English Coconut Cream Recipe

This is a coconut-flavoured cream sauce that originates in the 1920s and was traditionally served with strawberries. I prefer it with raspberries myself, but I do not have a very sweet tooth.

Below is the classic English recipe for cream sauce.

English Coconut Cream Recipe

Ingredients:

150ml single cream
150ml soured cream
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
125g desiccated coconut
1 generous tablespoon of creamed grated coconut (ie fresh coconut flesh pounded to a paste in a mortar)

Method:

In a small saucepan, combine the cream, soured cream, vanilla pod, desiccated coconut and 200ml water. Cover the pan then slowly bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes then take off the heat and set aside until lukewarm.

Remove the vanilla pod and stir in the creamed coconut. Pour into a blender and process to liquidize. Pour into a fine-meshed sieve and press down on the pulp with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible (you should get at least 300ml).

Serve chilled as an accompaniment to strawberries. This also works well with stewed rhubarb or stewed plums. It also makes an interesting Halloween dessert if used as a topping with pumpkin flesh stewed with mint and brown sugar.

Find more English recipes on the Recipes from the British Isles page of this blog.