How To Make Coconut Milk (nariyal ka dudh -Thengai Paal ) at home

Have you ever tried  to make coconut milk at home  ? In maharashtrian or konkan cuisine we use a lot of coconut in various veg & non veg dishes  like chicken curry (malvani chicken curry /skp chicken curry) or fish curry or solkadhi .Its even used in thai cuisine . Buying a readymade can of coconut milk would be expensive again there is a concern about hygiene. So its always best to  to make coconut milk at home which will be economical and also u can get fresh coconut milk.

Fresh, homemade coconut milk is also richer in vitamins, food enzymes and nutrients than coconut milk from a tin.  Indeed, fresh coconut milk contains three times as much vitamin C as canned coconut milk and is richer in thiamin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate and panthothenic acid
.  Moreover, fresh raw coconut milk contains vitamin E, a heat-sensitive, fat-soluble vitamin that is otherwise absent in canned coconut milk.  Learning how to make coconut milk is, indeed, worthwhile for its nutrition benefits alone, let alone the culinary pleasure you’ll experience in tasting something truly fresh, creamy and markedly lacking in that unpleasant dull metallic aftertaste that comes from any tinned food.

Ingredients

1  coconut /ola naral /wet coconut/nariyal

2-3 cup warm water ( Use as per quantity of coconut taken to prepare milk )


Method

1.Break coconut into 2 pieces & grate coconut using vili (knife with a grater & wooden base on which you can sit & cut veggies or grate coconut generally used in marathi homes ) or anjali coconut scraper.You can grate entire or half coconut as per your requirement.Y ou can even break in into small pieces as shown in 2nd figure.




2.Combine 1 cup shredded wet coconut and 1/2 cup hot water in a blender. Blend for about 2 minutes or until it looks nice and creamy and you have a good froth on top
3. Now take a  big strainer /galna which u use to strain soups.Place teh strainer on top of bowl.squeeze the coconut mixture with your hands on a  the strainer so that coconut residue will remain above & thick coconut milk will get coolected in bowl.
4. After squeezing entire coconut again blend the residue of coconut with remaining hot water in a blender & repeat step 3.the milk you get in second round will be a bit thin as compared to first time.
5. Repeat for third time & your fresh Home made  Coconut Milk  is ready .
6.Remains fresh  or about 2-3 days in the refrigerator. 

Tips :

1 As far as possible try to prepare this fresh do not use preserved ones .
2. Maximum limit for grinding coconut as per above process is 3 times .