What is coconut milk?
Are coconut milk and coconut water the same?
In addition to the many health benefits of coconut milk, it adds a creamy, exotic, rich flavor to both desserts and main dishes.
How do Trinidadians use dried coconut meat and coconut milk?
Both the white coconut meat and milk are used to make many Trinidadian desserts such as home-made coconut ice cream, sugar cake, sweetbread, coconut bread, cassava pone and main dishes including coconut bake, flour dumplings, pelau, callaloo, cassava oil down, breadfruit oil down, steamed salmon in coconut milk, curries and stews.
What is a good substitute for canned coconut milk?
Canned coconut milk can also be used in recipes but is probably nutritionally void of all the vitamins and minerals found in freshly made milk. If buying canned coconut milk is your only option, look for products that do not contain chemicals and preservatives.
For an exhaustive list of all the health benefits, go to http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/.
This is my method for extracting coconut milk from a “dried coconut” (when my husband is not available to do all the work).
Ingredients
1 dried coconut
2 cups boiling water
Tools
Blender
Sieve
Measuring cup
How to choose the best coconut for coconut milk?
- Buy a dried coconut, as shown below, not young or green
- When buying coconuts, choose those that feel heavy and have liquid inside.
- The coconut should not be moldy
- It should not have a rancid odor
If you would like, you can first drain the water out of the coconut. Using a pointed utensil bore a hole in each eye of the coconut. (The coconut has a face on the pointy end, the two closest together form the “eyes” the third is the “mouth” represented by 3 black spots.)
Crack open with a hammer on a hard surface. To minimize mess, place in a tough plastic bag or wrap with a towel before cracking with a hammer.
To remove the flesh from the coconut use a dull table knife or spoon and progressively pry the flesh away from the shell.
This step can be expedited, simplified and made less dangerous by first baking the pieces of coconut at 250 degrees for 15 minutes or freezing the small pieces of coconut for 30 minutes. This really works!!
Cut coconut into small pieces. (Certain recipes may require you to remove the brown part, do so with a paring knife)
Save a piece for yourself to snack on…Reward yourself for all this work…
In a blender, add coconut pieces, 2 cups of boiling water and blend well for several minutes. Let stand for several more minutes.
Squeeze out the milk by pressing on the coconut in a sieve to extract as much of the milk as possible or pour into a nut bag and squeeze out the milk(simpler). You can repeat the process with more water but the result will be less concentrated each time.
Keep overnight in a tightly sealed bottle or container in the refrigerator if required.
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A Trinidadian culinary connoisseur sharing recipes from Trinidad and the Caribbean with a modern twist.