Coconut milk is the base of most Thai curries. Contrary to western ideas of working with cream, to make the curry sauce, coconut cream is first reduced over fairly high heat to break down the cream and allow the oil to separate. The curry paste is then added and fried in the coconut oil until all the herb and spice flavors are released and blended before the rest of the coconut milk is added to make the sauce. Finished Thai curries will have a thin layer of oil floating on top of the sauce. Favorite Thai Recipes for Seafood.
Nothing compares with the flavor of fresh-pressed coconut milk.
Though there are several brands of rather good canned coconut milk now available on the market, freshly pressed milk will have a fragrant, naturally sweet and delightfully nutty flavor lacking in the canned products. But finding a fully developed and reasonably fresh coconut in American markets is sometimes not as easy as it may seem. Frequently, these coconuts are not very fresh, unless the store receives regular shipments each week. Unlike nuts such as almonds and walnuts, coconuts are more delicate than most people realize and do not have a long shelf life, especially after the outer husks have been removed. The fibrous husks are nature's protective cushion and are integral parts of coconuts, but because of their bulkiness, they usually have been pulled off and discarded.