Hi All , Just come back from the Indian Supermarket and I struggled to find any Coconut Powder , I found Coconut Flour and Dessicated Coconut but Couldn't find powder , ended up buying Coconut Milk Powder which was quite expensive  Coconut Powder is available from places like Spices Of India but is Coconut Flour the same thing 

Hi emin-j

Coconut flour is entirely a different animal to coconut powder.

The flour can be used to thicken curries and at the same time impart a coconut flavour to the dish BUT it does leave an element of graininess to the dish particularly if a lot of it is needed. It is ground / milled about 50% less than coconut milk during production

Coconut powder is exactly the same as coconut milk powder, if you add water to either it will turn to coconut milk, there is no difference in either just terminology.

Coconut powder I find is best for curries as it dissappears into the curry leaving no residual graininess to the texture no matter how much is used but imparting the coconut flavour as required.

However due to the cost of coconut powder, Im certain that BIRs use the flour, thats why Indian supermarkets carry the big catering sized coconut flour packs

Hope this helps

Paul

Hi Razor

No worries, no debate 

Ive read this type of confusion in other recipes too, and it is confusion on their part.

Whilst a recipe sometimes calls for the use of coconut milk and powder, the reason being is that just using the equivalent in milk only, might render a dish too thin and runny, so using part powder retains the desired consistency and achieves the degree of coconut flavour required

I lived in Thailand for some years and as Im sure you know Coconut milk is used extensively in Thai cuisine.

whilst the majority of Thais use canned coconut milk as its so cheap out there, coconut milk powder is also visibly widely available in their food stores too since its is not as weighty or as bulky as storing cans and a little cheaper too.
But Ive never seen coconut flour being either as visible in these stores in the main food sections, but rather it was usually found in the ' baking / desert section ' which is what most Thais use the flour for as well as dessicated coconut.

Cheers everyone

Paul

Hi Commis/Artistpaul

Yeah, that's where the confusion is for me then I guess.  If the recipe calls for "coconut milk powder" then I pressume that a quantity of liquid will be added to the dish to create, "coconut milk" within the dish?   If it just asks for coconut powder, I would still take it as coconut flour.  As far as using coconut flour as a thickener, In my experience, it doesn't really do the job, certainly not in the same way as using cornflour or a roux. 

I do agree with you artistpaul with regards to coconut flour adding a slightly grainy texture but again, this is a characteristic of a lot of bir korma's or CTM's.

Going back to commis's original querey, try either and stick with what you prefer lol ;D

Ray

Just to add to the confusion,

One man's powder is another man's flour,

This is what I have seen in several BIRs,



This stuff is coarser than flour but not as fine as dessicated,

Mick