Coconut Meat, Milk and Cream

The ground or flaked meat of the mature coconut is used in countless island dishes. The traditional island routine of husking fresh coconuts, cracking them open, extracting the liquid and grating the fresh meat looks disarmingly simple and picturesque to the casual spectator, but islanders have learnt the skill as children, practiced and exercised it, almost daily, for most of their lives. Their routine is almost impossible to imitate in a Western kitchen. In an effort to replicate freshly grated coconut, I have steeped dried, unsweetened coconut flakes in hot milk or water for an hour or so, squeezed the mixture to express the liquid and then used the resuscitated meat in recipes. This procedure approximates the product and is satisfactory for most recipes, but it is measurably inferior in flavor and texture to the creamy quality of freshly grated coconut. Here, then, is my method for preparing fresh coconut meat in a Western kitchen.