Coconut milk is extensively used in malayalee (kerala) cooking. Onam is around the corner and i thought this time i should post the recipe for coconut milk since it forms the base for vegetable stew and payasams which are all a part of the sadhya or the grand meal that is served on the day of Onam.
I had posted the recipe of coconut milk earlier as a part of the recipe of pineapple payasam.Freshly grated coconut (preferably freshly grated) is ground finely with warm water before extracting the coconut milk from it. This process is further repeated 1 or 2 times to get second milk and third milk.
The first milk (called Onnam Paal in malayalam) is the thickest and is generally added at the end of cooking as this milk can split if it boils too long. The second milk (called Rendam Paal in malayalam) is thinner and the third milk (called Moonam Paal in malayalam) the thinnest. It is easy to understand the use of the first, second and third milk once you have a look at the recipes.
- 11/2 cup freshly grated coconut
- 31/2 cups Warm Water
- Add the coconut and 11/2 cups of warm water to a blender.
- Grind it till the coconut becomes a fine paste.
- Transfer this mixture on to a strainer.
- Place the strainer on top of a vessel.
- Extract the coconut milk by pressing the coconut against the strainer with a spoon or squeezing out the milk with your hand as is done traditionally. This is the first milk.
- Place the coconut from which the first milk is extracted back in the blender.
- Grind this well with 1 cup of warm water.
- Repeat the process of extracting the coconut milk. Collect this milk separately. This is the second milk
- If the third milk is required place the coconut back in the blender.
- Grind this again with 1 cup of warm water.
- Extract the third milk from the coconut.
Recipes using coconut milk on my blog:
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