Going Nuts over Coconuts- The Whole Coconut Cookbook Review

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Just like the author of this book, who grew up in the culture of coconuts in Madagascar, I too growing up in India, had the luxury of enjoying plenty of coconuts in our food cycle besides having couple of trees in our own backyard. Every  summer trip to India, my kids still remember their scooter ride to the coconut stall on the neighborhood curb where they would go for fresh  coconut water, right off the coconut!

Coconut is an amazing and versatile fruit which has abundance of properties and minerals. Let me start with describing the whole coconut even before I talk about the heart or meat of the fruit.  Coconut has an outermost layer called husk, which is peeled out to make coir, used in stuff like door mats; the next layer is the kernel which is smashed open and used to for making crafts or burnt like charcoal;  the  white meaty layer  in a tender coconut is thin with lot more water inside while the meat in a mature coconut is thick and the main resource in  cooking and oil making etc.

The versatility of coconut is how it’s a great resource in many forms: coconut water, coconut meat, coconut milk, coconut butter, coconut cream, coconut flour, coconut oil, coconut sugar, coconut nectar, coconut vinegar, coconut aninos and more….

In the book, the author  Nathalie Fraise shares many recipes to help all those like her exploring alternatives and replacements in their food restrictive diet. The recipes are ‘gluten free’ and ‘dairy free’, but the  coconut recipes are not restricted to the coconut being used as a dairy, oil, flour or sugar replacement only. There are many delicious recipes with  Coconut as the nutritious main ingredient itself. If you like the superfood-coconut, or want to use it as your food substitute, this small book helps with many recipes.

Looking at the Coconut Yogurt recipe in the breakfast recipesof the book, triggered a memory of a dessert recipe I make with milk, sugar and agar-agar called Falooda pudding. I decided to make coconut milk yogurt pudding blending in the author’s yogurt and my pudding recipe! Here is the coconut yogurt recipe from the recipe book; followed with the recipe with my own tweaks.

coconut falooda yogurt

COCONUT YOGURT

3 cups coconut milk

1 tbsp coconut palm sugar or coconut nectar

2 ½ tsp agar-agar powder or gelatin

1 packet vegan yogurt starter culture or 1 tsp probiotic powder

Instructions

To make the yogurt, add the coconut milk and coconut palm sugar to a medium saucepan. Bring to a low boil over medium heat, then turn off the heat. Whisking vigorously and continuously for a couple of minutes. Add the agar-agar powder little by little and allow to dissolve. Let it rest and cool down to 110F. (use a thermometer) You want the milk to be warm, not hot.

When the milk reaches 110F, add the yogurt culture and mix well. Transfer the milk to a yogurt maker and proceed as instructed. OR pour the milk into a very clean mason jar, cover with a kitchen towel secured with a rubber band, and place in an oven with only the light on. The light in the oven is usually enough to keep it at the ideal culturing temperature of 90F – 110F.

Allow the yogurt to culture for about 8 hours, then taste it. If you prefer a stronger cultured flavor, leave it to ferment for a couple more hours. Once it reaches your desired flavor, refrigerate for at least 8 hours. This will stop the fermentation process and allow the yogurt to thicken.

Top it with fruit and nuts and enjoy.

milk with sugar and china grass chicna grass cocnut falooda in jars1coconut yogurt in oven light coconut falooda in jars3 coconut yogurt 9 coconut yogurt 8

COCONUT PUDDING YOGURT:

The concept of coconut pudding yogurt was very fascinating to me like eating a fresh tender coconut cream. I made a few tweaks to the authors recipe  since  thankfully  I don’t have the food  allergy limitations  many in today’s world are restricted by. I added real sugar and more of it since I wanted to make a dessert.  I added a spoon of dairy yogurt for starter instead of the vegan starter. I also added for added taste some sweetened condensed milk, just because I had some sitting in a mason jar from another baking episode. The end result was amazingly delicious. Yum.

COCONUT PUDDING YOGURT:

coconut yogurt4

1 coconut milk can(400 ml/13.5 oz)

2 tblsp.  raw sugar

2 ½ tsp agar-agar gelatin

1 tsp yogurt for starter

1tblsp – sweetened condensed milk

5 mason jars (4oz size)

instructions:

To make the yogurt, add the coconut milk and sugar to a medium saucepan. Cut out the agar-agar weed into small pieces and soak in little water in a small bowl.  Add the agar-agar to the saucepan and allow to dissolve. Whisk vigorously and continuously for a couple of minutes. Bring to a low boil over medium heat, then turn off the heat. Let it rest and cool down to 110F.  You want the milk to be warm, not hot.

When the milk is cooled down to just warm temperatures, add the yogurt culture and mix well. Pour the milk into small 4 oz size mason jars and place in an oven with only the light on. The light in the oven is usually enough to keep it at the ideal culturing temperature of 90F – 110F.

Allow the yogurt to culture for about 8 hours or overnight. Not take it out and refrigerate. This will stop the fermentation process and allow the yogurt to thicken. Eat it next day for dessert. It’s divine to have a coconut flavored yogurt pudding, like eating the tender meat of the coconut.

 

Book: The Whole Coconut Cookbook

Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed @ HotSweetSpicyRecipes.Com

I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books  to review and I am going nuts over coconuts;)

 

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