By Kasma Loha-unchit

Copyright © 1995 Kasma Loha-unchit in It Rains Fishes

Some people try to get into a coconut by banging on it with a hammer. Others suggest poking holes in the eyes to drain the liquid before hammering. This sounds like a good idea, but if you have tried it before, you may have discovered it isn't quite so easy. The eyes are small and the surrounding shell quite thick and hard. After much effort to jab them with a sharp object or puncture them with a nail, you may end up with a slow trickle, taking a lot longer to drain all the liquid out than you may have patience for.

A quick and easy, no-nonsense way to crack a coconut is to use a cleaver. Holding it with one hand such that the "midriff" rests in the middle of your palm, with the tip on one end and the eyes on the other, whack the coconut with the back of the cleaver a few times all around the center until it cracks open cleanly into two nearly equal halves. Make sure you use the blunt side of the cleaver. Do this over a bowl in the sink to catch the juice as it drains from the cracks. If the juice tastes fresh and sweet, enjoy it as a refreshment by itself or reserve for use in extracting cream from the flesh.

After the coconut is cracked in two round halves, the white flesh can be scraped out in long thin shreds using a small implement with a row of sharp teeth, available from Southeast Asian markets. (My little niece and nephew, Toey and Baitoey, find this activity to be great fun. Whenever they come to visit and want to help in the kitchen, I keep them out of trouble by asking them to shred coconut. That usually is worth half an hour of silence and undivided attention. Later, when I incorporate the fruit of their effort into a simple appetizer or dessert, they feel so proud to have contributed; they have learned that cooking is fun and a way to give of themselves to their loved ones.)

Alternatively, you can first remove coconut meat from the shell and then grate or shred it in the food processor.

In Thailand, there are shredders that are attached to wooden stools, so that you can shred coconut while sitting down. If you have one, sit on the stool with the flat round shredder head sticking out in front of you and between your legs. Simply hold the coconut half with the white meat on the sharp-toothed head and move your hands swiftly up and down, scraping it out in fine shreds. With practice, you may find that a whole coconut shreds up in no time at all. You may also develop strong wrists from the exercise!

In olden days, the wooden stools were carved into elaborate animal shapes (such graters are called gkra-dtai, meaning "rabbit"). The National Museum in the southern city of Nakon Si Thammarat and the extensive Institute of Southern Thailand Studies in Songkla display interesting collections of antique coconut shredders among their folk exhibits.

Some are people-shaped, with the shredder sticking out of the mouth, or more comically, out of the rear end. These artfully carved stools make fascinating decorative pieces and have become collector's items. Look for them in Bangkok's enormous Chatuchak Weekend Market -- a bustling bazaar where almost everything imaginable is available -- or in antique shops.

Aside from hand scrapers and wooden stool graters, there are a number of mechanical contraptions for grating coconut. Many of these can reduce the pulpy meat of old coconuts into very fine, snow-like flakes, perfect for extracting coconut milk and for making chewy sweetmeats.

Along with the wooden, box-like machine mentioned earlier, another common device used by vendors in marketplaces consists of a large round aluminum basin with a torch-like shredder head sticking out through a hole in the center. With the basin tilted on its side, the shredder head is hooked on the back to a machine which powers it to turn like an osterizer. The sides of the basin catch the grated coconut so it doesn't fly all over the place.

Note: Kasma has taught Thai cooking for over 15 years and is the author of the IACP Award-winning book It Rains Fishes: Legends, Traditions and the Joys of Thai Cooking. Her classes and recipes have been featured in Art Culinaire, Saveur, Gourmet and Sunset magazines. Her website is:
www.thaifoodandtravel.com