Coconut

The coconut you want depends on whether you need the milk or the flesh: a younger coconut contains more liquid, less solid. The way to test it is to give the coconut a shake. There is no particular picking season because coconut palms are common throughout the tropical world. Dealing with a fresh coconut is nothing like as daunting as it looks, but because coconut is so important in Southern Indian and Thai recipes a number of convenient forms that keep well have been developed. Coconut – creamedThis comes in block form and can be used to enrich curries and sauces. All you do here is grate it, then, using a whisk, blend it with boiling water to a creamy liquid.Coconut powderA great storecupboard stand-by, this is particularly good in Thai fishcakes. If can be tricky to get hold of, but Maggi coconut milk powder is sold in some branches of Tesco and independent stores.