Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Smash 'em, sip 'em, love 'em

It's easy to take the simple coconut for granted. But don't. Its versatility means it can be a treat in its natural form and a valuable ingredient in food and drink.

By JANET K. KEELER
Published July 28, 2004

[Times photo: Michael Rondou]

Whether au naturel on the half shell or in its many varied forms, coconut adds a tropical flair to whatever it’s paired with.

The closest I'd come to coconut in recent years was Malibu rum and pineapple juice over ice.

In fact, I'd sworn off the flaky stuff nearly completely after being disillusioned by bad macaroons and cloying cake. Even coconut shrimp, a staple at restaurants up and down the beaches, doesn't have the sweetly delicate flavor of the coconuts I knew as a child.

Those coconuts, I loved. I was reminded how much recently by visiting nieces who tasted fresh coconut for the first time.

They made faces when they sipped the coconut water, though thought it was cool to dip their straws right into the hard-shelled oddity. Perhaps they were expecting a virgin pina colada.

"I like Mounds better," said one, jawing on a small piece like it was jerky. She rolled her eyes when I suggested she was missing the sugar and chocolate. There were no takers for second bites.

Fine, I thought, more for me. And a reminder that coconut, in its various forms, is easy to cook and fun to experiment with. From soups to sweets, coconut blends with a multitude of flavors, adding depth to hot Thai curries and subtlety to an inspired version of Italian panna cotta (recipe included).

If you want to try it au naturel, head for South Florida, or Latin America, where you can find vendors serving coco frio. The tops of chilled coconuts are lopped off with a machete, or something sharp but less threatening, and the buyer sucks up the murky water through a straw. Rum added on request. You'll find the same refreshment sold on the streets in many other countries, including India and Thailand, perhaps without the rum.

They say you can't repeat the past, but how is it that food memories bring the past back so fast? In just that few minutes, sitting in our back yard with my family and one coconut, I took a sensory time trip back to the late '60s and a Navy base in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

"I can't remember how we opened the coconuts," my sister said.

I do. We pulled off the thick, outer husks, then smashed the nut in the street with all our might. We didn't care about the water, or the coconut milk we could have made from it. The liquid flew everywhere and soon evaporated like puddles from tropical afternoon showers.

The white coconut meat scattered, bounty from nature's pinata. We gathered the pieces hungrily and sat on the curb, picking the flesh from the hard shell and popping it into our mouths. Dirt? Never noticed it.

No kid in my gang ever refused fresh coconut eaten on the curb. We were lucky to find whole coconuts on the ground and luckier still when someone was adept enough to shinny up a coconut palm and pull one down. (Plus, no one was allergic to coconuts, unlike mangoes, whose sap and leaves caused confounding rashes. Such a shame because those trees were so much easier to climb than the skinny palms.)

Last week, I paid a buck for a coconut at the grocery store. A bargain still, even though it did come all the way from the Dominican Republic, where most of the American supply is grown. Other big producers are the Philippines and Mexico.

Because the coconut floats so well, it's difficult to pinpoint its native country, though you can be sure it would be a place you'd like to vacation. The coconut palm thrives on sandy shores in sunny, tropical climates. Botanists speculate that its roots are Indo-Pacific and that Polynesian explorers were responsible for its introduction around the world.

The coconut has no reputation as a diet food and, in fact, is a luxury item. One ounce is 185 calories and 18 grams of fat, 16 of them saturated, plus 7 grams of carbs, 5 of fiber and 2 of protein.

At Pacific Wave in St. Petersburg, executive chef Robert Huffnagle uses coconut milk and water to bring out the flavor of sauces and favors it in the raw for marinades.

A fresh coconut isn't always the easiest thing to work with (unless you want to get out your aggressions in the street), Huffnagle says. To get the meat from the shell, he suggested draining the water (by piercing the coconut's "eyes" with a screwdriver or ice pick) and cracking it in half just below the eyes with a cleaver or hammer. Place the halves in a 350 degree oven for 12 to 14 minutes.

The heat causes the meat to pull away from the shell. (The thin brown skin closest to the white flesh is edible.)

"I like to take a peeler and get little shaves, roast them and use them as garnish for soup," he says. Or fruit salad.

If you aren't up for wrestling with the hairy beast, coconut is sold in various forms, occasionally even freshly cracked. Some of the ways you'll find it:

* Canned coconut water. This is the pure liquid found in a coconut, and it doesn't have a lot of flavor. It's used in soups or to make rice. Widely available.

* Canned coconut milk. Coconut water cooked with the nut's flesh produces coconut milk. This is one of the most commonly used forms of processed coconut. Shake the can before opening to distribute solids that have risen to the top. Widely available; can be found in lower-fat versions. (Available in powdered form at Asian stores.)

* Canned cream of coconut. A concentrate of coconut milk and sugar; used mostly in drinks such as pina coladas. Widely available.

* Sweetened coconut flakes (in bags or cans). Dried, shredded coconut that's sweetened. Used in baking. Widely available.

* Desiccated coconut (in bags). Finely shredded, dried coconut that's unsweetened. Good for adding flavor to savory dishes that don't need sweetness. Found in health food and Asian stores.

In Asian and Latin stores, you'll find a number of cold coconut drinks, including jugo de coco tostado (roasted coconut juice) by Coco-King of Thailand. It's about half the carbs of a Coca-Cola, though way more fat and saturated, at that, and has bits of coconut floating in it. It's a refreshing drink over ice, especially with a splash of pineapple juice and a dash of rum.

Now, I'm back to my favorite combination, but a trip down memory lane reminds me that the coconut has much to offer.

- Janet K. Keeler can be reached at 727 893-8586 or krieta@sptimes.com

2 envelopes granular gelatin

6 tablespoons water

2 cups coconut milk

1 1/4 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Fresh diced fruit, for garnish

In a small bowl, combine gelatin with water until softened.

In a saucepan, combine coconut milk, cream, sugar and vanilla. Place over medium heat and warm until hot to the touch (about 110 degrees). Add the gelatin and stir until dissolved. Pour into 6 5-ounce ramekins or custard cups. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.

Garnish with fresh fruit. Serves 6.

Nutritional information per serving with 1/2 cup diced mango: 462 calories, 38g fat (28g saturated), 5g protein, 30g carbohydrates, 37g sodium.

Source: "Hawaii Cooks: Flavors from Roy's Pacific Rim Kitchen" by Roy Yamaguchi (Ten Speed Press, $32.50).

1/4 cup sweet coconut flakes

1 tablespoon peanut or canola oil

3/4 pound large prawns, shelled, deveined and butterflied

1/2 tablespoon minced shallots

1/2 tablespoon minced garlic

1 1/2 ounces lime juice

1 1/2 ounces rice wine vinegar

1 1/2 ounces sake or dry white wine

1 1/2 ounces Coco Lopez or coconut cream

1/8 cup chopped green onion

1/8 cup chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Lime slices and/or green onion flowers for garnish

Toast coconut flakes in a 350-degree oven until light golden brown. Remove and set aside.

Heat oil in a saute pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot enough to make a piece of shallot jump around in the pan, carefully add the prawns and cook them for about 2 minutes or until they are three-quarters of the way cooked. Quickly remove the prawns and reserve them on a plate.

Add the shallots to the saute pan. Cook until opaque, then add the garlic, lime juice, vinegar and sake or wine. Reduce the mixture by half and add the Coco Lopez or coconut cream. Stir around. Add the prawns, green onion, cilantro, vanilla and sesame oil, and cook the shrimp all the way through. Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, if desired. If there is not enough sauce, add 1 ounce of water to the pan before serving and reseason.

Serve with your favorite type of steamed rice, garnish with toasted coconut, lime slices and green onion flowers. Serves 2.

Nutritional information per serving without garnish or rice: 489 calories, 26g fat (11g saturated), 37g protein, 17g carbohydrates, trace fiber, 310mg sodium.

Source: Chef Nestor Ramirez, Groveland Hotel, Groveland, Calif.

1 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 tablespoon white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg yolk

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup coconut milk

3/4 cup chopped fresh pineapple

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 large egg whites, beaten

Heat a lightly greased waffle iron. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a separate medium bowl, mix egg yolk, sour cream, coconut milk, pineapple and butter. Thoroughly mix in the flour mixture. Gently fold in egg whites. Pour the mixture into the waffle iron and cook until golden brown. Serve with sliced bananas and maple syrup. Serves 4.

Nutritional information per serving: 464 calories, 31g fat, 9g protein, 38g carbohydrates, 2g fiber, 350mg sodium.

Source: www.allrecipes.com

3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken meat

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 14-ounce cans coconut milk

2 cups water

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root

4 tablespoons fish sauce

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Cut chicken into thin strips and saute in oil for to 2 to 3 minutes until the chicken turns white.

In a pot, bring coconut milk and water to a boil. Reduce heat. Add ginger, fish sauce, lime juice, cayenne powder and turmeric. Simmer until the chicken is done, 10 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle with scallions and fresh cilantro, and serve steaming hot. Makes 6 servings.

Nutritional information per serving: 433 calories, 41g fat, 15g protein, 6g carbohydrates, 2g fiber, 787mg sodium.

Source: www.allrecipes.com

[Last modified July 27, 2004, 14:16:09]