How to extract coconut milk

This is a very simple post,but I feel It might be useful to many .As a kid I've been watching my Amma doing this process ,where she used  it in the sweet preparation.Those days she was using a  cheese cloth for straining the milk,but now we use a huge metal strainer.Nothing like fresh coconut milk and it is used in most of the Indian cooking as well as Thai cooking as far as I know.I prefer fresh coconut milk over the readymade ones,but I do use it occasionally.Coconut milk is used to prepare Kokum kadi or sol kadi,Madgane.It is also used in the preparation of vegetable stew and narla rosu,a sweet milk used to accompany Shevai or string hoppers.

Yields-2 thick cups
1 thin cup



Ingredients:
Grated coconut -3 cups or 1 big coconut
Water-2-3 cups










Method:

1. Blend the coconut in the blender adding 1 cup of water for few minutes to a paste.
2. Place the strainer over a broad vessel and transfer the coconut paste in the strainer.
3. Press the mixture with your hand until the juice is fully extracted and the mixture becomes dry.
4. Add little water to the mixture and again strain it.
5. The first extraction what you get is the thick milk or  coconut cream.
6. Now again transfer the dry extracted coconut gratings to the blender and again grind for few minutes adding little water.
7. Extract the milk again in a separate bowl,now the second extract is the thin milk and it will be little watery.
8. Strain the coconut milk 2 -3 times again and again.
9. Thick milk will always  be creamy.
10. You may also strain the juice  in a muslin or a cheese cloth.
11. You may extract the milk not more than 3 times.
12. You cannot Store this milk for a long time,not more than a day.
13. You may refrigerate it for a short time.