Bombay Pineapple-Coconut Milk Kugel

Leaving their shoes at the portals, the Bene Israel of Bombay—Indian Jews who once numbered 24,000—entered barefoot into beautiful synagogues illumined and perfumed by coconut oil burning in the hanging lamps.

Coconuts also provided the milk used extensively in their kosher cuisine. As a pareve substitute for dairy milk, it could be cooked with meat and employed in desserts served at meat meals without contravening the dietary injunction that prohibits mixing meat w