In Kerala due to the abundant availability of coconut women prefer to extract fresh coconut milk at home. In the earlier days women used the grinding stone to grind the coconut and extract milk. Thanks to technology we now add coconut to the grinder and with the press of the button we can grind the coconut and extract milk. You can follow this simple way to extract fresh coconut milk at home and enjoy the taste.

Bachelors have one step ahead , they have now shifted to purchase coconut milk powder and add in curries as per the consistency required for the recipe thin / thick.

Whatever the situation may be I enjoy the taste of fresh coconut milk in the dishes and sweets. To avoid surprises like power cut etc…I first extract coconut milk and then start the preparation.

Coconut milk is extracted in 3 stages. The coconut milk is classifies as 1^st milk- Onnam paal, 2^nd milk- Randam paal, 3^rd milk – Munnam paal. The difference basically is that the 1st milk is the thickest of all. It is the cream of the entire coconut you have extracted. The 2^nd milk is a little thinner. It is added in curries and dishes as a replacement of water. The basic ingredients i.e vegetables / meat are basically cooked in this milk. The third milk will have a pale color. It is the final rinse of coconut milk. Do not waste this milk, can be extracted in little amount. 3^rd milk is used to rinse the grinder in which masalas have been grinded, jaggery is boiled for sweet dishes.

You can chop the coconut pieces and shred in the grinder prior to grinding for coconut milk extraction. Recommended to use warm water in winter for grinding the coconut. I prefer using lukewarm water all round the year.

Let us understand the simple way to extract fresh Coconut milk at home:

Ingredients :

Fresh coconut: 2 cups (grated)

Water: 3 cups (lukewarm temp.)

Accessories: Grinder, Fine mesh filter or muslin cloth for filtering, 3 utensils for storage of milk extracted.

Procedure for extracting fresh Coconut milk at home:

Method:

• Add grated coconut and 1 cup of lukewarm water in the grinder. Grind to a fine paste. Empty into a filter and extract milk. Keep this aside carefully.
• For 2^nd milk add 1.5 cup of lukewarm water to the coconut shreds. Grind it for 2 minutes. Filter the coconut milk. Keep the second milk aside.
• The final rinse is with ½ glass water. Grind for a minute and filter the shreds. You will get a pale colored water. This is useful to simmer vegetables or meat.

This was not a complicated task. Keep all the accessories close by and start the grinding. Enjoy the freshness of coconut milk and your family will appreciate the effort for natural and homemade coconut milk. The sweet dishes and stew curry will taste different. Go ahead and definitely give a try. There are no preservatives.The dishes look royal and totally different.

You can store this in the refrigerator for 3 days .It will till stay fresh.

Most recipes mention thick or thin coconut milk. Thick coconut milk is the 1^st  milk that is added always at the end of the cooking prior to putting off the flame. The precaution taken is because if the 1^st coconut milk boils in the curry, the gravy has a split appearance similar to split milk.

Just to update, in the preparation of rose cookies / achappam, the coconut milk is added in reverse order. 1^st milk is added first, then second milk and last 3^rd milk. This is because the base is mixed first and fried later. The water addition for coconut milk extraction will be in lesser quantities as base consistency has to be adjusted to get crispy and shaped achappams.

I’ve shared my experiences. If you have any further tips for improving the procedure do let us know.

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