Coconut oil in cooking: application, recipes
Can you imagine the smell of palm trees, sea and sun? You can taste all this.
Coconut oil has been used since the days of Cleopatra and was considered one of the most elite cosmetics for women of the upper class. Then they began to massively make walnut squeeze not only for face and body care, but also for eating.
The exotic product is obtained from the pulp of coconut, which is called copra. Like many oils, coconut is made in two ways – hot and cold pressed. When hot drawn, the oil loses some useful components, so cold pressing is considered more valuable. The cost of “cold” oil is higher, because such pressing allows you to extract only 10 percent of the oil present in the pulp of the nut, but it contains more nutrients. This delicious food can and should be eaten one tablespoon a day, because it contains special fatty acids that have a beneficial effect on our body. For example, lauric acid is also found in the breast milk of a nursing woman – is this not evidence of its usefulness. This acid fights harmful bacteria, helps to heal cracks, wounds, has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system, makes blood vessels elastic, cleans arteries from plaque, and reduces the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke. Myristic, palmitic, oleic acids have an antioxidant effect, increase immunity, help fight viruses and bacteria, and improve the functioning of the endocrine system. The first cold pressed oil retained not only all the benefits of coconut, but also its unique wonderful aroma. Refined product and hot-pressed oil have fewer useful qualities and have less coconut aroma, but a higher smoke point, which means it is better suited for frying food.
Smoke point of coconut oil
It is important to know that before the golden crust, the product begins to fry at a frying pan temperature of 160 degrees, which means that you need to use oil that has a smoke point not lower than this value. The smoke point is the temperature at which the oil begins to smoke, which means it breaks down and releases carcinogens. Burnt oil is not good for food because it contains a lot of radicals that contribute to the risk of disease. The smoke point of refined coconut oil is 204 degrees, which means it can safely cook fried foods on it. The cold-pressed product has a smoking point of 177 degrees and it definitely won’t work for deep fat. For comparison: the smoke point of unrefined sunflower oil is 107 degrees, refined – 227, olive oil, respectively, 160 and 230 degrees. From all the numbers, it becomes clear that coconut oil is safe for frying and deep-frying, the main thing is to choose the right spin type for you.
Most often, we use sunflower and olive oil, but we must not forget about the variety of recipes and the possibilities that store shelves provide us. Coconut oil gives us new flavor options. At room temperature, the fatty coconut mass is solid and melts only at 27 degrees, so only after a little heating can you pour the salads with liquid oil.
20 ideas:
– If you add a few drops of cold-pressed oil to your morning tea or coffee, then you don’t need to throw sugar. And without it, the taste of the sweetener will appear.
– For morning toast, the usual oil can be replaced with coconut oil, sprinkled with cinnamon on top.
– No problem to prepare nut butter: put peeled nuts and coconut oil in a blender, beat everything thoroughly, in a few seconds you will have a natural product with a nutty taste and aroma.
– You can diversify the taste of salads by replacing olive oil with coconut oil.
– Popcorn can be made in coconut oil, it will acquire a slightly sweetish tint.
– By smearing a piece of bread with a thin layer of solid mass, you can get a very tasty sandwich by adding caviar or pieces of salted red fish.
– If you anoint hot fresh pancakes with coconut oil, you will not need to add jam or sour cream. You are guaranteed an exclusive taste.
– Vegetables fried in coconut oil will remind you of travel. Don’t forget to add paprika.
– When baking, use a tough mass of tropical butter like margarine.
– Place the defrosted shrimp in a sieve and dip in boiling oil. Don’t forget the splash guard. One minute – and you have the best deep-fried Asian dish ready. Do not overcook the oil, do not forget about the smoke point.
– After making your breakfast porridge, replace the butter with coconut oil. But do not overdo it, throw no more than a teaspoon per serving, otherwise the dish will be too fatty and high-calorie.
– Diet biscuits can be made by grinding hard refined butter with wheat flour, adding coconut milk and baking powder. Bake for 20 minutes in the oven at 200 degrees.
– Fry the turkey or chicken fillets until golden brown, add the leeks and curry, also cooked in coconut oil. Simmer for about 20 minutes under the lid – an oriental dish is on your table.
– Finely chop the apple without the skin. Mix honey and finely chopped dates with lemon juice, pour over apples. Top with chopped cashews and pecans mixed with coconut oil. Bake in tins at 200 degrees until golden brown.
– Candy with honey is easy to make yourself. In a water bath, melt coconut oil with honey, add a pinch of cocoa. Mix coconut shavings with the resulting liquid mass, arrange in small molds and put in the freezer for half an hour. The sweets are ready.
– Boiled rice will remind you of an Asian dish if you additionally fry it in coconut oil along with vegetables and oriental spices. Don’t forget to add soy sauce.
– Salt, pepper and soak the thinly sliced beef fillet in lemon sauce, leave for 20 minutes. Then pat dry with a clean towel and fry for 3 minutes on each side in a thick skillet in well-heated oil. The meat is ready for the side dish.
– Beat a couple of bananas with a blender with cocoa, a pinch of salt and melted butter. Put in a mold and refrigerate for a couple of hours. Lean banana mousse will appeal to your household.
– Stew vegetables, add legumes (canned beans or lentils can be used) and spices. It turned out to be a quickly tasty dish.
– Before frying or baking, marinate the chicken in spiced coconut oil. You will get a tender juicy dish.
The Papuans are asked:
– How do you collect coconuts from palms?
– And we do not collect them. When the wind blows, they fall themselves.
– And when there is no wind?
– Well … then a bad harvest.