Coconut Soup with Chicken, Mushrooms, Corn and Spinach
I won't disguise it. It is another coconut milk recipe. If you are like me who grew up in a place where coconut trees are everywhere and heaps of fresh and dried coconuts are in all market corners then you must understand that I am accustomed to eating food with coconut. We had a couple of tall trees in our backyard when I was small and we would drown ourselves with the freshest coconut water and pulp just minutes from falling from the trees when someone talented enough manages to climb the 99 steps carved out in the tree trunks. But don't confuse coconut water from coconut milk because they are different from each other. Coconut water comes from fresh coconuts while coconut milk comes from the pulp of dried coconuts that are grated then squeezed.
I don't know how they acquire the milk nowadays at home (or if people still do it) because I reached the old method of grating the pulp on a specially-made low wooden seat with a circular saw-like blade attached at the end. It was my idea of a rocking horse when it was not in use until I hear my Mom's shrieking to get off it. The blade really did look serious. I never became a coconut milk expert because I was too young to understand and I left it to the adults. What I do remember is that they squeeze the milk out of the grated pulp once or maybe twice and they get separated for different uses depending on the dish you are cooking. That is a lost method of getting fresh coconut milk because I don't know anyone anymore who has that kind of grater, much less acquire their own milk when it just takes seconds to grab the canned ones from the supermarkets. As much as I would like to have freshly squeezed coconut milk, I go for the latter too like everyone else.
Using coconut milk in chicken and mushroom soup gives it a fuller taste. And with the addition of a lime, both zest and juice, I think it even became more aromatic. Being tropicalized, the flavors do give a very interesting twist to the usual chicken & mushroom soup.
You can get this Coconut Soup with Chicken Mushrooms, Corn and Spinach recipe at She Knows where I regularly create recipes. If you want to check out the others that I created, go to my Profile Page. Thanks and enjoy!
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