on the thickness of your fish.)