Best 3 Thin Coconut Milk Recipes

HOW TO MAKE COCONUT MILK AT HOME & 7 EASY VEGETARIAN RECIPES USING COCONUT MILK

Steps:

• If using fresh coconut, break the coconut. Collect the water( it's the coconut water) and chop the white flesh of coconut into small pieces.
• If you are using frozen grated coconut, thaw the coconut and add 2 cups of tightly packed coconut to the blender.
• Add 1 cup water to the chopped coconut and blend it for 5 minutes. Make sure to stop the blender in between to avoid getting overheated.
• Strain the mixture using a nut milk bag or strainer or cheesecloth. The strained white liquid is coconut milk, usually called thick or first extract coconut milk.
• Now put the residual coconut mixture into the blender again and add 1 to 1.5 cups of water. Blend it for 3 to 4 minutes.
• Extract the coconut milk like you did before into another bowl, and this yields a little thin coconut milk and called second extract coconut milk or thin coconut milk.
• If you do not want to extract twice, add 2 cups of water for one coconut (approximately 2 cups of grated coconut), blend it smooth, and squeeze the milk.

COCONUT MILK

Steps:

• Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400°F. Locate the 3 black spots, or "eyes," at the top of coconut. Using a Phillips screwdriver or a hammer and large nail, pierce holes in 2 of the eyes and pour out the liquid, capturing it and reserving it to drink or discarding it. (Make sure the holes are good sized, or the water will dribble out slowly.) Put the coconut on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. The heat will loosen the meat from the shell. The coconut may crack in the oven, which is fine.
• Remove the coconut from the oven. Holding it with a dish towel, firmly tap it around the equator with a hammer until it has cracked around the entire circumference and broken apart. Try to keep the pieces as large as possible. Use a dinner knife to pry the coconut meat from the shell. Discard the shell.
• Using a vegetable peeler, shave off the papery brown skin from the white coconut meat. Rinse the meat to remove any excess bits of brown skin, then coarsely chop into 1/2-inch or smaller pieces. There should be about 2 cups.
• To yield creamy milk, I grind the coconut in a ratio of 4 parts meat to 3 parts hot water, so 2 cups coconut meat requires 1 1/2 cups hot water. Put half of the meat (about 1 cup) into a food processor. Start the machine and slowly pour in half of the water through the feed tube. Once the water has been added, let the machine run for several minutes, stopping it occasionally to scrape down the sides, until the coconut meat is finely textured and resembles slushy snow.
• Transfer the ground meat to a clean non-terry kitchen towel, piece of muslin, or several layers of cheesecloth and wring tightly over a bowl to extract the milk. Deposit the solids in a separate bowl. Repeat the grinding and extracting with the remaining coconut meat and water. The resulting coconut milk is ready to be used in recipes. This first extraction is the best and contains nearly all of the flavorful cream (about 1 cup for a normal coconut). Some cooks extract a second, thin coconut milk by combining the solids with more hot water (1 to 1 1/2 cups) and wringing again, but I find little use for it.
• As the coconut milk sits, it will separate into a thick, opaque cream layer and a thin, cloudy "skim" layer. Always whisk the milk to recombine before measuring it for cooking. If just coconut cream is needed, allow the milk to separate (or refrigerate the milk to coagulate the cream) and then spoon off the cream. Fresh coconut milk is best if used within hours of being made. However, you may cover it tightly and refrigerate it for 1 to 2 days or freeze it for up to 2 months.

COCONUT MILK

Steps:

• Defrost coconut and add to blender with water (you may need to do this in two batches). Blend at high speed until mixture is pureed.
• Strain mixture through a double thickness of cheesecloth or a very fine sieve, pressing out all the liquid you can. The result of this first processing is called thick coconut milk.
• To get thin coconut milk, add more warm water to the residue from the first straining. Allow it to sit 5 minutes, then press as before. For coconut cream, refrigerate the first pressing and the cream will rise to the top, where it can be spooned off. If it is not used immediately, the coconut milk must be refrigerated. It may also be frozen for later use.