We’ve got a lovely bunch of coconut conundrums
What’s the difference between coconut milk, coconut cream (which both come in tins) and creamed coconut (which comes as a block)? There’s also cream of coconut (which also comes in a tin) and coconut oil, but they’re not as easily confused with the others. And then there’s powdered coconut milk … Help!
Elisabeth, Guildford, Surrey
From yoghurt and cream to milk and water, you can’t move for coconut these days. That’s mostly down to its recent anointment in the west as some miracle vegan alternative to dairy, so you’d imagine it would be in producers’ interests not to bewilder us in this way, but there you go.
Maybe Karan Gokani can help, seeing as he runs Hoppers in London, which majors in the food of Sri Lanka and south India, where barely a meal passes without coconut putting in an appearance somewhere. “Back home in India and Sri Lanka, we usually make the cream and milk from scratch,” he says. “You grate the dense flesh of older coconuts, tie the shavings in muslin and squeeze out the thick, rich cream. The leftover flesh is then blitzed with a cup of water and squeezed again, which produces a thinner, but still substantial milk. Finally, it’s squeezed a third time, for a much thinner, very watery milk.”
Coconuts don’t grow on trees here in the UK, obviously, so the closest we can get to that thick first extraction is tinned cream, while tinned milk is more like the second pressing. Even so, as with anything canned, from baked beans to tuna, you get what you pay for. “I only ever use Asian coconut milk,” Gokani says, adding that he favours Thai brands because they have a very high fat content, which gives you the best of both worlds in a single can – “Open a tin without shaking it: the cream will have risen to the top above the more watery milk.”
Kay Plunkett-Hogge, whose new book Baan (£20, Pavilion) is a love letter to the food she grew up on in Bangkok, is another fan of Thai products – not that she’s biased or anything. “It’s not hard to make your own,” she says, “but tins are far less time-consuming. Look for a brand without added emulsifiers, though, or the cream won’t behave in the same way.” Many cheaper alternatives sold in supermarkets tend to be gloopy and are artificially thickened in this way, so read the small print on the label.
Related: Meera Sodha's recipe for vegan dosa with coconut chutney and greens | The New Vegan
From a cook’s viewpoint, Gokani advises saving the denser cream to finish a sauce (or for desserts and garnishes), not only to minimise its chances of splitting, but also to avoid over-diluting that glorious, coconutty flavour. In Malaysia, too, they save the cream till last, says Mandy Yin of London laksa joint Sambal Shiok: “It’s the main thickener for laksa broth, plus it brings a rounder mouthfeel to a dish. Think of how and why the French add butter to a sauce at the end: that’s how we use coconut cream.” The thinner milk can go into sauces much earlier, and can even be boiled without risk of splitting.
Thais also use cream for cooking off curry paste, Plunkett-Hogge says. “Chuck a dollop into a pan right at the start, simmer and wait for it to crack” – that is, when it splits – “which tells you it’s time to add the paste.”
Gokani turns to creamed coconut and milk powder only in the absence of fresh or tinned. “Add hot water to dilute it to a thickish single cream consistency, then stir in near the end and heat through gently, rather than at a rolling boil. It looks and feels grainy at first, but don’t let that put you off – it goes smooth once it’s cooked down.”
Cream of coconut, on the other hand, is teeth-shatteringly sweet stuff – sugar is often the first item on the ingredients list – and is suitable only for cocktails, where the spirits take the saccharine edge off. And, on that note, I’m off for a piña colada …
• Do you have a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com
• This article was edited on 13 September 2019, to correct the spelling of Mandy Yin’s surname.
