Coconut milk - cream

South East Asia cuisine wouldn`t do without coconut milk or cream. They belong to the main ingredients of curries of all kinds.

E.g. Thai green curry, Sri Lankan okra curry, Thai water spinach with a coconut sauce

The base for both is the same, it is a liquid made of grated white meat of a mature coconut mixed with water and strained. Water and coconut ratio for coconut milk should be around 1:1 and consistency similar to cow milk. Coconut cream is much richer, the ratio of coconut and water should be around 4:1. Coconut milk is very often put into the dish at the beginning of cooking and coconut cream just before the end.

It is important, that the grated coconut is superfine, to be able to loose maximum of juice. We mix it with water and squeeze three times. The first sqeeze results in coconut cream, the rest two in coconut milk. When you taste the dry coconut after being squeezed for the third time, is should have nearly no taste, just watery.

If you want to see how they make coconut milk and cream in Sri Lanka (including climbing coconut palm tree and opening coconut), check the VIDEO.

Recipes with coconut milk.

To buy a coconut milk US, UK, Europe, To buy a coconut cream US, UK, Europe, To buy a coconut scraper US, UK, Europe

  • coconut milk straining
  • coconut hand grater Sri Lanka
  • traditional coconut hand grater Sri Lanka