Cracking a coconut

Cracking a coconut Special equipment:

hammer 1 ice pick or screwdriver 1 bowl Sieve 1) Use an ice pick or screwdriver to poke out 2 of the coconut's eyes. Strain the coconut water through a sieve and into a bowl.

Special equipment for baked coconut:

Towel Hammer Vegetable peeler Grater or coconut grater Baking sheet 2) Bake the coconut in a preheated 200C/Gas 6 oven for 10 to 15 mins or until coconut cracks. Wrap the baked coconut in a towel, and tap it with a hammer all over. This loosens the meat from the shell. Use a vegetable peeler to scrape off the brown skin before grating the meat.

Special equipment for fresh coconut milk:

Blender Hot water Cheesecloth Sieve 3) After baked, remove all the coconut meat from the shell, peel off the brown skin and cut the meat into very small cubes.

Place the meat in a blender, add hot water to just cover all of the meat and blend until finely grated.

Place a sieve covered with cheesecloth over a bowl and pour the coconut meat and water into the sieve squeezing handfuls of the coconut meat to extract as much liquid as possible into the bowl.

Discard the squeezed coconut meat and refrigerate the coconut milk that has been extracted into the bowl. Refrigerate the milk and use within 1 or 2 days.