Coconut cream is at the heart of Thailand’s cuisine, both savoury dishes and desserts. It would be hard to estimate how much of it has been used by Thai cooks over the centuries, but it would probably be safe to say the total amount, from the time its use first began until the present, would fill the national swimming pool many times over.
GRATE PREPARATION: Coconut grated using a ‘kratai’.
In the past, boats brought coconuts from Koh Samui and Koh Phangan to supply people in Bangkok with coconut cream, a difficult method of transport that took a lot of time. Once land travel became viable, trucks brought an uninterrupted supply from Surat Thani, Chumphon and Prachuap Khiri Khan. The quantity was enhanced when coconuts were newly planted to fill every square inch of land in those provinces.
There was a problem five or six years ago when an insect that attacks the tops of coconut trees, the coconut hispine beetle, destroyed many of the trees in Prachuap Khiri Khan. The problem became so serious that the Thai government asked for assistance from India in eliminating the beetle, as that country had previously suffered a similar attack. It was a priority to exterminate the pest quickly before it reached the coconut plantations in Phetchaburi and Samut Songkhram. Besides asking India for help in dealing with the problem, Thailand also imported coconuts from there, as there were no longer enough domestically grown ones to meet the market demand.
After the situation improved, farmers in different parts of the country who grew other types of fruits began cultivating coconut trees together with the other crops. It was an appealing idea because once coconut trees start bearing they produce new nuts constantly and these bring a good price. Coconut trees have very long lives, too.
I’d like to take a look at methods for removing the coconut meat from the shell so that the cream can be extracted. In the past a device called a kratai (rabbit) was used almost exclusively. It consisted of a small, low platform for the person doing the grating to sit on. At the end of it was a vertical metal shredder that cut the coconut into long strands as it was passed over. The seat was designed to remain stable if the person using it wanted to sit in a leaning position while using the grater, so it had to be large and sturdily built. But there was another type for those who preferred to grate the coconut while standing, with one foot braced on a chair or on the grater itself. This kind did not have to be as big.
After the kratai had been designed to be useful as a tool, additional elements were added to embellish it and give it artistic beauty. These more beautiful and individual kratai were usually made for affluent families, or for people who had a strong interest in art. There were many different styles. Some were made to look like real rabbits; some were erotic, and took the shape of a woman lying on her back. Painting styles and finishes were also used to give them a special character. Some now survive as old-style lacquerware. But these stylised kratai coconut shredders are now rarities prized by collectors.
Using a kratai to shred coconut requires special skill. If it is not done properly it can be exhausting and produce shreds that are not uniform in shape. The coconut cream used in cooking curries and that used to make sweets like khao nio moon (coconut sticky rice) are different. The type used to make desserts should be completely clean and white. To obtain it, the dark-coloured skin that adheres to peeled coconut has to be scraped away.
Special technique is also needed to extract the coconut cream. Warm water must be mixed with the shredded coconut because the warmth helps to keep the cream rich and thick. The squeezing to produce the coconut cream has to be done more than once. The first squeezing extracts the thick cream, called the hua kathi (head) of the coconut cream. Then warm water is added again for one or more subsequent squeezings to get the hang kathi (tail) of the cream.
Motorised graters make the shredding of coconut for the extraction of cream easier than it used to be. Almost every market will have a stand equipped with one, and most will also offer seasoning pastes for curries. In the past, customers would order the amount of shredded coconut that they needed and then take it home to squeeze by hand. These days the vendors, in addition to the shredders, also have presses to squeeze out the cream for their customers. They press the coconut twice to produce both the head and the tail of the cream.
But that isn’t the ultimate in convenience offered nowadays to cooks who need coconut cream for a recipe. Commercially produced versions are available ready-pressed and packaged in plastic bags and cardboard cartons. It is sold in containers of different sizes in supermarkets, and are especially useful for people who don’t need much of the cream and don’t visit fresh markets. Professional cooks prefer coconut cream fresh-squeezed, however, because it has a better aroma and allows them to use both the head and the tail.
Visitors to small, informal markets in the provinces might be surprised to find coconut grated by hand using a kratai being sold for about 20 baht for half a kilo. Local people say that the kratai produces thicker coconut strands than the motorised graters, and is more fragrant when toasted in a hot wok than the mechanically produced kind. The toasted coconut is used to make some yam, or sour-hot salad dishes, like yawt krathin (made with the tender shoots of a tamarind species), yam plaa salit yaang (made with a grilled, flat freshwater fish) and yam thua phuu (made with wing beans), all dishes that are well-known today, but that require old-fashioned equipment to prepare them at their best.
It doesn’t require a lot of coconut cream to make the most of the dishes that require it, but no one who loves Thai cooking would be satisfied if it were left out, or if a substitute were used. It is one of the main features that give Thailand’s food its special identity.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.