Hi, i'm making Mamta's sri lankan chicken curry at the weekend because i've heard it's a favourite for a lot of you. My problem is every time I use coconut milk, my recipes never seem to turn out good. Can you tell me what brand of coconut milk is a good one to use? Maybe i've added sweetened coconut in the past, i'm not really sure. I didn't know you could buy sweetened until I read the recipe and it asked for un-sweetened.

I've never used a particular brand.... Rajah, Pride, Dunns River, supermarket own brand. It is worth shopping around the Indian, Chinese and Caribbean sections. It should just be coconut extract (about 60%) water and a couple of E numbers to stabilise it. None of the 'low fat' nonsense.

Finally I give the different brands of tins a good shake and buy which one sounds least watery!

Winton

Thanks again for the good advice Winton, cheers!

Winton, I did the same thing, even had one of the assistants help me. It must have seemed funny, two people rattling half a dozen different branded tins in a supermarket, but it worked out well. I can't remember the brand, but I always get a thick layer with the thin, and I'm sure it makes a difference.

Be careful, though, I nearly always open the end with the solid bit, and assuming its going to fall out into the pan is a mistake, so after poking around with a knife, you get the whole contents of the tin gush out, all at once. And you would think I would remember that? non!

I use blue dragon (Chinese origins) in a tin, always seems ok to me.. (and comes out of the tin! lol)

Steve

Ahh Lapis, i shall look out for you as a fellow coconut milk tin shaker! Perhaps it could be a secret symbol, like a masonic handshake for Mamta's Kitchen readers to identify each other.

Perhaps it is just a primeval instinct similar to shaking a coconut to check it hasn't dried out?

Winton

the coconut milk I use (just bought some for a prawn palak for tea) is from TRS. It has served me well. The supermarket is just for Asian food, and has about 6 or 7 different brands, none of which is Blue Dragon, which, although being good quality, is always over-priced, IMHO.

I use Rajah and Blue Dragon brand, if you want the curry to be less creamy then use low fat ones.

A thought has just occured to me... You know when you get a can of condensed milk and heat it until it becomes like toffee, can it be done with coconut milk ?

Steve

Thought I'd do a price check on tins of coconut milk! It showed a remarkable disparity in price and percentage of coconut extract in different tins.....(C>W) = more coconut than water

ASDA: Rajah 74p (75%) Kingfisher 'light' ?1.06 (41%)

Co-op: Blue Dragon light ?1.35 (25%)

Premier Bazaar (Independent Asian store) Pride 99p (75%) Jofi 99p (55%)

SAINSBURYS: Blue Dragon ?1.93 (56%) Blue Dragon light ?1.92 (25%) Organic Blue Dragon ?1.69 (60%) Dunns River 47p (C>W)

TESCO: Cocofresh ?1.00 (C>W) Cocofresh low fat ?1.00 (C>W) Both BOGOF to 07/11/10

WAITROSE 'essentials' ?1.29 (60%) 'essentials half fat' ?1.29 (23%) Cooks Ingredients Organic ?1.55 (60%)

Conclusions to draw? Dunns River @Sainsburys was the cheapest, organic needn't be more expensive and the low fat/light versions seem a bit of a rip off being charged the same as the full equivalents for just having more water in the tin!

Winton

If any mamta's kitchen regulars were in my local indian spice shop earlier, they'll realise that i've now joined the coconut milk tin shakers club lol. I tried shaking a few tins and settled for one made by JEFI which was 55% coconut extract and cost 79p. Bargain I though. Anyway, one of the tins I was shaking seemed to have no liquid at all in it. Was I right to reject this one?

Anyway, one of the tins I was shaking seemed to have no liquid at all in it. Was I right to reject this one?

Not necessarily - some brands we've had have seperated over time (leading to that "solid bit" Lapis mentioned) and leads to that lack of liquid sound.

The simple solution is to vigorously shake the tin until you suddenly hear the liquid moving; open up and it's fine. This might be a sign that I keep tins of coconut milk in the cupboard for too long...!

I tried shaking it vigorously but it felt like the whole contents of the tin were solid. No sound of liquid at all.

Ahh, but for how long? I've known cans to take a few minutes to loosen up :)

Less than a minute so you could be right. I just thought the contents could be off or something so I didn't take the chance.