The commonest food we make with coconut milk is coconut rice. Some of us prefer to use store bought coconut milk for this. But it’s actually very easy to make it at home. Homemade coconut milk is healthier because it’s free of preservatives. Today, I’ll show you how to extract the milk manually. If you learn this method, you won’t have a problem with making coconut milk when your blender is faulty.
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Now, before I start discussing the topic proper, let me quickly say that I love drinking coconut water. Fortunately, coconut water is different from coconut milk. Not all coconuts have water. But if yours contains water, you can easily hear it swish when you shake the coconut. With a bit of care, you can get both the water and the milk from the same coconut. So, here’s how to make coconut milk at home:
Ingredients
Coconut
Lukewarm water
You’ll also need a hard object like a hammer, a knife, a grater, a sieve and bowls.
Method
I already told you about my love for coconut water. Thus, I’m sure you’re not surprised that my first step in coconut milk extraction is to save the water. If you don’t share my love for coconut water, just move to step two. But if you also like the refreshing taste of coconut water, all you need do is gently crack open the coconut using a hammer or any hard object of your choice. Please note that if you apply too much force, the coconut will break open completely and all the water will be lost. So, once you crack the coconut open, get a clean cup and position it under the crack to collect the water.
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When you’re done with water collection, simply break the coconut open completely. Use a knife to pry the coconut meat from the shell. Rinse the coconut meat.
Rinse the grater and use the small side of it to grate the coconut. Pour the grated coconut into a clean, sizeable bowl. Add a little warm water to the bowl of grated coconut and mix. Leave the mixture for 5 minutes.
Afterwards, rinse a sieve and place a clean bowl under it. Pour the coconut mixture through the sieve; that way, the sieve will separate the chaff from the milk.
Squeeze the coconut chaff to make sure you get all the milk out. Soak the coconut chaff in water and sieve again. Repeat this process until the water becomes transparent indicating that the milk in the chaff is finished.
Use the coconut milk to prepare coconut rice and refrigerate any left over.
Featured image source: Chowhound
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