Coconut Pancakes

I was looking over the blog and couldn't believe how much I have missed this month. My husband has started a new cooking endevour and has taken over my kitchen (he's currently working on a cookbook/website idea). It's been great but I can't really share his recipes since he's doing them for more professional reasons. It's nice not to cook but I am running out of ideas to share. I thought I'd go through some of my recipes to see what I haven't shared (I prefer to actually make the recipe within the week before posting just so I don't overlook anything).
This pancake recipe is gluten free. I found it on Swanson's Vitamins website. I have made it for years so I can't say if this is the actual recipe on their website or if I've altered it. The batter is thinner than normal pancake batter and makes thinner pancakes. It's really tasty with that hint of coconut. It's not overly sweet. I often dig out the solid lump in the canned coconut milk and use that as the coconut oil. It's really a combination of coconut oil and milk but easier to work with and doesn't need to be melted since it's already very soft.

Coconut Pancakes
3 eggs, medium sized
3 tablespoons Coconut oil, melted
3 tablespoons coconut milk
1-1/2 teaspoons Honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
In a large bowl, mix together eggs, coconut oil, coconut milk, honey and salt. In a separate bowl, combine coconut flour, baking powder and cinnamon, and thoroughly mix into batter. Coat frying pan with non-stick spray and heat on medium-high. Spoon batter (approximately 1/8 cup or 2 tablespoons) onto hot pan making pancakes about 3 inches in diameter. Flip when batter begins to bubble. Makes approx 8 pancakes.

Coconut milk pudding rolls

I found this recipe in a magazine years ago. I can't remember the magazine but I remember my family's surprise at the final result. Even though these are pudding rolls, they are not very sweet. The rolls, themselves, are a great dinner roll but add the pudding into the mix and what you get is a sweet touch to an already great bread. This is one recipe I haven't really tinkered with (except to make just the rolls). It's so easy and tasty just as it is.

Coconut milk pudding rolls
1 package yeast
3 1/4 cup + 1 tb flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
13 ½ oz can coconut milk
Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water. Stir in 1 ½ cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, melted butter and egg. Stir in 1 ½ cups flour and knead into soft dough adding flour as needed. Cover and let rise until doubled. Punch down and let double again. Whisk together coconut milk, remaining sugar and 1 tb flour until smooth, set aside. Divide dough into 24 balls. Put in 9x13 dish and let rise until doubled. Preheat oven to 350. Pour coconut milk over rolls and bake about 25 minutes.

Make your own coconut milk

I needed coconut milk for the Banana Coconut Stew (coming in next post). I went to Walmart because my son needed minutes for his tracfone and I really prefer one stop shopping (never happens with getting my groceries at Walmart but that's another story). They had coconut milk for under a dollar - well they had signs for coconut milk for under a dollar and not a can in sight. I ended up going to the grocery store I get most of my groceries to get meat and see what the coconut milk was like (I buy my coconut milk from an Asian store not the grocery store but I was not making another stop). The price was stupidly high. I thought - I have dried coconut (organic unsweetened) in the cupboard that needs using so I'll make my own coconut milk (how hard can it be).
I left it until the next morning to look up how to make coconut milk. Guess what - they all use fresh coconut. If I was going to use fresh coconut I should have just bought the coconut milk and save me the headache. I decided to try it with the dried coconut.
I boiled a teapot of water and filled a medium sized bowl with coconut. I used a little bit of large grated coconut and a small bag of a more finely grated coconut. I poured the boiling water over the coconut and made sure it was covering the whole mess. I let it sit until cool and strained with a jelly bag. The result was not bad. It was a little weaker than my usual coconut milk but I am sure it rivalled the Walmart brand.
I think in the future I will pour all the stuff in a pot and boil it on the stove to pull more flavor out of the dried coconut.

Peanut Chicken

One of our staple sauces is peanut sauce on chicken. For me, this is a simple and tasty recipe. I don't put a lot of fuss into peanut sauce and it always turns out well.
Normally, I brown the chicken in a deep skillet. Add a can of coconut milk and a couple of dollops of peanut butter. I use a basic, cheap peanut butter. Sometimes I add a little sweet chili sauce for a bit of a kick.
Last night I put the chicken (usually boneless, skinless chicken breast but any chicken will do) in a 9x13 baking dish with any juices from the bag. I drizzled on sweet chili sauce and then dolloped the peanut butter here and there. About half way through I flipped over the chicken and stirred the peanut butter into the chicken juices. I had envisioned the peanut butter melting into everything making a sauce but it didn't until I stirred everything together. My father said it was the best peanut sauce he has ever had which just goes to show that simplicity is always better.
I serve this chicken over rice with a gluten free soy sauce.

For another twist you can add crushed pineapple to the coconut milk for the skillet chicken (and then make the peanut butter optional - for an island kick add a little rum).