Homemade Raw Vegan Coconut Milk
Author: Mariko Sakata
Cuisine: raw food, raw vegan, gluten-free
Serves: 2
Ingredients
- 1 mature coconut
- 1¼ - 1½ cups of water (depending on how thick you prefer)
Instructions
- To open the coconut, poke the three eyes firmly with a screw driver. One of them should feel softer than the other two. Force the screw driver into the softest eye until it pierces all the way through the coconut shell and reaches the center. Drain out the coconut water.
- Hold the coconut sideways firmly in your hand. Give it a good whack in the middle of the coconut, where the perimeter is the largest. Then turn the coconut slightly and hit it again and turn. Repeat and hit the entire equator until a crack appears that goes all around the coconut. The hitting sound changes from a high pitch sound to a dull sound once the coconut shell starts to crack. When there's a crack going all the way around, set the knife down and split open the coconut with your hands.
- Scrape the meat out by sliding a butter knife in between the hard outer shell and the coconut meat, and pry it out. If you have a hard time getting the meat out, pop it in the freezer for 30mins to 1hour. This will make it come out easier. Peal off the brown skin with a vegetable peeler or knife, then chop them up into smaller pieces. Be careful not to cut yourself when you are peeling the skin since the coconut meat is pretty firm.
- Put the coconut meat and water into the blender and blend for about 3 minutes. If you own a Vitamix, use the tamper to help it macerate, so there is no larger pieces left behind. It's essential you blend it well here, as this will help release the coconut fat into the water, making it into a richer milk.
- Pour out the coconut slush into a nut milk bag, and ring it out well into a bowl. If you don't own a nut milk bag, set a sieve on top of a bowl then, pour the coconut slush into the sieve. Ring out the coconut pulp well inside the sieve.
- Store in the refregirator in an air-tight container. Keeps for 3 days.
Notes
Use in cooking, or sweeten it with your favorite sweetener with a dash of vanilla extract and enjoy it as is, or make chia puddings with it.
You can make coconut flour with the leftover pulp. Line the dehydrator tray with a
mesh sheet, then the silicone sheet. Spread out the pulp thin and evenly and dry on 115℉ (46℃) for about 12hours until it completely dries out. You can use the flour for raw desserts or baking. Kept the flourt in an air-tight container in a dark cool place, it will last for several months.
You can make coconut flour with the leftover pulp. Line the dehydrator tray with a
mesh sheet, then the silicone sheet. Spread out the pulp thin and evenly and dry on 115℉ (46℃) for about 12hours until it completely dries out. You can use the flour for raw desserts or baking. Kept the flourt in an air-tight container in a dark cool place, it will last for several months.
Recipe by Mariko Sakata | Raw Food and Plant-based Recipes at https://marikosakata.com/homemade-raw-vegan-coconut-milk/