Fresh Coconut Milk for #MarketFriday

In an earlier conversation with @dswigle a couple of days ago, I promised to submit an entry with regards coconut milk. Fortunately, I still have pictures of the last time I went to the market before this lockdown thing. So, this will be my entry to this week's #MarketFriday.

We went to the market to buy coconut milk. Here in this part of the earth where there are more coconuts than humans, we can get freshly squeezed coconut milk in the market.

We use coconut milk often and liberally in most of our dishes. Hence, there is a section of the market where the only thing you can buy are mature coconuts and coconut milk.

Coconut milk is derived from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. Due to its high oil content, it has a rich and creamy taste, and thus is an excellent ingredient to a creamy dish!

This guy in the electric grater is grating the coconut. I believe that using this electric grater needs some skills. One needs extra caution in using this tool. (However, I am so thankful with this technological advancement, as I remember grating the mature coconuts manually back in my younger years. It was, oh, so tiresome!) All the grated coconut will then be put in a net bag then to the squeezing machine to derive the coconut milk. I don't know why I don't have a picture of it, but sadly, I don't. 😢 It is just a simple machine. It is more of a metal plate pushed by a jack, pressing the net bag full of grated coconut, with a catcher to gather the coconut milk. (I hope you get a mental picture of it. 😬)

We can either buy a pure coconut milk (directly pressed grated coconut), or diluted coconut milk (grated coconut pulp pressed with coconut water). We usually use the diluted coconut milk at the initial stage of cooking, and the pure one in the final stage.

We buy per container--small, medium, large. I think the one in the picture is the medium one, which cost P30 ($0.60).

We bought coconut milk then to cook for a native delicacy we call dagmay--taro leaves in coconut milk.

These are the dried taro leaves. Taro leaves and coconut milk are cooked together for over an hour in low fire. It is best with chilli.

This is the finished product. I don't know if the picture shows how yummy it is, but rest assured that it is! 😋😋

Now, with the lockdown thingy, we buy 3 to 5 cups of coconut milk at a time, then we stock it in the freezer for future use. We make sure we always have coconut milk, because some soups and stews are just incomplete without it.

For those who doesn't get the luxury of fresh coconut milk, you need not feel envious, you still can make a fresh coconut milk at home, by combining unsweetened shredded coconut with warm water in a blender, puree the mixture and then strain it with a cheesecloth. Simple? Try it! 😉

And this is it. This is my simple #MarketFriday submission by the most kind-hearted host, @dswigle. ❤❤❤

Thank you for reading,

Ging

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