Growing up in Trinidad, I distinctly remember my mom and grandmother ‘rubbing’ me down with coconut oil! Coconut oil make that hair shine and the skin glisten I kid you not! The running joke in school was having your hair smell like coconut oil!
When My Monster was a baby, I used to be able to do it with her, and stretch her little legs out and her little arms, but as soon as she was a little older to actually smell the oil on her skin she put her little feet down and said no more coconut oil on my skin!
My grandmother used to make her own fresh coconut oil every few months. It was used for your hair, your skin, to light the deyas, to light the lamps because the electricity (or as it is called in Trinidad the current) was out on a weekly basis!
In fact on my most recent visit home, which is why my posts were few, the electricity was out one of the days. The difference in back then and now was that a car with a loud mike/speaker drove through the village the day before and announced that the electricity was going to be turned off the next day with the times! How is that for progress!
In addition to making our own coconut oil, Trini’s also make their own Coconut Milk. I don’t think there is a household in Trinidad that uses canned coconut milk. In MN it is a necessity as it is hard to find a good dry coconut. But I swear the taste of the food makes a world of difference.
This Kale and Ochre One Pot Rice dish uses fresh coconut milk and it is so yummy! I have always wanted to try this Ochre Rice, but we don’t have the proper spinach to use here, so I used Kale instead which honestly it tasted just as good.
Try to extract your own Coconut Milk when making this Kale and Ochre Dish!
