Peranakan cuisine makes great use of regional ingredients like coconut milk in their dishes. If you want it fresh, without any chemical-laden preservatives, flavourings and other additives, you must extract it from grated coconut, which can be bought in your neighbourhood wet market or some supermarkets here in Singapore. When extracted by hand, you are able to harvest both thick and thin versions in the convenience of your own home. As a rule, the thicker type is used for making pastes, traditional desserts and kuehs while the thinner type is used as the base for gravies and curries. But don’t limit yourself to these rules as thick coconut milk can also be added to curries to thicken it up during the cooking process.

Want to know more about how to extract your own coconut milk? Watch our video:

You may want to try using your freshly extracted coconut milk in the following recipes:

Speedy Yellow Coconut Curry
Spicy Coconut Fish Soup
Pulut Tai Tai
Ginger And Mango Coconut Pots

For more like this, please visit our recipe archive here.