Homemade Coconut Milk - Basics

Homemade Coconut Milk is a delicious ingredient for many sweet recipes. Nowadays packed coconut milk are easily available but freshly homemade gives you great taste. This post is mainly for beginners and new cooks. In this post I will be giving step by step procedure for making coconut milk in home with pictures.

Coconut milk is used as ingredients for many recipes like Briyani, Murruku. Sweets like Pal kolukattai, Payasam, Idiyapam, Appam etc. This coconut milk can also be mixed with jaggery and have it as a coconut milk payasam.

This coconut milk gives you nice taste and flavor to the recipe in which it is added. Freshly made coconut milk gives you better taste than packed and coconut powder to the recipe. So always try to make fresh coconut milk by using freshly grated coconut. 

Coconut milk will be extracted from the grated coconut twice using blender. First milk will be thicker and richer. The second milk will be thinner one. We should not boil coconut milk for long time because it will curdle soon. So add it to the recipe and switch off the flame, most of the time. More thinner version of coconut milk can be boiled for sometime without curdling according to the recipe. 

Ingredients for Coconut Milk: Coconut – 1 cup grated Warm water – 1 and 1/2 cup

Method:

• Break open the coconut and grate the coconut at the time of preparing coconut milk (you can also use coconut bits but it takes time to grind than the grated coconut).
• Add it to the blender by adding 1/ cup of warm water. (Water should be warm not hot)
  
• Grind it to a smooth mixture for a minute or two.
• Then pour it in the strainer.
  
• Press it using the back of the spoon or using hand until all the milk are strained. The milk collected now is called as first milk which will be thick and rich in flavor.
• Then again add the coconut mixture in the blender and add the remaining water and grind it again for a minute or two.
  
• After it is grinded, add to the strainer and collect the milk by pressing the coconut mixture using the back of the spoon.
• The milk collected now is called second coconut milk which will be thinner than the first milk.
• If the recipe calls for more thinner coconut milk again put the coconut mixture in the blender and add little water and strain to get the third coconut milk which will be thinner than the second milk.
  
• Now use this milk for the recipe according to the requirements specified for the same.
  

Note:

• Always use freshly broken coconut as already grated coconut will be dried and we cant get enough milk out of the that.
• Amount of water added can be altered according to the recipe called for coconut milk.