Coconut

Here is a random and pointless post about coconut. Enjoy.

I just made some fancy stuff with coconut. We buy shredded coconut in a resealable bag in the refrigerated section of the Indian grocery. A bag lasts us a long time. Today, I used the coconut three ways. (We're having Tom over for supper. He's a guy from church, formerly of "tom and kate.") Daniel's making Chicken Curry (imagine that), and we're also having couscous and carrot cake. Hey, all start with C. Just noticed that. Anyway, so here's the fun with coconut: I made the spice paste for his curry. It called for cumin seeds (my favorite), coriander seeds, cinnamon stick* , cardamom seeds, poppy seeds, fennel seeds, dried red chillies, and coconut. So I measured them all out and roasted them in a bit of oil, and it was so beautiful and smelled so awesome that I thought "If I had a camera phone or a digital camera, I'd post pictures of this. I'm gonna blog about it anyway." Then I transferred it to a plate and put 1/2 at a time into the coffee grinder. It was just so awesome and fragrant, that I had to tell you about that. I don't know if the recipe's worth posting or not, but I'll let you know tonight (or sometime.)

So we got a cake mix carrot cake, and I spiced it up by chopping up some peanuts and grating a carrot and substituting pineapple juice for the water and adding an extra egg. My dad had told me a long time ago to always add an extra egg to cake mixes and to use pineapple juice instead of water, but this was the first time I'd done the pineapple juice, I think. Anyway, there was a little recipe on the bottom that called for the additional egg and the pineapple juice, and some coconut, chopped nuts, and raisins. But I used carrot instead of raisins, cause we don't have raisins. I'm excited about that cake.

And the third use was a snack for Daniel. I love Daniel so much, and we're getting along better and better as we get to know each other, but I just have to tell ya, the guy's a picky eater. It's hard to find quick and simple snack options for him that are also cheap, and today the coconut did the trick.

* Lots of times Indian recipes will tell me to grind a cinnamon stick, but I've tried it in the coffee grinder and the food processor, and it was very defiant and strong-willed in both. I gave in and started using powder, which is so not the same. Today, though, I found a way to beat that cinnamon stick. I stuck it in a zip lock bag and took it outside and beat it with a hammer. Worked fine in the coffee grinder after that.