One of my school friends was from Karnataka and other was Kerala. Both of their families included lots of coconut in their diet on daily basis and had an awesome skin and healthy hair. I too wish to include it but am not able to eat it raw, so am thinking of other way to include it and definitely not in form of sweets like coconut burfi or laddoo. I got a jar of coconut oil and was thinking to try to eat a teaspoon of it on everyday. I sometimes make coconut chutney to eat with dosa/idli in breakfast. Anyone here eats coconut on daily basis? How do you consume it? Also, I have lots of powdered dry coconut i.e. khopra or dry fruit coconut. Any idea how can I put it to use? Again no sweets. Is it possible to make chutney out of that dried or dry fruit coconut?
Yes dried coconut (kopra) can be used to make chutney for idli/dosa,it is also used to make tasty kormas,salans and bagara baingan.Kobbari karam podi is made using dried coconut.Dried coconut pieces are also added in poha chudwa,you could also use grated dried coconut instead of fresh coconut in poriyals.If you like eating bitter gourd try making this yummy kakarakaya kobbari karam from vantalu pindi vantalu book by Malathi Chandur.Its a keeper! Kakarakaya Podi Kura (Bittergourd Dry Curry) Drinking fresh coconut water everyday is very good for health.Fresh coconut is quite sensitive to hot climate and dishes made with fresh coconut tend to rot quickly when kept outside.This is not the case with dried coconut.However, calories in dried coconut are high compared to fresh coconut, so use wisely in case you are calorie conscious.You could use coconut oil for cooking.Opt for refined Nutiva coconut oil for cooking if you do not desire coconut flavor, you could also try Nutiva's unrefined version if you are fine with its flavor.It is available on Amazon and in a few Costco warehouses.
We use fresh / frozen coconut available at Indian stores for grinding masalas or Sambhar on daily basis. You could try Avial, Veg Sagu or Kurma for Rotis as coconut is must and main ingredient for them. It can also be used for making various chutneys. Also you can extract milk from fresh coconut and use it for Ghee rice and many other things. Make Coconut rice along with Garlic and pepper which is best for this chilly season ! Dry coconut also can be used for many things like Puliogare, Bisibelebath powder , Vangibath powder Recently I posted a recipe called Ulandogare which calls for Dry Coconut as one of its ingredients Ulandogare
Thanks for sharing! I was thinking to make the chutney out of dry coconut/kopra but I always think that it might not retain moisture and will be a dry chutney. Last year I was buying a box of fresh green/young coconut to drink the water daily for breakfast, but it got super expensive now. The place where I live and not finding decent priced green/young coconuts. I too got Nutiva coconut oil and was thinking to eat a teaspoon of it daily. Will look into bittergourd curry.
Thanks for sharing! Avial looks delicious. Will give it a try. I have never tried coconut rice. Not sure how it tastes, but will make it once to check out.
Kopra Chutney will not be dry as you will be adding enough water to grind into a smooth paste with little green chillies.Season it with a good tadka and serve. This is an ancient recipe and it never fails!
Coconut is a daily affair in south Indian homes. To start with try to use fresh Cocunut as Garnish in Upma, Poha etc. We make poriyal which is nothing but veggies (like beans, carrot , cabbage ,green leaves etc) cooked and Tadka given with green chilli, curry leaves and garnished with cocunut. For such poriyals we can give Tadka with cocunut oil. If you can't shift to it completely make poriyal in normal oil and at the end add a spoon full of cocunut oil at the end. Again you may suddenly not like it's flavor. As we are used to this from childhood we enjoy the fragrance and flavor. Other options are Avial , kootu, sambhar ,Vegetable Kurma,thogayal(chutney type) etc where cocunut is ground with other ingredients and the paste is added. For all the above dishes cocunut oil can be added for giving Tadka. Moong dhal cooked and Tadka given in cocunut oil, green chilli , hind and jeera tastes heavenly with Chapathi. Among rice try cocunut rice, add cocunut in lemon rice, I even add cocunut in my Pulao and tomato rice masala- very less quantity off course. It's a versatile ingredient . Can be used in each and every dish. provided you enjoy the flavor of it
You add fresh coconut on these dishes? Do you just keep it in the fridge and use it when needed? Wouldn't it go bad? I guess I will have to use the frozen coconut or just use dry powdered khopra which I have at home.
Yes Sneha.. It's fresh coconut . In rare cases it's refrigerated. And in that case mostly used within 1 or 2 days maximum. Yes food doesn't stay longer with fresh coconut and tends to go stale quickly. If you are using frozen coconut, microwave it for just for a minute and add them as garnish when you decide to eat your refrigerated food . Kopra is a common ingredient in Maharashtrian cuisine (my observation from my colleague ,who never uses fresh coconut, but uses a lot of kopra). You could check some Maharashrian recipes in you tube . Also a tip from my experience . Whenever I use frozen coconut(i grate n keep it in freezer for my weekly usage) I first bring it to room temperature (microwave for a minute or 2). Because grinding very cold coconut kind of makes the oil float on top because we add water and this oil n water doesn't mix well. It doesn't give a smooth paste as required .
Having an awesome skin turgor and healthy hair , is in no way related to one's coconut intake! People in Middle east have more awesome skin turgor and very healthy hair. And they eat lot of beef every day. Own's skin and healthy hair is gene mediated and it is really unique to Keralites, it is not related to food. Not at all recommended. Here is the best available scientific information on coconut and coconut oil: Coconut oil: heart-healthy or just hype? - Harvard Health that much coconut intake once in awhile is fair enough .. consciously increasing daily coconut intake is not only unwarranted, but also harmful ! Please stay informed..! this is information technology era !
