How to extract milk from coconut | Coconut milk at home
Coconut milk has lot of health benefits. Most of our south indian cooking calls for the need of fresh coconut; either it could be in the form of grated coconut, coconut slices or coconut milk to make the dishes yummilicious and to make it taste how it should be. Apart from this, there are many ways we can consume it . We can drink it as it is or use it in smoothies. Extracting coconut milk seems like a big task. It makes your task easy, once you have everything at hand.
Things you will need to extract coconut milk:
A good blender / mixie jar
Muslin cloth / Cheese cloth
Grated coconut – 1 cup
water (preferably warm) – 1 cup – 1.5 cup
Remember always to use fresh coconut to extract milk and taste the coconut meat for its freshness before going further as it will affect the taste of the final dish.
You can use coconut water to grind the grated coconut. But, I personally feel that it has its own nutrients, so to consume as it is, would be a better idea. I usually give it to my little one to drink.
Warm water will help to extract maximum milk and if you are using frozen grated coconut, I would suggest you to soak it in hot water for few minutes and then go further. If you use cold water, you might end up messing your hand and cloth with coconut oil, logic, right?? So, let’s begin with the procedure.
How to extract coconut milk at home with step by step photos:
1. Grind the grated coconut with 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water to a paste. Put a clean muslin cloth on top of a vessel where you want to extract. Take out the paste on the cloth.
2. Hold together all the ends of the cloth and squeeze it as much as you can to extract maximun juice. This is the first extract or what we say ‘Onampaal’ in malayalam, which will be thick. Transfer this to a separate bowl.
3. Open the cloth and transfer the coconut residue to the blender again. Add remaining 1/2 cup of water. Grind again. Repeat steps 1 & 2. Now what we get, is a second extract or ‘Rundaam paal’, which is thin milk.
If you are planning to add it to curry, the first extract or the thick milk should always be added at the end of the preparation and switch off the flame when about to boil. Do not boil it, otherwise it will curdle. On the other hand, second extract can be boiled and used for making gravies. If you want a thin coconut, you can always add required amount of water to the thick milk.
Check out my other recipes made with coconut milk:
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