Using Fresh Coconut

I made Coconut and Rice Flour Dosas today, so before showing you how that turned out, I thought I'd do a post on using fresh coconut.

You can buy coconuts pretty much everywhere in the UK now - most supermarkets usually sell them. Pick good looking specimens which feel heavy for their size and that slosh about when you shake them. Before you crack your coconuts open, use a sharp implement such as a skewer to break through the coconut eyes and leave the coconut to drain until all the coconut water has come out. This saves you making a mess when you crack it open! As a bonus you get the coconut water, which isn't as good as young coconut water, but according to my Dad it's still pretty good with whisky.


I find the easiest way to crack open a coconut is to use a hammer to hit the middle. The coconut will start to split as you hammer, until it has broken into two halves. Here's my Mum giving the coconut a good bash.


It usually breaks fairly neatly, but sometimes the outer shell splits away from the inner brown coat, which is a real pain because it leaves you with nothing to hold whilst you scrape the coconut. I'll come to what you can do about that in a minute.


Now you can get a the coconut flesh. You can do a number of things at this stage. If you want to make a spice paste you could break the coconut flesh away from its outer shell, peel it and put it in the food processor. You could also cut it into pieces if you want. But the usual way that I use coconuts is grated, or more accurately scraped. I have a special device for scraping coconuts, which I bought online from an Indian grocery store. It originally came mounted on a suction pad, but I found this to be totally useless so my Dad and I fashioned a wooden base which could be clamped to a work surface. It's pretty sturdy and does a very good job.


All you have to do is hold the coconut half by the shell and apply it to the blade whilst turning the handle. The serrated teeth scrape the coconut into fine strands. Unlike the "grated" coconut produced by whizzing the flesh in a food processor, it's not too greasy. It's also easier than separating the coconut from its shell, peeling it and then using a hand held grater.



However, it's really hard to use a coconut scraper like mine if your coconut split away from its shell when you were bashing it open, like this:

(See how the hard shell has come away and just left the flesh inside its brown skin)
Instead, you'll have to grate it with a handheld grater, use a food processor or just chop it up.


Here's the grated coconut I got from half a coconut. Not bad for a few minutes work! Sometimes I use the coconut straight away, but since more often than not I grate a couple of coconuts at a time, I usually freeze any remainingcoconut. All you have to do is spread the coconut out in a thin layer in a tray and put it in the freezer. Once it's frozen, you can break it up and store it in a bag.

So there you go, it's really easy to use freshly grated coconut, and there's no need to resort to the dessicated kind.

There are more great cooking tips in my book, Mango Soup. If you are interested, you can buy if from the following website: http://www.authorhouse.co.uk/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=49169