Tag Archives: Coconuts

The coconut tree is probably native to the region indomalaise.

The coconut is rich in potassium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, copper and zinc. That gives him a good nutritional value.

The first time we see the coconut trees, it is surprising to find that the nuts are green and not brown and hairy as they are found in our markets. This is the natural envelope of the fruit that must be removed to find the nuts.

When the fruit is green, the water it contains is consumed as a refreshing drink: after storage in a refrigerated tank, the nut is opened after “stem” of three machete cutting a lid. The fruit for this purpose are selected based on their weight, and agitated at the ear to check the presence of liquid.

Blackberry, almond, coconut is edible and used as an ingredient in many recipes because of its tropical characteristic scent. The seed of the coconut that grows by occupying the space left by the coconut water is also edible. It takes a round shape with a thin layer of yellow color. The interior consists of a fibrous white flesh with a sweet taste and infused with coconut water.

A coconut can be kept full for several weeks in a cool place. The kernel will keep several days in the fridge, wrapped in plastic wrap.

Among the Hindus, the coconut is the purest form of offering to the gods. In fact,
It contains pure water, untouched by human hand, from the tree itself from the grassroots to the highest level of the fruit;
the entangled fibers characterize defects in humans – jealousy, selfishness, greed – that must be broken, torn to attain purity of soul and spirituality
No other product does distinctly three eyes symbolize the Trinity of Evolution: Creation, Preservation and Dissolution
The eyes also represent the three eyes of man – the two physical eyes but also the third eye, that of our consciousness. Only the latter can pass through the superficial and wrong and reach the ultimate truth. Only he can distinguish good from evil.
The very composition of the coconut characterizes the three elements of man: the hard shell covered with tangled fibers, the physical world, the flesh white, the psychological element, and water untouched, spirituality
The coconut is thus offered to the gods in prayer and distributed to the people as a food blessed – Prasad, fruit amounted to god to get the sacred vibrations that will bring health to man

Lau bo – Vietnamese fondue

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Ingredients :

  • 20 cl of water
  • 20 cl of rice vinegar
  • 600 g of beef tenderloin
  • 200 g of peeled shrimp
  • 150 g of shiitake mushrooms
  • 150 g of bean sprouts
  • 1 package of rice cakes
  • 1 package of rice noodles
  • 1 can of coconut milk
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 can of pineapple
  • 2 onion
  • 1 lime
  • 1 lettuce
  • 10 g of Chinese chives
  • 10 g of parsley
  • 3 tablespoons of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of salt

Preparation :

Soak noodles 15 minutes in cold water, then drain and set aside. Cut into 4 pieces the rice cakes.

Cut meat into thin slices. Make a small cut on the back of the shrimp and remove the black vein and put aside.

Peel carrots and cut into sticks, chopped parsley, cut the mushrooms and onion in thick slices, then Chinese spring onion of into strips 5 cm and lettuce into strips of 10 cm.

Put the onion slices over the shrimp and the beef for flavoring . The rest of onion be served in to the broth.

Boil water in a saucepan, then put the noodles to cook for 2 minutes, drain. Arrange the noodles on a presentation plate.

In a fondue pot, combine rice vinegar, sugar, salt, coconut juice, water and remaining onion.
Taste and adjust salt, sugar or vinegar, knowing that the broth should be slightly acidic, and slightly salty. If you find that the taste of vinegar is too strong, add a little water.

Drain the pineapple and cut into small pieces and then chop coarsely

Pour the contents of Mam Nem in a bowl, put the pineapple in the sauce, add the lemon juice and mix. Adjust according to your taste.

Put in the middle of the table the hot pot and the dishes containing vegetables, shrimp, meat and noodles (the fondue pot must be heated over medium heat for meal), also a bowl of hot water for soaking rice cakes.

Serve in a bowl mam nem sauce individually and use a plate for to roll the rice cake.

Place ingredients you want into the hot pot and cook for 5 minutes for shrimp, mushrooms and carrots but for beef, spring onions and Chinese vermicelli it only takes a few seconds.

Take a rice cake, soak in the bowl of warm water to rehydrate, then put on the plate, put some noodles, a salad leaf, vegetables and chunks of meat cooked on the rice cake.

Wind the rice cake, being careful not to tear and eat with the mam nem sauce.

Tips : you can replace the mam nem sauce to taste that strong enough for the sauce nuoc mam with a little chopped fresh ginger. For vegetables you can put Chinese cabbage, celery’s, tomatoes or cabbage flower according to your preference.
The Vietnamese keep the rest of soup for eat with rice vermicelli or Chinese noodles or instant noodles.

Sanwin Makin – semolina cake

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Ingredients :

  • 1 cup of semolina
  • 3 cups of coconut cream
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 125 g of ghee or butter
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon of ground cardamom
  • 3 eggs, yolks and whites separated
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons of sesame seeds

Preparation :
Put the semolina in a large pot and slowly add the coconut cream, stirring to avoid lumps.

Add sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat and stir constantly. When the mixture begins to thicken, gradually add the ghee or butter.

Cook until the mixture becomes very thick and pulls away from
sides of the pan. Add salt, cardamom and mix.

Stir in egg yolks one by one, then beat the eggs whites
until stiff and fold gently with a wooden spatula.

Pour mixture into cake pan 20 cm wide, then equalizing the surface.

In a small dry saucepan, fry the sesame seeds on medium heat. Stir constantly, once browned sprinkle the cake.

Bake 45 minutes at 160 ° C, until the cake is puffed and golden. Let cool in pan, then cut into large rectangles or diamonds.

Serve as a snack or dessert.

Moh hin gha – mohinga – fish soup

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Ingredients :

  • 500 g of fish fillets
  • 4 onions, chopped
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 2 teaspoons of fresh ginger, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder
  • 2 spoons of sesame oil
  • 4 spoons of peanut oil
  • 2 fresh chilies, seeded and chopped
  • 4 cups of coconut milk
  • 1 banana heart or box bamboo shoots
  • 1 teaspoon of dried shrimp paste (ngapi)
  • 1 spoon of fish sauce
  • 3 spoons of chickpea flour
  • 2 cups of coconut cream
  • 2 spoons of lemon juice
  • salt
  • 500 g of egg noodles or rice
  • hard eggs
  • coarsely chopped cilantro

Preparation :
Wash the fish and poach 5 minutes then reserve the fish and the fish broth.

Mix the onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric and chili powder until  a puree.

Heat the sesame oil and peanut oil in large saucepan and cook the puree.
When the mixture begins to brown and tie, add the fish broth, coconut milk and banana heart (or bamboo shoots).

Bring to a boil and cook over low heat until the banana heart (bamboo shoots) are tender. Dissolve the shrimp paste in fish sauce, and add to mixture then add the chickpea flour and dissolved in a little coconut milk.

Stir constantly until the resumption of boiling. Simmer 5 minutes and add the fish.

Then add the coconut cream and lemon juice, stirring until the soup begins to simmer. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Cook the noodles in salted water until crisp. Drain and place in large bowl for serve alongside the soup.

Serve the Moh hin gha in a bowl and give the guests large bowls or soup plates.

It primarily serves the noodles and pour the soup over it. The Moh hin gha should be served hot. It is often accompanied by hard eggs and cilantro that guests will put at will.

Tips : You can use the European or Chinese noodles.

Anecdotes : Moh hin gha is the national dish of Burma.
Street vendors go from house to house and offer moh hin gha bowls.
It is often used when the meal has many guests.
There is no real fair or festival without dealers moh bin gha.
The rice vermicelli, a bay of rice flour.

Satay – sate – skewered meat

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Ingredients :

  • 1 kg of meat (beef, chicken or mutton)
  • 6 tablespoons of sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups of peanut
  • 1 stalk lemongrass
  • 1 teaspoon of cumin
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 2 large onions
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 1 cteaspoon of turmeric
  • 2 chopped cilantro
  • 30 g of fresh ginger
  • 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup of water

for the sauce:

  • 680 g of peanuts
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 2 stalks lemongrass
  • 1/2 cup of sesame seeds
  • 2 tablespoons of chopped red pepper
  • 1 tablespoon of shrimp paste, dry
  • 2 large onions
  • 85 g of tamarind paste
  • 1/2 cup of powdered sugar
  • 1 piece of ginger
  • 4 teaspoons of salt
  • 6 cups of milk coconut

Preparation :
Finely chop the garlic, onions, peanuts, lemongrass and ginger and reserve.

Cut meat into cubes and place in a bowl and finely chopped ingredients. Add salt, sugar, cumin, turmeric, coriander, water and mix.

Marinate for at least 4 hours, then put the meat on skewers, cook the skewers ona grill or oven.

For the sauce:
Chop the onions, garlic and ginger. Dry toast the seeds of peanuts in a pan,remove the skins and grind finely.

Saute shrimp paste over medium heat for a few minutes, add onion and garlic to skillet, cook the onions until they become white.

Add lemongrass, ginger, chilli, peanuts, sesame seeds, coconut milk, sugar, salt and tamarind paste and cook until the sauce thickens.

Serve skewers and sauce with vegetables or rice.

Tips : It is served with sliced ​​cucumber, cubes of compacted rice, raw onions and the famous satay sauce.

Anecdotes : Following colonization of Indonesia by the Netherlands, this dish is now extremely common in fast food establishments Dutch, the satay sauce is regularly used as an accompaniment to fried.

Nasi kuning – yellow rice

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Ingredients :

  • 2 cups of medium grain rice
  • 2 cups of coconut milk
  • 2 cups of water
  • 1/2 stalk lemongrass cut into 2
  • 1 cm of fresh turmeric, peeled and crushed
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 7 kaffir leaves
  • 1 pandanus leaf
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground turmeric

Preparation :

Rinse rice, then put it in a pot with coconut milk and water.

Add the leaves of kaffir, sticks of lemongrass, pandanus, turmeric pieces and salt.

Cook over medium heat, after 10 minutes add turmeric powder and stir.

When the mixture boils, reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes.

Turn off and cover, then let stand 15 minutes.

Stir to loosen the grains and put the rice in the steamer basket of the pot.

Fill the pot with cold water and put the basket on top to cook rice at the steamer .

Bake 30 minutes in the steamer basket and stir every 10 minutes so the rice does not stick.

Peel off the grains and serve.

Anecdotes : Rice looks like a pile of gold, so it is often served at parties and opening ceremonies as a symbol of good fortune, wealth and dignity.

Nome shek Chiene – Banana Fritters

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Ingredients :

  • 8 small banana hard enough
  • 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
  • 50 g of palm sugar
  • 50 g of rice flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 tablespoons of coconut milk
  • ½ teaspoon of salt
  • baking paper

Preparation :

In a bowl mix the rice flour, sesame seeds, sugar and salt.

Add eggs and coconut milk gradually and mix . The mixture should have the consistency of thick pancake batter.

Peel the bananas and put them between two square of parchment paper and flatten slightly with a plate without transforming them into puree.

Heat oil in a saucepan or deep fryer on high heat.

Dip bananas in batter and fry in oil in small quantities and turning often. Until will be brown and crispy, then reduce heat to medium because the oil is very hot and the rest of the banana fritters that you will cook, will have the outside of the donuts cooked too fast and will remain raw inside and pasty.

Serve hot immediately.

Tips: you can use wall plantains, cut them in half lengthwise and then into pieces of about 7 cm and you are not obliged to flatten them.

Anecdotes : The banana fritter dessert is very appreciated especially young Cambodians. They can be eaten as a dessert or as a snack. You can buy in small street shop or at hawker.

Fish head curry

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Ingredients :

  • 1 whole fish head halved (red snapper, grouper, monkfish, salmon …)
  • 500 g of fish fillets
  • 5 tablespoons of curry paste
  • 2cm fresh ginger, thinly sliced ​​
  • 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced ​​
  • 3 onions, thinly sliced ​​
  • 300 g of young okra (lady finger)
  • 3 quartered tomatoes
  • 6 red chillies, halved in length
  • 6 green chilies, halved in length
  • 3 sprigs curry leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 tablespoon of sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of tamarind mixed with ½ cup water
  • 1 cup of coconut milk
  • 5 tablespoon of sunflower oil
  • 250 g of coriander powder
  • 60 g of ground cumin
  • 150 g of chili powder
  • 30 g of rosemary powder
  • 20 g of black pepper powder
  • 10 g of fenugreek powder

Preparation :

Wash the fish head and fish fillets and dry with paper towels.
Cook the steamed fish and set aside.

Heat oil in a wok and add ginger, saute on high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, add garlic and saute until the mixture is fragrant.

Add the curry paste and saute a few minutes. Add the shallots, add half the coconut milk and bring to a boil before adding the reste of coconut milk and tamarind juice.

Add okra, tomatoes, red chilli, green chilli, curry leaves, salt and sugar.

Finish preparation by adding the fish and leave to simmer 10 minutes.

Serve with rice.

Anecdotes : This dish from southern India, at first glance unprepossessing. Imagine a fish head (usually the red mullet, grouper rarely or monkfish) bathed in a spicy curry sauce.

Yao Hon – Cambodian fondue

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Ingredients :

  • 500 g of rice vermicelli
  • 500 g of beef
  • 200 g of shrimp
  • 200 g of asian fish or beef balls
  • 200 g of cuttlefish
  • 200 g of water spinach
  • 100 g of mushrooms
  • 100 g of crushed peanuts
  • 1 kg of spinach
  • 2 Chinese cabbage
  • 3 bok choy
  • 75 g of sugar
  • 2 teaspoons of salt
  • 2 tablespoons of tamarind concentrate
  • 40 cl of coconut cream
  • 15 cl of nuoc mam sauce
  • 150 g of satay powder or paste
  • 1,5 liters of water

Preparation :

Prepare the noodles according to the instructions indicated on the package.

Cut the meat into thin slices. Shell the shrimp and make a small cut on the back of the shrimp and remove the small black vein.

Cut the fish or beef balls and bok choy in 2 pieces and 4 pieces the cuttlefish.

Cut the mushrooms into strips and water spinach and Chinese cabbage in 3.

In a saucepan pour the coconut cream and satay, mix well so that everything is well homogeneous, then add the tamarind concentrate, sugar, stir and simmer 5 minutes over medium heat.

Add 1,5 L of water, salt, fish sauce and crushed peanuts and stir and simmer 30 minutes over high heat.

Transfer a quantity of soup in serving Asian melted, then add the vegetables, meat and seafood and rice vermicelli, cook and enjoy.

Tips : you can use prawns instead of shrimps and the soya vermicelli instead of rice noodles, because it doesn’t need to be soaked in water before consumption,  you can put directly into the Cambodian melted.

Anecdotes : The khmer fondue is made ​​at major events such as : New Year, weddings, birthday, family meetings…

Jackfruit and tapioca pearls in coconut milk

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Ingredients :

  • 1 can of jackfruit
  • 50 cl of water
  • 5 tablespoons of pearl of tapioca
  • 400 ml of coconut milk
  • 75 g sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of salt

Preparation :

Rinse the jackfruit and cut into thin strips and set aside.

In a saucepan bring water to boil and add the tapioca pearls and cook until the beads become completely translucent.

Stir often so they do not stick. Remove and place them under warm water and set aside.

In a saucepan heat the coconut milk, add salt and sugar and cook for about 5-7 minutes over low heat until the sauce thickens, stirring occasionally.

Then add the pearl of tapioca, stir, taste and adjust if you think it’s not sweet enough to suit your taste.

Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes then add the jackfruit.

Serve warm or cold.

Pittu – coconut round

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Ingredients :

  • 2 cups of shredded coconut fresh or dry
  • 1 cup of rice flour
  • 1 cup of fine semolina
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Preparation :

If using the dried coconut, place in large bowl and pour a glass of water for rehydrate. The fresh coconut does not need water.

Put the coconut in a bowl and add the sifted flour, semolina and salt.
Work by hand as a pastry. The mixture should resemble breadcrumbs.

Fill in the bamboo tube or in a special tube (see photo) and lightly pressed down, you can use a thin tin can that you have pierced the bottom.

cook 15 minutes in a steamer basket. Let cool before unmolding.

Serve with coconut milk, the lunu miris Sambol or strong curry like curry tripe who is traditionally serve with the pittu.

Anecdotes : The pittu was probably introduced at Sri Lanka by Malaysian regiments of the colonial period. However, it was completely “naturalized” and is now a staple food of Sri Lankans.

Hoppers – appa – pancakes with coconut milk

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Ingredients :

  • 15 g of fresh yeast or 1 teaspoon in baking powder
  • 1/2 cup of warm water
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
  • 1/2 cup of ground rice
  • 1/2 cup of rice flour
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 70cl of coconut milk

Preparation :

Crumble the yeast in ½ cup warm water, stir well to dissolve, add sugar and let stand 10 minutes.
In a bowl, mix the ground rice, flour and salt.
Add the yeast dissolved in coconut cream and pour into the bowl where the flour and ground rice.
Mix to a paste not too thick and smooth, like a pancake batter.
Let stand overnight or place during the hours in an oven off but still warm.
It should double in volume.
When you pour the batter into the pan, that is rotated, it must cover the walls with a thin almost transparent. If it is not fluid enough, add some coconut milk.
Heat the pan over low heat and lightly oil.
Pour a small ladleful of batter.
Immediately lift the pan by its two handles and rotate so that was lining the dough into 2/3 of the height. Cover. Cook 5 minutes over low heat.
Discover. When the edges of the crepe begin to take a slightly golden.
In the center of the pancake, there is a small circle of slightly spongy texture, while the curved edges are thin and crisp as a wafer.
Remove the hopper from the pan using a metal spatula.
Serve hot with Sambol hoppers or curries of meat, fish or chicken.

Anecdotes : cooking was done by pressing the stove hoppers in charcoal, so as to evenly distribute the heat source. You can get a special stove hopper in specialty stores.

Pol Sambal – Coconut Sambal

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Ingredients :

  • 2 cups of fresh coconut or desiccated
  • 2 small onions or shallots
  • ​​1 green chili
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tablespoon of chopped red chili
  • Salt
  • 1 lime juice

Preparation :

If using dry coconut rehydrate with 1/4 of warm water.

Cut into chunks and chop in a blender or mortar the onions or shallots, the green chili, the garlic and mix them in a bowl.

Add coconut and mix, then add the red chili and the lime juice, salt and pepper.

Let marinate at least 2 hours in refrigerator.

Serve with rice and curry.

Tips : You can use a coconut as you empty yourself, but the work can be long if you have not used.

Anecdotes : Pol means coconut in Sinhalese.