Coconut milk should not be confused with coconut water or the transparent liquid that comes out of a coconut on breaking it open. Rather, the milk of coconut is the opaque, white fluid that is extracted from the grated white flesh of (mostly fresh and ripe) coconuts with some effort.

Coconut milk is a vital ingredient in several Brazilian, Burmese, Cambodian, Caribbean, Filipino, Indian, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pacific islands, Polynesian, Singaporean, Sri Lankan, Thai, and Vietnamese delicacies. Coconut milk is known as santan in Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia, gata is the term used in Philippines, while in Thailand, it is called ga-ti.

Coconut milk is milk-white in color due to the high oil content and is generally sweet because of high-sugar content. There are namely two types of milk - thick milk (20 - 22% fat) and the thin milk (5 - 7% fat). The thick milk is used to make delicious desserts and sauces, while the thin milk is used to make soups. Many Indian recipes recommend using the thin milk to cook chicken and fish. Coconut milk can be employed to make dishes belonging to any course of a full course meal (soup, salad, meat, and dessert). You can also make beverages - alcoholic and non-alcoholic - with this versatile ingredient. And, so shall you discover from the recipes given below.

Coconut milk contains an array of vitamins and minerals, such as folate and potassium. Raw coconut milk has 552 calories, canned coconut milk has 445 calories, while frozen milk has 485 calories. Coconut milk can be made at home. So, before getting to the dishes one can make using coconut milk, let's see how coconut milk can be obtained in your own kitchen.