From dreamy, dairy-free desserts to classic curries and healthy brunches, coconut milk, it seems, creates a real taste of indulgence with only a handful of co-stars by its side.
For some cosy weekend baking, try the coconut buns by ColonialCravings. Sweet, rich and with a wonderfully soft crumb, these rolls are also excellent warm from the oven at breakfast.
Staying with your morning meal, Angela Kim’s savoury amaranth porridge, packed with citrussy notes, made for something that feels fresh and sophisticated – a great choice for a chilly evening, too. A coconut jam (or kaya) from MarmadukeScarlet will have you dipping a spoon in every time you walk past the fridge.
MizPepperpot’s Jamaican rundown was a brilliant weekday dinner. I tried it with chicken thighs, but mackerel or any crunchy veg would work just as well. This week’s winner, though, seemed to strike out on its own when it came to successful simplicity. It’s incredibly rich – but that’s nothing a little dash of whisky wouldn’t cut through.
The winning recipe: Coconut hot chocolate with cinnamon and cardamom
Because it’s autumn, the weekend, a bit delicious, or just because. It would be great with a little splash of rum or whisky. Thick, creamy and very rich. Serve in small cups as a dessert after dinner, maybe with some little biscuits to dunk, or poured over ice-cream for a decadent sundae or as a little pick-me-up during the day. If you use a dark chocolate, it’s also dairy-free and vegan.
detoutcoeurLimousin, via GuardianWitness
Serves 4
400ml can coconut milk
4 cardamon pods, crushed
1 cinnamon stick
100g dark chocolate (at least 60%), broken into pieces
To serve
Grated chocolate
Cinnamon powder or grated nutmeg
Coconut cream
1 Open the tin of coconut milk and spoon off 2-3 tablespoons of the thick coconut cream and keep to one side.
2 Pour the rest of the coconut milk into a saucepan with the cardamom and cinnamon then heat gently until just below boiling point. Take off the heat, add the chocolate pieces and stir until completely melted.
3 Pour into small glasses or espresso cups through a sieve to strain out the whole spices.
4 Gently whisk the coconut cream until smooth and spoon on top of the hot chocolate. Garnish with grated chocolate and cinnamon powder or grated nutmeg, if you like.
Coconut jam
Kaya is popular around south-east Asia, in particular Singapore and Malaysia. It is traditionally eaten at breakfast slathered over slices of hot white toast and sandwiched together with a slice of cold butter. Dunk your kaya toast sandwich into poached eggs with soy sauce. Serve with strong black coffee, milky tea or a cold glass of Milo. Heaven.
Marmaduke Scarlet, via GuardianWitness
Serves 6-8
400ml can coconut milk
4 egg yolks
100g light brown or palm sugar
1 Put a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Add the coconut milk, egg yolks and sugar and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.
2 Turn up the heat to medium and stir constantly until the mixture begins to thicken and coat the back of a spoon: about 10 minutes. The longer you cook the jam, the darker it will become. Set aside to cool a little before transferring to a sterilised jar. (If you want, you can strain the mixture to remove any grainy bits of coconut, although I don’t bother.) This will last in the fridge for about 2 weeks.
Coconut buns
This style of bread is wonderfully soft and rich, like brioche. Part of what makes it so moist is the tangzhong. This is a simple roux mixture, but a genius way of getting extra moisture into the dough. Simply whisk together 25g of bread flour and 100ml of cold water in a small saucepan. Place this over a low to medium heat and stir continuously until you have thick paste.
ColonialCravings, via GuardianWitness
Makes 18
400g strong white bread flour
A pinch of salt
50g sugar
2 tsp fast action yeast
40g butter, melted
140g coconut milk
1 egg
125g tangzhong, cooled
For the filling
80g unsweetened desiccated coconut
40g butter
35g sugar
A pinch of salt
1 Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and whisk in the salt, sugar and yeast. In a separate jug, whisk together the melted butter, coconut milk, egg and cooled tangzhong. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the liquid mixture. Combine to form a soft dough and knead until it is smooth and springy, adding more flour if you find the mix to be a little too sticky.
2 Pop the dough into a lightly greased bowl, loosely cover it with clingfilm and leave it somewhere draught-free to rise for about 45 minutes. After this first rise you can uncover the dough and gently knock the air out of it with your fists. Re-cover it and leave it for another 45 minutes.
3 Blitz all the filling ingredients together in a food processor until you have a dry-looking paste.
4 Preheat the oven 170C/340F/gas mark 3-4. Stretch the dough out into a rectangle. You want the long edges to be at least twice as long as the short edges, ideally about 45cm. Spread the filling evenly across the surface and then roll up the dough, starting at the long edge closest to you. Cut the dough into 18 even pieces. Arrange these in groups of three on lightly greased baking trays. Cover once more and leave to rise for another 45 minutes or so, until they have plumped up nicely.
5 Bake the buns for 25 minutes. They should be golden with a soft crust. Cool a bit on a wire rack before devouring.
Jamaican rundown
The name supposedly refers to the way the coconut milk boils down and then splits, leaving coconut oil and a “custard”. However, others inform me that the name comes from how the flavours of the ingredients all run together. Whatever the case, it’s a mighty fine cooking sauce. Traditionally, rundown is cooked with salted or pickled mackerel, not always easy to find here, but these can be substituted with fresh mackerel fillets or other fish, chicken or vegetables. Also, in an ideal world, the milk would be obtained by grating and soaking fresh coconut flesh, but a can is much more convenient.
MizPepperpot, via GuardianWitness
Serves 2
400ml can coconut milk
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
½ scotch bonnet pepper, thinly sliced
2 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp thyme leaves
Salt to taste
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs,chopped
50g spinach
1 Pour the coconut milk into a frying pan, then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 25-30 minutes. The coconut oil will separate slightly from the milk, leaving a thick custard-like consistency.
2 Stir in the remaining ingredients, cover and cook until the onion is soft. Add a little water if the sauce gets too dry. Check for seasoning. Serve with boiled green banana, dumplings, yam or potato.
Coconut amaranth porridge with asparagus, herbs and poached egg
This is an easy savoury porridge with Thai flavours. I love to serve this on a lazy sunday morning.
Angela Kim, Leipzig, Germany
Serves 2-3
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
A thumbnail-size piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 lemongrass stalk, tender inner part, finely chopped
4 lime leaves
5 coriander stalks, finely chopped
100g amaranth, washed and drained
40g rolled oats
440ml coconut milk
200ml water or vegetable stock
A handful of edamame, shelled
8 spears of green asparagus, cut into bite-size pieces
1-2 spring onions, green parts only, chopped finely
Salt and black pepper
To serve
A small handful of coriander leaves
2-3 lime wedges
Sriracha hot sauce
2-3 poached eggs
1 Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, lime leaves and coriander stalks, and cook until soft.
2 Add the amaranth, oats, coconut milk, stock or water and a good pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, put the lid on, and turn the heat to medium-low.
3 After about 15 minutes, add the vegetables. Turn up the heat to medium. Stir constantly for about 5 minutes until the vegetables and amaranth are tender, and have reached a porridge consistency. Remove the lime leaves, add some freshly ground pepper, then check for seasoning.
4 Serve with coriander leaves, lime wedges and sriracha sauce, topped with poached eggs.
