In Thailand, young coconut is abundant and has been creatively used in a wide variety of cooking including desserts. It is fun
to also scoop out young coconut meat, to just your level of sweetness. The optional garnish adds color as well as both a bit of
spiciness from the green onion and a cooling effect from the cucumber slices. It is hard to resist the very flavorful Chinese
sausage which helps create a combined taste to keep coming back for. The young coconut makes for a visually interesting dish,
and adds a delicious aroma and taste.
Preparation
- Peel and devein the shrimp leaving shell on the tail or removing shell from the tail.
- Clean and slice pork into small thin pieces.
- Slice Chinese sausage into 1/4" thick pieces.
- Peel off garlic skin and mince garlic.
- Clean and peel carrots. Slice into 1/4" thick pieces.
- To open up a young coconut, use the bottom corner of the blade of the meat cleaver to make the cut, holding the cleaver at about a
45 degree angle and about 2 inches below the tip of the coconut. Strike hard enough to crack through the inner shell of the coconut,
not just the soft outer fiber. Next, make another cut in the same manner as the first one. The second cut should be perpendicular
to the first one. Make your next cut, and you should now have three incisions forming a bowl shape around the top of the coconut.
Make two more cuts to "connect the dots" and form a pentagon shape around the top of the coconut. Using the corner of the blade,
pry the "lid" open. Remove coconut water and keep in a bowl.
- If desired, clean green onion. Cut 1 inch off from the root. Then cut the top off so that you have about 6-inch long pieces.
- If desired, clean and peel cucumber, slice into 1/4" thick pieces.
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Heat oil in a pan. Fry garlic until fragrant, add pork and Chinese sausage. Stir until pork is cooked. Add shrimp, carrots and
green peas. Stir well.
- Add fish sauce, Thai light soy sauce, sugar and white pepper powder. Stir well.
- If desired, add 1/4 cup of coconut water.
- Add steamed rice and mix well.
- Put fried rice into the prepared young coconuts. Cover them with aluminum foil. Put them in the oven at 350F for 25-30 minutes.
- Serve each whole young coconut on a plate. Garnish with green onions and cucumbers, if desired.
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Before Cooking
- Serving size: 4 persons.
- Use medium or large shrimp. Prawns can be too big and might get too tough.
- When cooking rice, too much water will make the rice too soft and is not good for stir fry dishes.
- A good Thai young coconut should be heavy. When shaken, there should be no sound of swishing liquid because it
should be completely full with coconut water. The husk should be white, not tan, with no purple or brown spots on the bottom.
- When opening up a young coconut, make sure that you grip the coconut firmly near the base.
- If desired, omit Chinese sausage.
- If desired, use green onion and cucumber as garnishing.
Ingredients
3 cups Steamed rice
1 cup Sliced pork
2 cups Medium shrimp
1/2 cup Chinese sausage
1 cup Sliced or cubed carrots
1 cup Green peas
1 tablespoon Fish sauce
1 tablespoon Thai light soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 tablespoon Sugar
1/2 tablespoon White pepper powder
3 tablespoons Vegetable oil
4 Thai young coconuts
1/4 cup Coconut Water (optional)
6-8 stalks Green onion (optional)
1 Cucumber (optional)
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