Cooking with Coconuts

Coconuts are not only delicious, but coconut has many health benefits as well. Coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, which is anti-viral, antibacterial and anti-fungal. It contains healthy fats, the type that do not increase your "bad" cholesterol. Many cultures consume coconut oil in large amounts, and they do not suffer from the same ailments that Westerners do. Cooking with coconuts, especially if you buy one whole and open it yourself, is a lot of fun but takes a little know how. Below you will find the directions on how to make your own coconut milk or grated coconut, with a few recipes ideas to get you started in exploring the many possibilities.

The sloshing you hear inside of the coconut when you shake it is the coconut juice or coconut water. This can be mixed with the coconut "meat" to produce coconut milk. To make it, steep grated coconut in hot water and then strain it. To create coconut cream, cook the milk uown until it becomes thickened. You can also make coconut milk by steeping grated coconut in hot milk instead of water.

Opening a Coconut

The easiest way to open a coconut is to pierce the 3 "eye" with a nail (or use an ice pick). Then drain out the liquid and save. Next, bake the shell in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Lastly, place the coconut on a firm surface and using a hammer, tap it in several different places until it cracks.

A fresh coconut yields about two cups of chopped coconut meat. One pound of shredded coconut will produce five to six cups. As for the calories, one cup of unsweetened shredded coconut contains 26 grams of fat and 283 calories. 

Make Your Own Grated Coconut

To grate, simply peel off the brown skin, and grate the white flesh of the coconut using a grater, vegetable peeler, or food processor. To toast the grated coconut, spread the unsweetened pieces on a baking sheet. Place the sheet in an oven at 350 degrees and cook until the coconut is golden in color. This should take about five minutes.

Grated Coconut Recipe Ideas

Today, there are plenty of exotic, international, and commonly used recipes that include the use of coconut milk and coconut that has been flaked, shredded, or grated. Below are a few suggestions to get you in the mood to produce your own fresh ingredients:

Fried Banana Pudding: Combine two bananas, ½ cup of shredded coconut, ½ cup of unbleached flour, one teaspoon of cornstarch, cinnamon, and corn oil and bake.

Chocolate Coconut Bars melt in your mouth. Mix 1 ½ cups of graham cracker crumbs, 1 2/3 cups of sweetened condensed milk, ½ cup of semisweet chocolate chips, and 1 ½ cups of flaked coconut together.

Coconut Coffee Mousse combines one (8-ounce) container of frozen whipped topping that has been thawed, two tablespoons of coffee flavored liqueur, and 1/4 cup of flaked coconut.

Looking for a main dish? Coconut Pineapple Chicken includes:  pineapple chunks, cornstarch, sugar, chicken broth, lemon juice, salt, cubed cooked chicken, green pepper, toasted flaked coconut, toasted slivered almonds, and rum extract.

Coconut milk is delicious in smoothie recipes too.