How to make coconut milk ?

Making our own fresh coconut milk at home gives much satisfaction than any other version. It creates a good nostalgia for anyone like me who has enjoyed watching their mothers extracting this flavorful milk on a Sunday morning , while cooking the appam on a pan. But somehow I was always for readymade coconut milks.  For many years I have been using a can of coconut milk or coconut milk powder, until I brought my super extractor mixie jar from India. Without knowing the importance of a juicer, some years ago, I had brought only the other jars while we came to USA for the first time and this juicer jar was in our house for  a long time :). Though  I agree that I love the convenience of  readymade milks, I made 2 cups of fresh coconut milk last weekend to serve along with Kerala appam. Hubby dear appreciated this fresh coconut milk with every piece of the appam I made. I was running from kitchen to dining table to meet his appam requirements :) and now I am very sure we will be having fresh coconut milk and appam most of our weekends:).
I am sure most of my blog friends are experts in preparing everything from scratch, but I am just sharing my joy about my coconut milk :) Hope you all like it !

Homemade coconut milk

extracting coconut milk using Super extractor jar.

Coconut milk served with aappam

Ingredients:
Sliced coconut - 1 1/2 cup
(or) shredded coconut - 1 cup
warm water - 2 cups

Common mixie method :
Grind the sliced coconut in a mixer. Add 1/2 cup warm water and squeeze out the milk. Filter it using a fresh cloth. This is the thick milk , which is used in many gravies.
After that grind again and extract milk just like the above three time. Combine all the milks together or keep the thick and thin milks separate as per need.

Using a Super extractor / juicer mixie:
If using a  juicer / super extractor jar from Preethi Mixie, there will not be any need of strainer.
Fix the juicing blade, Fit the filter mesh to the juicer jar.
Put the sliced or shredded coconut directly inside the jar  touching the blade(not in the space outside the filter).
Add 1/2 cup water.
Put the safety lid and close the lid.
Run the mixie in full speed for 30 seconds. The coconut milk will collect in the space between filter and outer jar compartment.
We can pour out the coconut milk straightly out of the jar. This is the thick milk.
After that we can repeat two or three more times to extract all the milk using 1/2 cup water each time.
(I used sliced frozen coconut, which I bought from Indian grocery shop, but fresh coconuts would be excellent).

coconut milk using bare hands:
Add 1/2 cup warm water to the shredded coconut and squeeze the first thick milk using our hands and filter. Then in the same way extract milk thrice.

Uses of coconut milk:
The extracted milk can stay good for at least 3 days in fridge.
Coconut milk can be served with appam, idiyappam.
To thicken curries and gravies in Indian cuisine.
To make biriyani, pulav, coconut milk rice and various rice varieties.
Used in making some kind of kheer like paal kozhukattai.

Aapam (made by grinding rice)

 rice - 2 cup
cooked rice - 1/2 cup

urid dhal - 2tsp,
fenugreek (venthayam) seeds - 1/4 tsp.
salt - 1/4 teaspoon.
coconut milk or tender coconut water - 1/2 cup.
yeast - 1 teaspoon.
baking soda - 1/4 tsp.


Method:
Soak rice,urid dal and fenugreek seeds for 5 hours.Then add the cooked rice and grind in an "Indian Grinder" or "Indian mixie" to a fine paste. It should be like thick idly batter.
Add coconut milk/tender coconut water, salt and yeast to the batter.
Keep it closed and place in a warm place for 6 hours. I used to make this batter at night by 9 pm and leave inside oven (turn off oven) and in the next day morning when i take it out my kitchen will be filled with a nice aroma.There will be bubbles on the surface and the batter will have risen.

Before making appam add the baking soda and mix well. If needed add some water to get a runny liquid stage.

Now heat the aappam pan and wipe a drop of coconut oil all over the pan by using a clean cloth.
Check the thickness of aappam batter now. It should be in the more thin in consistency than that of dosa batter.If not so add some coconut milk or water.
Pour onto griddle, heated medium to low, to form thick pancakes about 4 inches across. Then Shake the pan in a circular motion so that the flour spreads and expands along the edges.(If batter is too thick and does not spread, add a little more milk or water ). The cooked batter forms a layer of 'lace' around the thicker center portion. It is then covered and cooked in it's own steam over gentle heat.I used to wait to hear a dropping sound of water(condensation of steam) .Now we can be sure that the aapam is cooked.Then by using a dosa spatula (dosa karandi) gently take out the aapam.

Serving suggestions:
Aapam goes fine with coconut milk.Take coconut milk 1/2 can and dilute it with equal amount of water.Spread 1 teaspoon sugar over aapam and add 2 tablespoon coconut milk over the aapam. Enjoy your aapam.
We get nearly 15 number of aapam. You can store the rest of the aapam batter in fridge and use it later if you dont need this much number of aapams.
Aappam can also be served with egg curry or chicken curry or channa dhal curry or  kadala curry or  sambar.

Aappam (Using rice flour) - perfect recipe

Traditionally these pancakes are cooked in a small wok shaped mud pan. Luckily we have non stick aapam pans now.The pan is swirled so that the cooked batter forms a layer of 'lace' around the thicker center portion. Its also called Lace aapam or palappam.It is then covered and cooked in it's own steam over gentle heat. Since most of us do not have access to grinders as in India , try this method of using rice flour instead of grinding the rice.

Appam is one of the delicacies made on Christmas or Easter morning.

 I personally like this recipe very much. I think this is my very own recipe for aappam. I use left over dosa batter to make aappam, by adding rice flour and yeast to it.
I am sure this recipe will give a  100% perfect aappam.

Fermented aappam mavu.

Ingredients:
rice flour - 2 cups.
rice flour - 1 tablespoon
tender coconut water- 1/2 cup (optional)
fresh grated coconut- 1/2 cup
yeast - 2 teaspoon
sugar - 2 tablespoons
urid dal - 2tsp,

salt - 1/4 tsp,
baking soda - 1/4 tsp. (optional : add just before making aapam)

For serving with aapam:
Sugar - 2 tsp for 1 aapam.
coconut milk - 1 cup,


Method:
Mix 1 tablespoon rice flour with 3/4 cup water and cook on stove until thick. Then allow it to cool.

Soak  urad dhal for 1 hour and grind with 1/2 cup shredded coconut to a fine paste.

In a large bowl, mix the cooked rice flour, rice flour, urid dal  paste,salt, tender coconut water, yeast, sugar to form a batter of thick pouring consistency (like idly batter consistency).

Keep it closed and place in a warm place for 6 hours. I used to make this batter at night by 9 pm and leave inside oven (turn off oven) and in the next day morning when i take it out my kitchen will be filled with a nice aroma.There will be bubbles on the surface and the batter would  have risen.

Now add the baking soda and mix well.

Now heat the aappam pan and wipe a drop of coconut oil all over the pan by using a clean cloth.

Check the thickness of aappam batter now. It should be in the more thin in consistency than that of dosa batter.If not so add some coconut milk or water.
 Pour 2 ladles of batter,keep heat at medium to low.
Then Shake the pan in a circular motion so that the flour spreads and expands along the edges.(If batter is too thick and does not spread, add a little more milk or water to the batter for the next aapams ). The cooked batter forms a layer of 'lace' around the thicker center portion. It is then covered and cooked in it's own steam over gentle heat.
I wait to hear a dripping sound of water(condensation of steam) .Now we can be sure that the aapam is cooked.Then by using a dosa spatula or spoon gently take out the aapam.


Serving suggestions:
Aapam goes fine with coconut milk.Take coconut milk 1/2 can and dilute it with equal amount of water.Spread 2 teaspoon sugar over aapam and add 4 tablespoon coconut milk over the aapam. Enjoy your aapam.

We get nearly 15 number of aapam. If you dont need this much number of aapams you can store the left out aapam batter in fridge and use it later.

Aappam can also be served with egg curry or chicken curry or channa dhal curry or even sambar.

Note:
Instead of cooked rice flour + urid dal + coconut paste,   we can simply use 1 cup of left over dosa batter and coconut paste alone, for an easy version.