Save the coconut!

It probably is very easy to guess- but the way this one looks, I thought it would lead to some interesting guesses.

This post is going to be on Save the _______ ! Coming up soon...

LG and Lakshmi have guessed it right so far!

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Being the health conscious one, I don't use much of coconut in my daily cooking. Whether coconut is good or bad for health, that's one controversy I'm not getting into, at this point of time. However, when I want to make that coconut chutney, or 'arachu vitta sambhar' (Sambhar with freshly ground masala) or use it for a garnish, I like to have fresh grated coconut on hand.

Since I use the coconut on the odd occasion, breaking open a whole coconut and using a few slivers leads to the rest of it getting spoilt (even when refrigerated). The other option is grating the whole thing and freezing in a box. This gets problematic when i need a bit of the stuff and I have to struggle with the whole big lot- break off a little and thaw.

I find that the following solution serves me best and may be it will suit you too!

1. Break off the shell by hitting it hard around the central circumference on a big stone or a stony edge.

2. Usually, it will break off into two halves. You can keep a bowl beneath, while breaking to collect the sweet coconut water. In some occasions, the shell may break off leaving the whole coconut inside intact (the way it is in the picture). In the latter, you will have to cut open the whole nut into two halves-collecting the coconut water in a bowl.

3. Grate the flesh, or cut it into big pieces and mill in a food processor.

4.Stuff the grated coconut into an ice tray as in the picture above. Leave overnight in the freezer.

5.Extract the coconut cubes and save them in a Ziploc bag in the deep freezer. Now you can have exactly as much fresh coconut as you want and yet save the rest.

6.Whenever you need some of this for a recipe, just remove the required number of cubes into a bowl and nuke them for 1 min in the defrost mode.

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Some coconut delights~

Coconut chutney

Choco-coconut scones (Adapted from Meeta's Chunky chocolate scones )

Coffee coconut rum cake- Adapted from Susan's Spicy coconut chai cake

I've got two questions for you. Would you call this a fruit, a vegetable or a nut? What's your favourite coconut recipe? Would love to hear from you !

This is my entry for Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging