Cook The Safest Coconut Milk For Health, Here's How

Illustration of coconut milk in a glass (Unsplash / Alexander Mils)

JAKARTA - There are many ways to process food without coconut milk, but coconut milk is still an idol. Although coconut milk contains healthy fats, it can turn into saturated fat when cooked the wrong way.

Do you like to eat beef rendang that has been heated many times so that the coconut milk turns into oil and makes a savory taste on the tongue? Yes, this method of cooking coconut milk is not safe for health.

In small portions may not have long-term effects on health, but you need to know how to process them properly so as not to cause cholesterol in the blood to increase significantly.

How to cook healthy coconut milk

Cooked for less than 3 minutes

Launching Kompas, Tuesday, April 20, coconut milk contains good fats, fatty acids and triglycerides that are easily burned by the body. The wrong way to cook can cause the risk of increasing bad cholesterol in the body.

The right way is to cook coconut milk for less than 3 minutes or not too long in hot temperatures. If you are cooking lodeh or compote in coconut milk, add the coconut milk one last time before it's ready to serve.

This is done to minimize the possibility of converting healthy fats into bad cholesterol.

Don't overheat it

As stated above, coconut milk that is heated continuously will turn into oil. This oil layer is dangerous because of the bad fat content.

That means, avoid heating foods with coconut milk many times unless you eat them in a fit condition and small to medium portions.

Avoid mixing coconut milk with foods high in cholesterol

When processing food with coconut milk, avoid mixing it with other food ingredients that are high in cholesterol, for example with offal and tripe. It is recommended to sort and choose any ingredients that contain good nutrition.

So, if you think that coconut milk makes you gain weight, it's not completely wrong. Like coconut milk that is cooked into compote and added lots of sugar. In a state of fasting, it may be able to restore blood sugar that has fallen due to not eating or drinking all day.

But in other conditions, someone needs to measure and weigh how much coconut milk is delicious but still healthy.

Behind the recommendations above, research proves that coconut milk is actually healthy. Reported by Medical News Today, coconut milk can be healthy for the heart because of the saturated fat in coconut milk. But a person's genetics plays a big role in making these benefits work efficiently.

In 2015, another study proved that the medium-chain triglycerides in coconut milk stimulate energy or produce body heat. The positive effect can reduce body weight.