How do i make coconut milk?

Question

I want to make a raw vegan thai soup. I dont want to use canned coconut milk, any suggestions?

thanks

Answer 1

MAKING FRESH COCONUT CREAM/MILK:

There are two types of fresh coconut milk. Thick or first pressed milk. And thin or second pressed milk.

To make “extra virgin coconut milk” or EVCO as I now call it, you have to buy a mature coconut (generally those that are just brown husk outside), and have the man at the market grate it. If your home still has one of those neat grating contraptions, then grate it yourself.

For every grated coconut, add one cup of lukewarm water (not hot) and start squeezing to extract the milk. Keep going until the liquid is nice and thick. Strain through a fine sieve and if you are particular about removing all coconut bits and solids, pass through a cheesecloth.

The bits and solids can alter the texture of your cooked dish. This first pressing yields a nice milk.

Generally, you can thicken it further by boiling it down. You can squeeze the grated coconut from several nuts at the same time. Set aside the EVCO.

From the SAME grated coconut, add 1.5-2.0 cups of lukewarm water and start squeezing again until you have extracted the remaining milk. This process yields a thinner milk that is typically used at the beginning of the cooking process for recipes with coconut milk or gata. The EVCO is added to the dish at a later stage.

COCONUT CREAM/MILK:  

Coconut Coconut milk is not the juice found inside a coconut, but the diluted cream pressed out from the thick, white flesh of a well-matured coconut.

To make coconut milk, finely grated coconut meat is steeped in hot water until it is cool enough to handle. It is then squeezed until dry; the white fluid is strained to remove all the pulp. When allowed to sit for a while, the coconut cream   rises to the top.

More hot water is added to the pulp and the process is repeated to yield a lighter fluid, or coconut milk.

Frequently, a third pressing is done to obtain a light coconut milk, which is used for stewing meats or for thinning coconut milk to make a coconut soup or a light curry.

An average mature coconut yields about one cup of coconut cream and one to two cups of coconut milk depending on how light a milk is desired.

hope these help.                   good luck and enjoy.

Answer 2

Here's the easiest way  take a  coconut open it up take the insides the liquid and the white stuff and mix it all in the Magic Bullet.  If thick you have coconut cream  just add some water to it and mix to get coconut milk.   The Magic Bullet is better than a blender! U can use a blender if you don't have the Magic Bullet!  A good cook wouldn't be without the Magic Bullet though!    I often make cream of Mushroom soup and it's Vegan cause I use coconut milk.. (oh I know some extremist Vegans will say Mushrooms aren't Vegan because they are living microorganisms from wood..  my vegan sister thinks this  not me)

Answer 3

You should use YOUNG COCONUT, not brown with dried flesh! So you have to get the husked white ones. They have lots of coconut water in it, along with a jelly-like meat. You blend the meat with the coconut water and that's how you make it. The challenge is finding a way to open the young coconut. You need a huge knife or cleaver.

Answer 4

I think coconut milk is contain in the center of the seed.

Answer 5

The old fashioned way to make 'coconut milk' in australia before we had so much multi cultural food available was to steep dried dessicated coconut in warm water... I dont know if this would consititute 'raw' but if you gave it long enough it would be ok... Also some friends suggested that we use soy milk for curries instead of coconut milk as it has a similar taste. Its not bad. I prefer a bit of some kind of coconut in there though and im not sure if u can get raw soy milk... I think the best option would be to buy a whole fresh coconut and put the liquid and the flesh into a blender. YUM!

Answer 6

here I made some for coconut curry the fresh coconut milk is soo good.http://homecooking.about.com/od/fruitrec...