Coconut emblem and coat of arms. Coconut trees are grown on all the islands. Before modern construction methods were introduced, coconut leaves were used as roofing material for many houses in the islands, while coconut timber was used to build houses and boats. The main coconut-producing area in the Middle East is the Dhofar region of Oman, but they can be grown all along the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, and Red Sea coasts, because these seas are tropical and provide enough humidity (through seawater evaporation) for coconut trees to grow. The young coconut plants need to be nursed and irrigated with
Coconut rice of coconut cream. Outside of the mango season, it will also be eaten with other fruits or semi-sweet dishes. Other popular coconut rice desserts are "khao tom mat", where sweet banana is steamed inside sticky rice while wrapped in a banana leaf, "khao lam", where the rice and coconut milk mixture is steamed inside a section of bamboo, and "khao niao kaeo", a very sweet dessert of glutinous rice, coconut milk, and large amounts of sugar, and most often pink or green in color. In India, coconut rice (Tamil: தேங்காய் சாதம்) is famous in the southern regions. In India coconut