Explorations into Coconut Oil

Recently, I made banana bread with a cheesy twist, which turned out to be pretty tasty as expected.  The recipe happened to call for coconut oil, an ingredient whose existence was unknown to me before.  This oil, of course, was sold in quantities that would make seven times the loaves I desired.  On top of that, coconut oil was expensive.  Yes, I happened to buy it at the overpriced-hipster-organic store across the street--Whole Foods--but I wanted to make sure I did not make a pointless trip to the regular supermarket only to learn they do not carry the oil.

So in the interest of economics and minimizing food waste, I attempted to make good on my purchase.  Three times, in fact.  I actually did not plan it out this way, but I ended up making a beverage, an entree, and a dessert.

• Monday: Coconut Pumpkin Spice Smoothie
• Tuesday: Coconut Merlot Lamb Curry
• Friday: Honeydew Sago

Coconut Pumpkin Spice Smoothie

The smoothie turned out to be quite tasty with the addition of honey as a sweetener and cinnamon to spice things up (pun intended).  The recipe I used involved three parts 1% Lowfat Milk to one part canned pumpkin, 2-3 teaspoons of honey (or to taste), 2 teaspoons of melted coconut oil, and a dash of cinnamon garnish.  Everything except the cinnamon was blended together in a food processor, and then the cinnamon was sprinkled on afterward.

The can of pumpkins I used was two years old.  I purchased two cans back in 2012 to make two pumpkin pies, but the second pie never materialized.  So the age of the canned pumpkins might explain why each gulp left a very light acerbic aftertaste.  Or perhaps that is simply a property of pumpkins that needs to be dealt with.

The final idea I want to record here is that I now understand why Starbucks will never put a pumpkin latte on their menu.  It is always pumpkin spice.  I tried a glass of the coconut pumpkin smoothie without cinnamon, and it tasted drastically different.  While it was good without cinnamon, the spice really takes it to the next level.

Coconut Merlot Lamb Curry

This was actually my first time making a curry, so it was a surprise to me that most of the substance in the curry came from tomatoes and onions.  (I get this feeling one of my Indian friends have told me this before during dinner.)  So why Merlot?  I read that some curries include wine for dimension.  So I added some from a $3 bottle of red.  Actually, many foodies are of the opinion that there is no such thing as "cooking wine," and you should only cook with wine that you would be happy drinking.  Well, I will cook with a nice wine when my name appears in an issue of Forbes magazine.

Other ingredients used include substantial amounts of the following: vindaloo curry mixture, paprika, coriander, cumin, cayenne pepper, and coconut oil.  As pictured, I used chopped green onions for garnish and a platter of rice to accompany the curry.  As this curry was a decent departure from Indian cuisine, I felt comfortable using rice regularly preferred by East Asians.

Honeydew Sago

This dessert, 蜜瓜西米露, is a variation on a classic Chinese dessert involving taro, coconut milk, and tapioca made from sago palm trees.  Actually, this attempt was an abject failure.  First, coconut milk should be used, not dairy milk combined with coconut oil.  I thought the milk would be sufficient emulsifier to disperse the oil in the honeydew puree, but the cold milk solidified the oil.  I microwaved the batch for 25 seconds to warm it up slightly (never a good move), but I only ended up with pools of floating oil.  Now that I think about it, blending the milk and oil together in a food processor (physical agitation) would have probably been more effective.  Oh Chemistry, how you conspired to thwart my dessert.

In addition, the picture tells it all: proportions were completely off.  The honeydew was likely smaller than expected by the recipe, so there was less honeydew puree to milk.  The dessert ended up much more watery (and watered down) as a result.  I attempted to dress it up anyway with some fresh mint leaves.

Likely, the biggest problem of all was never having eaten honeydew sago (only the more common taro variety).  This is how it should turn out.  My conclusion is that I have a ways to go before I am ready to make even the simplest Chinese desserts.

So in the end, two out of three dishes were successful.  Not bad, considering 66% would have been a dream score on some of my college finals.  Even all these attempts could only use up two thirds of the jar I purchased.  Luckily, an opened jar of coconut oil lasts a while.  So that gives me ample time to figure out other uses for this lovely ingredient.