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Young coconuts


Dianabanana

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I have become addicted to young coconut juice, and recently bought two cases of young coconuts and have been having one a day (so much deliciousness for only $1.20 each!). I do love eating the gelatinous coconut meat, but it's very rich, so for the most part I've been scraping it out and storing it in the freezer. Now I've got several cups of it saved up.

I went looking for traditional uses of young coconut meat, but Google yielded only Buco Pie, which frankly sounds pretty bland. Surely there are many more traditional uses for this, since coconuts are so ubiquitous and inexpensive or free in many parts of the world. What are they?

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Maybe you could add some Pandan extract to the pie recipe to make it more interesting?

John DePaula
formerly of DePaula Confections
Hand-crafted artisanal chocolates & gourmet confections - …Because Pleasure Matters…
--------------------
When asked “What are the secrets of good cooking? Escoffier replied, “There are three: butter, butter and butter.”

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Young coconut meat also makes great smoothies. Give it a whirl in a blender with some coconut juice and half-and-half (or evaporated milk) and ice, and you've got a perfect summer beverage. It would probably be nice with some rum thrown in (not Malibu--why ruin beautiful young coconut flavour with that fake crap?).

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DB - don't dismiss buko pie so easily. Done right with the flakiest of pastry, buko pie can be so heavenly and tasty. I can remember freshly baked buko pies from a roadside stall in Laguna, Philippines and we just had to eat them in the car. Each bite is a wonderful creamy coconuty goodness punctuated with tender coconut meat. All encased in a buttery pastry cover.

Or you can make Espasol - a cylinder-shaped Filipino rice cake originating from the province of Laguna. It is made from rice flour cooked in coconut milk and sweetened coconut strips, dusted with toasted rice flour (sometimes encased in a banana leaf cylinder). It is a light dessert or snack that is perfect for tea. I have the recipe if you want it.

Doddie aka Domestic Goddess

"Nobody loves pork more than a Filipino"

eGFoodblog: Adobo and Fried Chicken in Korea

The dark side... my own blog: A Box of Jalapenos

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There a not-so-common Filipino dish called Pancit Butong which uses strips of young coconut meat instead of noodles. It's a real treat.

fmed

de gustibus non est disputandum

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Young coconut has a lot of different uses, but it's hard to generalize by saying just 'young coconut'. when they are really young the meat inside is very gel like and sweet, and as it rippens it get slightly meatier but still relatively soft not like a completely mature coconut. If you find some really young coconuts with this gel like meat inside, try scooping some out and putting it over an oyster, its delicious. With the slightly more ripened meat you can use a mold to put it into a certain shape, stack it up and make like an all natural flan kind of like a panna cotta of coconut but without the use of any gelatin or cream. With the even more mature meat, you can dice it and use it in a salad or salsa.

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You can puree young coconut meat and add it to the base for coconut sorbet or coconut ice cream. Churn and freeze the base in an ice cream maker as you usually do, then by hand stir in some more young coconut meat that has been coarsely chopped or slivered--that will add little jelly-like bits for textural contrast. For a flashy presentation, serve the sorbet or ice cream in a hollowed-out and chilled young coconut shell. I think the sorbet or ice cream absorbs flavors from the shell and tastes even better.

I've made this sorbet, starting with a typical coconut sorbet recipe using regular coconut milk. The young coconut puree and chopped meat give the sorbet a more intense flavor and textural interest. I couldn't tell you how traditional this dessert is, but it's served in restaurants in Thailand.

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Diana, here's the recipe for Espasol

Espasol (Sweet Rice Cake)

2 cups sweet rice flour (glutinous rice flour) + 1/2 cup (for dusting later)

3/4 cups sugar

1 can coconut milk

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup young coconut meat, grated or sliced into thin strips

1. Toast rice flour on a cookie sheet until golden brown.

2. Bring sugar, coconut milk and salt to a boil in a heavy bottom pot. Add the 2 cups of toasted rice flour. Then add the young coconut meat.

3. Mix well and cook until thick, stirring constantly.

4. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. On a large cutting board, sprinkle evenly with toasted rice flour. With a rolling pin, flatten to an inch and cut into your desired shape, like:

a. diamonds - dust with more flour after cutting

b. little logs - as long as your finger and dust with more flour after rolling

c. longer logs - but roll them up in small pieces of banana leaf (very much like a cigar.

The finished product (without the banana leaf) should be thoroughly coated with rice flour. There is even a game played during the fiestas in the South of the Philippines where contestants would be given a handful of espasol to eat and the one who finishes chewing first should be able to whistle to win the prize. It's fun to see rice flour blowing out of the players' mouth. :laugh:

Doddie aka Domestic Goddess

"Nobody loves pork more than a Filipino"

eGFoodblog: Adobo and Fried Chicken in Korea

The dark side... my own blog: A Box of Jalapenos

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As a fun fact, here are the 3 different kinds of coconut meat. We Filipinos call them:

1. Mala-uhog (translated as like snot) - the youngest coconut meat will have a gel-like, mucus-like consistency. The meat could be cut so easily with a plastic spoon and should be clear and light colored.

2. Mala-kanin (like cooked rice) - this coconut meat would be older than mala-uhog and is uniformly white all over. It has the consistency of boiled rice and you would need a grater or baller to get the meat from the shell.

3. Mala-katad (like leather) - this one is a bit harder to scrape off the shell. It is tough and usually used to make sweets or extract coconut milk from.

Me, I prefer mala-uhog anytime but I don't like the coconut water.

Doddie aka Domestic Goddess

"Nobody loves pork more than a Filipino"

eGFoodblog: Adobo and Fried Chicken in Korea

The dark side... my own blog: A Box of Jalapenos

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