Cracking And Grating Coconut Food

COCONUTS: OPENING, GRATING AND LIQUADO

Steps:

• Opening Coconuts: Open the coconuts by flinging them onto a cement or rock surface (this is how the monkeys do it!) Don't worry about losing the liquid, as it's not the coconut milk called for in cooking. Each coconut should break in 3 to 4 pieces. It is also possible to open a coconut by piercing the eyes of the coconut with a screwdriver or ice pick, draining the liquid through the holes and placing the coconut in a 400 degrees F oven for 20 minutes. Wrap the coconut in a towel and hit it with a hammer to loosen the shell and split it into pieces.
• Pry out the white meat and then pare off the dark skin.
• Grating Coconut Meat: To grate the white meat, put the meat through the grating disk of a food processor or use a hand grater. You should get about 7 cups of grated coconut from the two coconuts, which will keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
• Reserve 4 cups of the grated coconut for the pie crust and filling.
• Coconut Liquado: To make the coconut milk, combine the remaining 3 to 4 cups of loosely packed grated coconut with the milk (use 3/4 cup of coconut for each 1 cup of milk) in a heavy saucepan. Heat slowly, bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat and cool. Strain the milk, pressing down on the coconut meat to extract all the liquid. Squeeze all the coconut through a towel to get any last drops. Discard the coconut.

TO CRACK AND GRATE FRESH COCONUT

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Pierce softest eye of coconut with a metal skewer or screwdriver and drain liquid into a bowl to sample (see note, above). Bake coconut in oven 15 minutes.
• With a hammer or back of a heavy cleaver break shell and with point of a strong knife remove flesh, levering it out carefully. Remove brown membrane with a sharp paring knife or vegetable peeler. Fresh coconut keeps, chilled, in an airtight container 1 week.
• Grate coconut as needed on small teardrop-shaped holes of a 4-sided grater or finely chop in a food processor. Freshly grated coconut keeps, frozen, in an airtight container 3 months.

CRACKING AND GRATING COCONUT

Steps:

• Extracting the meat from a coconut is not as difficult as you may think. Pierce several of the coconut's eyes with a screwdriver or sharp metal skewer. Drain the thin, clear liquid into a bowl and taste it: If it's oily rather than sweet, the nut is rancid and should be tossed out. Bake the whole coconut in a shallow baking pan at 400°F until it cracks, about 20 minutes. When it's cool, wrap it in a towel and break it apart with a hammer. Pry the flesh from the shell with a screwdriver or a dull table knife and peel off the brown membrane with a vegetable peeler. Rinse the coconut under cold water and dry. Grate the coconut, using the medium shredding disk of a food processor or the medium teardrop-shaped holes of a four-sided grater, and chill, covered, until ready to use. -