World Coconut Day: Celebrate This Sturdy Fruit With These Recipes

One of nature’s most versatile products, coconut can be used in drinks or be a part of your wellness ritual. Some coconut proponents even claim that the fruit’s oil can reverse dental decay — if you swish it around in your mouth for 20 minutes a day! You can’t make a piña colada or a decent Thai curry without it, its water makes a great recovery drink, and its fibrous husk, when burned, repels mosquitoes — these are just three of many excellent reasons to celebrate World Coconut Day on September 2. 

Here are a few recipes to make the best use of coconuts!

Tender Coconut Sip: Latesh Kotian, Head Mixologist, Silly

Ingredients:
Bacardi White - 60ml
Fresh Coconut Water - 90ml
Fresh Rose Water - 5ml
Simple Syrup - 5ml
In-house Grapefruit Cordial - 15ml
Yuzu Extract - 10ml
Fresh Grapefruit Juice - 60ml
Method: Shaken and served in a coconut shell
Garnish: Basil sprig with grapefruit wedge and an orchid flower

Chocolate Coconut Chia Pudding: The Conscious Baker

Ingredients:
15 g cocoa powder
360 g coconut milk
75 g chia seeds
60 g date syrup
5 g vanilla
Pinch of salt

Method:
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.
Cling Wrap and keep in a refrigerator for 4 hours till the chia seeds are plumped up.
Pour into 4 glasses and serve chilled

Vegetable Coconut Soup: Simrun Chopra (Deep Health Coach and Nutritionist)

Ingredients:
7-8 mushrooms cut into to 4 pieces
2 medium size carrots cut in oval shapes
1 green capsicum cut in slant pieces
1 red capsicum cut in slant pieces
12-15 pieces of french beans cut in slant of 1" each
1/2 a medium size cauliflower/broccoli cut into florets
Stir fry all of the above vegetables in 1 tbsp of oil and keep aside ,should remain crunchy.

For the remaining ingredients
1/2 cup gram flour, to be dry roasted, till you get a nice fragrance, then keep aside .
2 cups of curd
1 onion ground to a paste
10-12 garlic pods ground to a paste
5-8 green chillies and 1" pc ginger ground to a paste (can add or lessen green chillies according to taste,no red chillies are used in this receipe )
2 cups of thick coconut milk (used 2 sachets of coconut powder, as per instruction)
3 cups of vegetable stock/hot water
Salt to taste
1/4 chopped spring onions
Lime juice to be put on serving .
2 tbsp of oil

Method:
In a kadai add the oil ,when it becomes warm add the onion and garlic paste Saute till it becomes a nice beige brown
Add the ginger and green chillies paste and saute till the raw smell of the ginger goes. Now add the vegetable stock ,when it comes to boil add the besan mixed with water to a paste.
Put the besan paste through a sieve and at the same time stir the broth continuously, so that lumps do not form.
Whip the curd and add to the kadhai. Add salt to taste. Mix it in well, and let it come to a boil.
When the broth starts rising, lower the flame and add the coconut milk. Stir it all nicely. Now add the stir fried vegetables and cook for a few minutes. Serve with noodles and lime. Garnish with chopped spring onions.

Quick vegetable stock
Add the peels and stems of the vegetables in a pot of water ,along with a few pods of garlic, one small piece of ginger and little salt .Once it comes to a boil, lower the flame and cook for 20-30 minutes. Strain and use the broth.

Prawns Massaman Curry with Steam Rice: Vinayak Patil, Corporate Chef, Butterfly High

Ingredients:
Massaman curry paste 50 gm
Prawns 150 gm
Coconut milk powder 100 gm
Chili oil 50 mil
Chili paste 50 gm
Thai ginger 10 gm
Lemongrass 10 gm
Basil leaf 5 gm
Chopped garlic 10 gm
Chopped green chili 5 gm
Broccoli 15 gm
Carrot 10 gm
Salt 2 gm
Sugar 5 gm
White pepper powder 5 gm
Fish oil 5 ml
Steam Rice 150 gm
Method:
Heat chinese wok, add chilly oil, then add Thai ginger, garlic and chili. Saute well. Then add prawns, cook well
Add Massaman curry paste and add some water. Once this mix begins to boil, add broccoli, carrot, basil, fish oil, salt and pepper. Season
well. Finally, add the coconut milk powder. Once the prawns are perfectly cooked, take it out in a bowl and serve along with steamed
rice and crackers.

Coconut Panna Cotta: Karan Nohria, Founder, Silly

Method:
Heat coconut milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat, add the whole can of coconut milk (whisked milk + cream), and sugar.
Pour the bowl of bloomed agar-agar into this mixture, and mix well with a whisk. Stir well as the cream mixture starts to heat up.
Keep constantly stirring until the mixture thickens and barely coats the back of a spoon. This will take about 2-4 minutes over medium-low heat. Take the saucepan off the heat. Add coconut extract and mix it well. Sieve the mixture. Do not boil the Panna Cotta mixture as the heat will harden it and turn its texture chewy. Chill — Pour the mixture into 4 or 5 ramekins. Cover and transfer the ramekins to the
refrigerator to set for 4-6 hours, or overnight. When the centre of the panna cotta feels firm to the touch, it’s set and ready to serve.