3 Coconut Recipes That Refresh You

A starter and two desserts that have coconut as one of the main ingredients and that, in addition, are eaten cold. In this case, although they are recipes with a relatively quick preparation, in all 3 cases we will need a time of refrigeration, maceration, freezing or soaking. That is, they are not recipes that we can make to consume at the moment: they need planning.

These coconut recipes are dense in energy, fiber, and quality fats. But the coconut provides all that and more, because it also contains essential vitamins and minerals.

For some recipes we are going to use coconut milk, which you should not confuse with coconut drinks. There is currently a wide variety of coconut products on the market, and this includes coconut drinks, some with rice or other cereals. For our recipes, the traditional coconut milk will be more suitable, which usually comes canned.

Don’t think it was cut when you opened the can! It is usual that we find the cream on one side, if it is cold, even quite solid, and the coconut water on the other. To use canned coconut milk correctly, we mix the liquid part with its cream, so that rather what we get is a cream.

Of course, we can also use brik coconut drink, which is much more liquid, but we will lose creaminess.

1. Vegetable avocado and coconut ceviche

Ceviche is a typical meat or fish-based dish from many coastal Latin American countries in the Pacific Ocean. The citrus marinade is one of the hallmarks of this dish. We are going to use the coconut meat to make a spectacular vegetable ceviche. As it is not easy to find young coconut meat, we can choose a fair trade mature coconut.

Ingredients for 3-4 servings:

• 1 natural coconut
• 1 avocado
• 2 medium red onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 large red bell pepper
• 1 handful of coriander leaves
• 1 chili
• 1 lime in juice
• 1 lemon in juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ground black pepper
• Salt

preparation:

1. We wash the pepper well, remove the stem and seeds and cut them in julienne strips, with the thinnest possible strips.
2. Next, we peel the onions and also julienne them.
3. We open the coconut and extract the meat and its water, which is an excellent isotonic drink. We reserve the water in the refrigerator to drink it or use it in any other recipe, and we cut the coconut meat into elongated dice.
4. Peel and pit the avocado and cut it into small cubes or strips if we can.
5. We wash the coriander well and chop it very well. We can reserve some sheets to decorate. The same operation with garlic and chili.
6. Prepare the dressing in a bowl with the lemon and orange juices, the olive oil, a pinch of salt and ground black pepper.
7. In a bowl, we place all the solid ingredients, mix them and add the dressing. Let it marinate in the fridge for between half an hour and a full hour. If it is a mature, hard-fleshed coconut, you can leave it longer. The first time, go testing the result to control the desired intensity.
8. We serve it cold.

2. Mango and coconut ice cream

The best time for mangoes begins in September, when we still have high temperatures and we feel like refreshing recipes. For this recipe you can freeze the mango, buy frozen mango or add ice. This last option is much faster, but we will also lose greasiness.

You have to start the preparation minimally the night before, because on the one hand you need to soak the almonds and, also, freeze the mango.

Ingredients for two servings:

• 1 mango
• 200 ml coconut milk with its cream
• 60 g unroasted peeled almonds
• The juice of a lime
• 10 raspberries
• 1 tablespoon coconut sugar (optional)

You can change the lime for a small lemon or for half an orange, the three citrus fruits combine perfectly.

preparation:

1. The night before we peel and bone the mango and freeze it in a container or freezer bag. We also soak the almonds and leave them overnight with the water.
2. The next day, we drain the soaked almonds, discarding that water, and wash them. If they had skin, we will remove it more easily after soaking.
3. We beat all the ingredients together with a food processor or a powerful mixer suitable for ice or frozen.
4. We serve in two glasses and we add a touch of color and flavor with the raspberries.

3. Coconut and pineapple glasses

A very easy dessert to make, very fast and for which you only need the mixer, with a delicious result. And it is that coconut and pineapple are two fruits that combine in a spectacular way.

Of course, pineapple can be substituted for any other seasonal fruit that fits well with the coconut and banana that we are going to use to thicken. For example, mango with a few tablespoons of lemon or kiwi juice.

Ingredients for 4 cups:

• 500 g of very ripe natural pineapple
• 1 large banana
• 250 ml of coconut milk with its cream
• 1 tablespoon of chia or flax seeds

preparation:

1. Peel the pineapple well and cut it.
2. We beat the pineapple with the banana.
3. We fill the glasses so that they are all at the same height.
4. Mix the coconut milk, preferably canned to make it creamier, with the chia or flax seeds. I recommend that the seeds are freshly ground to be able to take advantage of all the nutrients, since we will only be using them whole for their gelling power.
5. We have just carefully filled the glasses with this mixture.
6. We let it rest in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

You can use sweeteners such as coconut sugar, but if the fruit is ripe the experience is very sweet, as well as refreshing.

This same idea helps us to make some very good natural poles.