Coconut raw meat shreds crack open - Asian market $2 pina colada base freeze

Start by selecting your $2 coconut at the Asian market. Pick it up and give it a shake; you should hear a good amount of water sloshing inside, which indicates freshness. It should feel heavy for its size with no damp spots or mold around the three dark circles, or "eyes," at the top. Once home, the first step is to drain the coconut water. Use a sturdy corkscrew or a Phillips head screwdriver and a mallet to carefully puncture the softest of the three eyes. Invert the coconut over a glass to collect the water. You can chill and drink this later or add it to your pina colada base for a deeper flavor.

To crack the coconut open, hold it securely in the palm of your non-dominant hand, perhaps with a kitchen towel for a better grip. Using the blunt spine of a heavy cleaver or the back of a chef's knife, give the coconut a firm, sharp whack around its equator. Rotate the coconut slightly in your hand and strike it again in a new spot along the same equator line. Continue rotating and striking. After a few solid taps, a fracture will appear, and you can easily pull the two halves apart. This method is safer and more controlled than using a hammer on the floor.

With the coconut in two halves, it's time to remove the raw meat. A butter knife is a great tool for this. Slide the tip of the knife between the white meat and the hard brown shell, then gently pry. The meat should come out in large pieces. If it's stubborn, a dedicated coconut tool or even a sturdy spoon can help leverage it out. For the cleanest, whitest pina colada base, you'll want to remove the thin brown skin that clings to the back of the meat. A simple vegetable peeler makes quick work of this task.

Now, create the shreds. Cut the large chunks of coconut meat into smaller, one-inch pieces. The most efficient way to get fine shreds is with a food processor fitted with a shredding disc. If you don't have one, the coarse side of a standard box grater works perfectly well, just with a bit more elbow grease. You want a fluffy pile of fresh, moist coconut shreds.

To transform these shreds into the pina colada base, place them in a high-speed blender. For every two cups of packed shreds, add about one cup of hot water (not boiling, just hot from the tap is fine). The heat helps extract the creamy fats. Blend on high for one to two minutes until the mixture is smooth and milky. Place a nut milk bag, a fine-mesh sieve, or a double layer of cheesecloth over a large bowl. Pour the blended coconut mixture into it and squeeze with all your might. Wring and press until you’ve extracted every last drop of the rich, pure white liquid. This is your fresh coconut cream.

For the final step, freeze the base for future use. The best method is to pour the coconut cream into standard ice cube trays. This creates perfectly portioned blocks for individual drinks. Place the trays flat in the freezer until the cubes are completely solid. Once frozen, pop the coconut cream cubes out and transfer them to a labeled zip-top freezer bag, squeezing out all the air. They will last for months. When you're ready for a pina colada, simply drop a few frozen cubes into your blender with pineapple juice and rum.