I have two cooking questions. The first involves the two 13.5-ounce cans of unsweetened coconut milk I received instead of the two cans of soup I ordered. I am not going to trouble Target with such an error at a time like this, when they are no doubt very busy. So what do I do with unsweetened coconut milk? And does anyone know if unsweetened is the default? Like, if a recipe calls for “coconut milk,” is it assuming unsweetened? or is it assuming sweetened, and has to specify if unsweetened?
The second question involves the thing I have heard of called Tater Tot Casserole/Hotdish. I have never had it or made it, but I feel instinctively that now is the time. I have a bag of tater tots, but I need a tried-and-true recipe.
https://www.melskitchencafe.com/grilled-lime-coconut-chicken-with-coconut-rice-top-pinterest-find/
This is our favorite thing to do with coconut milk. Everyone loves it so I always have to double it!
I don’t know if it’s like official tater to casserole, but we do one. Cook up ground beef with taco seasoning, mix in a casserole with black beans, rotel or diced tomatoes, corn, chunks of Velveeta, and stir in some sour cream. Press it into the casserole dish and then line up the tots on top. Cook like 20-30 mins at 350 uncovered.
Hmm, sorry I cannot help. I think my sister used to make a casserole that had browned ground beef in it and maybe a vegetable and cheese and was topped with tater tots. Looked easy but I never made it. My girls just made cupcakes and they wanted to make chocolate frosting since we only had vanilla. I celebrated when I found evaporated milk and condensed milk in my baking cabinet until I realized how incredibly long expired both of items were. They shrugged and tried regular milk. The frosting was more like runny pudding, but edible.
I like to make overnight oats with coconut milk. Since it’s quite a bit thicker than other milks, I usually add some extra water, so about half a cup oats and water, a couple big spoonfuls of coconut milk, some chia seeds (optional, but they make it thick and creamy), a dash of cinnamon and maple syrup.
Make coconut rice with coconut milk as the liquid. It goes great with any Asian or Latin American dish
If you have salmon on hand, I highly recommend this for dealing with the coconut milk: https://themodernproper.com/coconut-rice-salmon-bowl
It is very adaptable. I do not use fish sauce. I use whatever greens I have on hand, and whatever veggies. It is delicious.
Not sure about the casserole, but I use coconut milk all the time.
-pina colada-esque smoothies with frozen pineapple and coconut milk
-Add to sautéed chicken and veggies and jarred thai curry paste or a jar of one of those indian simmer sauces for a yummy sauce
-made this delicious lentil soup the other day (abut added all the coconut milk while cooking and used sour cream as the condiment as if it were chilli) https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/curried-lentil-tomato-and-coconut-soup
We make a very simple curried chicken with unsweetened coconut milk. Cut 4 chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks. Saute them in vegetable oil until cooked through and lightly browned (salt and pepper them). Add 1 onion, diced, to the pan and saute until soft. Add a little bit of flour like you’re going to make a roux, and a tablespoon (or two!) of dry curry (the yellow one in the spice aisle). Saute for about a minute. The mixture will be dry. Add 2 cans of unsweetened coconut milk and stir until thoroughly combined. Cook until the sauce is slightly thickened. Check your salt level and adjust if needed. Serve over rice.
I also make boiled carrots and potatoes when I make this. My favorite Thai restaurant serves curry with soft carrots and potatoes and it is SO GOOD. My kids do not like the veggies in it though, so there’s that. This has become a very quick go-to meal for our family. I imagine you could add other veggies to the mix, but my kids like it plain.
Make a curry! Sauté a bunch of veggies and a protein, add lots of curry powder and whatever other seasoning, and then add the entire can of coconut milk as the final step. Simmer, serve over basmati rice. (There are tons of good recipes, but this is the basic formula.)
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thekitchn.com/recipe-braised-coconut-spinach-chickpeas-with-lemon-recipes-from-the-kitchn-164551%3famp=1
This is my favorite recipe with coconut milk. Makes kind of a thick soup so I’d thin it out with a bit more broth. http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/carrot-coconut-soup
My entire family LOVES this pudding.
https://cafedelites.com/3-ingredient-double-chocolate-mousse-low-carb/
Forgot to add that the pudding only uses the solidified coconut cream that rises to the top after you chill it, leaving you with approximately a 1/2 can of coconut milk leftover, so we use that to make coconut rice.
I wanted to make tater tot casserole but alas no TT at my grocery (or toilet paper for that matter).
Enjoy!
https://www.yummly.com/amp/dish/666742/31-tasty-tater-tot-casserole-recipes-that-are-so-easy-youll-want-to-make
Growing up my mom made a tater tot casserole that was one of my favorite meals, and still is a comfort food to this day. It’s like not fancy at all, and may sound gross to others but I swear I’ve made it for other people and they like it!
Brown 1lb ground beef and mix with one can cream of mushroom soup. Spread on bottom of 9×13 pan. Then add a layer of drained canned green beans. Then sprinkle a layer of shredded cheese (I use cheddar or Mexican mix, whatever I have on hand). Then tightly line up tater tots as top layer (gotta pack in as many tater tots as possible). I usually cook according to tater tot instructions. We serve with ketchup drizzled on top.
Okay now I’m making this next week…
THIS is the real tator tot casserole recipe. use this one! Top with crunchy onions for real “funeral food” authenticity.
Oh my. Minnesota is pretty much the capital of the tater tot hotdish. I feel like I’ve got you covered here. The traditional tater tot hotdish of church basement potlucks involves a pound and a half of ground beef sautéed with an onion, throw in some some frozen veggies (like a pea, carrot and corn mix) and heat til hot. Put it in a 9×13 pan, out a can of cream of mushroom soup over it (maybe add a can of water? Details are fuzzy here), top with tater tots and bake in the oven. Here is a good version to get you started.
https://www.minnesota-visitor.com/minnesota-hot-dish-recipes.html
I make my own white sauce instead of the cream of mushroom soup, but I’m fancy like that.
Kevin’s favorite: Car Crash:
1 bag tots
Corn
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 lb ground hamburger or turkey
Shredded cheese
Bake tots to 3/4 suggested time
Brown meat then mix with soup and corn. Mix with whatever seasonings you wish. (Onion is what I add)
Layer tots then mix then tots
350 for 20ish minutes
Add cheese on top then bake another 5-10
Mexican casserole
Similar assembly and baking as car crash
Tots
Ground beef or turkey
Taco seasoning
Refried beans
Olives chopped or sliced
Canned tomatoes
Shredded cheese
Brown meat and mix with taco seasoning, olives and tomatoes
Layer: beans
tots
meat
Tots
Bake about 15 minutes ish
Add Cheese and bake until melted
It is indeed the End Times when I am giving you recipes lol
I’ve never tried tots/mix/tots I’m intrigued!
It took some experimenting and that was the most satisfying way I found. And Kevin eats like a six year old so more tots is the best. lol.
This is what I usually make with coconut milk:
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019772-spiced-chickpea-stew-with-coconut-and-turmeric
http://www.mellowmondays.com/new-blog/2016/1/28/thai-coconut-curry-soup?fbclid=IwAR3BDSAUZ37Fn_HchXzt29Bqup7mLdsJ0HJt8TuM-CldWqo6VgDv-XC6h5c
I don’t usually have most of the ingredients on hand so I sort of combine the 2 recipes together and add whatever. It’s a very forgiving combination. Coconut milk, chickpeas, onions, garlic, whatever vegetables (anything leafy kale/swiss chard.. bean sprouts, whatever you like!), curry paste, whatever meat on hand (chicken or shrimp or no meat… tofu could work too)
It’s sooo good and warm and comforting
You need to watch the video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaN3qsqXt38
Alison Roman is everything!
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For the hotdish!! May I point you to Molly Yeh
http://mynameisyeh.com/mynameisyeh/2017/10/classic-tater-tot-hotdish
https://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipe/passover-brisket-hotdish
she has quite a different recipes and variations, google molly yeh and hotdish, I just love her so much!
here’s a video for a hotdish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh7pLHwTDh4
Okay so this is probably exactly what you don’t want because I have never made these two recipes. BUT. I have made a million pioneer woman recipes that we like and this seems perfectly up her alley.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/tater-tot-breakfast-casserole-4607655.amp
https://thepioneerwoman.com/food-and-friends/kicked-up-tator-tot-hotdish/
For the coconut milk, yes unsweetened is the default. I don’t use it a lot but I do always use it when I make coconut rice. We like to do Jamaican “rice and peas” type rice where I will make coconut white rice then mix in a can of kidney or red beans. This recipe is good. You can also just use whatever recipe you normally use for rice (long grain white or jasmine) and just sub part of the water with the coconut milk. Like I typically follow the instructions on the bag of rice, subbing most of the water for coconut milk, but not all. Then usually add a little extra liquid than normal (like a splash or two) to account for the coconut milk being a little thicker. It’s yummy!
https://www.budgetbytes.com/coconut-rice-take-2/
Unsweetened coconut milk is the default. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a recipe call for sweetened. (I used to cook with it A LOT when we ate paleo.)
Favourite coconut milk recipe (very low effort): https://www.theironyou.com/2014/09/easy-creamy-crock-pot-coconut-curry.html?m=1
I like coconut milk in coffee (the unsweetened kind is good for keto).
Classic MN T-tot hotdish at our house is 1.5 lbs ground meat (I think you guys like turkey?), seasoned, browned w/ onion and drained, then add a can of cream of whatever soup and a splash of milk, then frozen or canned veggies (we use frozen peas and corn). Spread in casserole and top with slices of Velveeta (we cut the slices thick off the block since we like it cheesy), then top with frozen tator tots. Bake 45ish minutes uncovered. Uff da!
Uff dah 😀
Also in tater tot news, check out Claire Saffitz on Bon Appetit’s YouTube station. She makes tots from scratch! There might be a casserole on there too…
https://youtu.be/Xi28pEbMdTw
Confirmed! There’s a hot dish at the end! Thanks to Sohla.
I’m a serious Bon Appetit nerd these days.
I didn’t check to see if someone else posted this, but here is Senator Amy Klobuchar’s award-winning Tater Tot Hotdish! The official description of “hotdish” is: meat, starch + cream of anything soup.
Recipe from Sen. Amy Klobuchar
– Ground beef (1-1.5 lbs)
– Cream of mushroom (1 can)
– Cream of chicken (1 can)
– Onions (1 small)
– Garlic (couple cloves)
– Salt
– Pepper
– Pepper jack cheese, shredded (8-12 ounces)
– Tater tots (1 package)
Brown ground beef, drain off fat. Sautee onions and garlic.
In a large bowl, mix together beef, onions, garlic, both cans of soup, salt and pepper. Spread evenly into the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Cover with about ½ of the shredded cheese. Then, place tater tops in one layer over the entire pan.
Bake at 450 for 30 minutes, or until tater tots are crisp. Cover with remaining cheese and bake until cheese melts.
I make Iowa Girl eats Hot Dish. Its delicious and easy. Also the coconut milk can be subbed in rice pudding or I just made a life from scratche coconut cake.
As a Minnesotan and Amy fan, I endorse this recipe. To be true to Minnesota, it has to be called a hot dish!
I just made a curry dish last night and used 2 cans of coconut milk for it. I feel like this is a “fate” type of moment. So even though you have ideas for coconut milk, I’ll leave my recipe as well. All 6 of us ate it. Youngest said it was a little spicy. Not hot spicy but spice spicy. I’d make it again.
https://www.averiecooks.com/thai-chicken-coconut-curry/
Adapted to 2 cans of coconut milk, more chicken, carrots, curry I used yellow curry powder. I did 4 tsp of it.
Tot casserole sounds great. I’m going to add it to my list!
Make a Thai peanut sauce with the coconut milk!!! It’s so good on… everything! I especially love to use it for minced chicken lettuce wraps. If you’re bored of your usual and want to have the meat last longer, that’s an easy way to stretch it out with veggies or use chicken that’s leftover and not enough for a regular meal. I can go dig up my recipe if you’re looking for one!
Yessss. My huband’s favorite Thai dish is Swimming Rama- coconut peanut sauce over veg and meat over rice. Or it can be a dipping sauce for satay, or thin it out with a little rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar for a salad dressing. Yummers!
This coconut rice is SIMPLE, and all other future rice will pale in comparison. I dump it all in my rice cooker.
https://www.budgetbytes.com/coconut-rice-take-2/
The coconut milk is unsweetened unless one of the ingredients is sugar. As many have already said, make a curry! Sauté some minced garlic, minced ginger, chopped onions, bell peppers, bok choi or cabbage, green beans cut into 2” pieces, some raw cashews (if you only have roasted, use as a garnish) some kind of protein – you can sauté with the veggies first or add to the sauce to poach – add more 1-2 cans coconut milk (shake it up first to try to mix the liquids and solids) and a few tsp-tbsp of curry powder, some cayenne if you like it hot. If it’s too thin mix 1-2 tsp of cornstarch with 2-4 tsp water and drizzle in and stir over heat until thicker.
Dunno about the tater tots, you need a Midwesterner for that ;)
I live in Missouri and see tatertot dishes mostly as breakfast casserole food, usually with egg, previously fried sausage, lots of cheese, sometimes served with salsa. My family likes tots in the air fryer so we would never mix it up in a casserole, because the kids are in the food-shouldn’t-mix phase and any food is appropriate vehicle for excessive ketchup phase.
If you want to peruse tator tot casserole ideas, I recommend searching “funeral potatoes” on google. Breakfast casseroles are also quite nice.
My family likes this tater tot hotdish. I also add frozen corn, because apparently it isn’t starchy enough as written…
https://togetherasfamily.com/cheeseburger-tater-tot-casserole/
As a Minnesotan, I should be ashamed to admit this but I cannot stand traditional tater tot hotdish. However, I do have an awesome recipe that features tater tots that can be done in the crock pot.
1 32 oz. bag of tots
1 3-oz. bag of bacon bits
1 lb. diced chicken (uncooked, diced)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup milk
Salt & pepper, to taste
Spray crockpot with Pam. Layer 1/2 of tots on bottom. Sprinkle with 1/3 of bacon bits. Top with 1/3 of cheese. Add chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Add 1/3 of bacon and 1/3 of cheese. Add rest of tots. Top with the rest of the cheese and bacon bits. Add milk on top. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. It is magical.
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/holiday-hash-brown-bake/
You can make this with tater tots in place of hash browns. I always half the recipe (since it calls for enough to fill 2 dishes) and leave the cooking time the same. Also you can buy frozen hashbrowns with peppers and onions already in them and save a step.
Yes, unsweetened coconut milk is the default. This is one my favorite things to make with coconut milk. It’s easy and calls for mostly pantry ingredients and it’s really good – https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/filipino-chicken-adobo-by-americas-test-kitchen
Minnesotan here! This is a tater tot hot dish I made last week. Feeds 2 adults, 2 small children with leftovers.
Brown 1 pound ground beef. Spread across bottom of baking dish. Top with frozen mixed vegetables. I use almost all of a 10 oz bag of mixed corn, carrots, beans and peas. Spread one can of cream of broccoli soup on top. Top with frozen tater tots, in one neat, even layer. Top with shredded cheddar, if desired. Bake for 45 minutes at 425.
I’ll have to look it up but there is a spectacularly funny thread on Twitter about a delicious looking recipe called “tot waffles.” I think you need a waffle iron.
I love this:
http://www.popsugar.com/food/chrissy-teigen-coconut-rice-recipe-47413100/amp
Chrissy Teigen’s coconut rice is pretty good. It’s quite sweet and more like dessert. It is really delicious with fresh fruit. I assume you are correct that the default is unsweetened. That is how I’ve always used coconut milk.
https://feverishnews.com/how-to-make-the-best-coconut-rice/
I can’t help you with the tater tots. But a) yes unsweetened would be the default. And b) so many delicious things! Thai green curry. Sweet potato curry. Basically almost any curry 😂. Soups! Nigel Slater’s Persian noodle soup I think involves it? You can use it with oatmeal or on any sweet thing where you might use regular milk but want a coconutty alternative flavouring.
You can make coconut rice and we also use coconut milk in smoothies. Unsweetened is the default. I have not read any other comments so apologies if this is repetitive .
I’ve made this tater tot casserole before: https://rebeccashearthandhome-proverbs31heart.blogspot.com/2013/10/michelle-duggars-tater-tot-casserole.html
It looks like it has cheese on it when it comes out of the oven, but it doesn’t, that’s just the soup! And I only halve it. I like that it uses turkey because that is a little cheaper.
This is a recipe using unsweetened coconut milk I’ve made several times, and it’s delicious:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.myrecipes.com/recipe/oven-fried-coconut-chicken%3famp=true
I have two “go to” recipes for coconut milk. The first is this crock pot butter chicken. SO good! https://www.onelovelylife.com/slow-cooker-butter-chicken/ It’s not spicy, but very tasty.
The next is this easy butternut squash soup. Easy and excellent. https://www.skinnytaste.com/slow-cooker-blissful-butternut-squash/
And yes, the default is unsweetened.
I use a ton of coconut milk and always have a can or two on hand. It goes in Thai and Indian dishes, and is an ingredient in two of my favourite soups (butternut squash ginger soup, and a chicken and vegetable soup). I also bake with it. I’ve never seen canned coconut milk that was sweetened, only unsweetened but with different fat contents (I usually use the light version, unless I’m making Smitten Kitchen’s vegan Plush Coconut Cake or vegan chocolate buttercream).
I realize that you all have addressed Swistle’s recipe needs, but if anyone ends up with sweetened coconut cream, you need to make coquito with it. (It’s a Christmas thing, but coconut and rum, so why not now?)
Beth and North love this so much I make it for birthdays (with veggie chicken strips).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/chicken-pot-tot-hotdish/16159/
I love this soup that uses coconut milk: https://joythebaker.com/2010/11/kale-and-sweet-potato-soup/
It also reheats/freezes really well.
You already have PLENTY of suggestions here, but one more in case you are not in possession of any Cream Of soups: not a hotdish per se but another excellent use of tater tots is Tatchos Supreme.
*bake your tots as per normal directions.
*rown ground meat with taco seasoning (or just.. seasoning from your spice pantry; i also do not usually have taco seasoning on hand)
*Melt up some velveeta, or a jar of queso, or whatever cheesy concoction you have and/or floats your boat
*grab a jar of salsa, best if at room temperature or warmed
*Put tots in bowl; scoop some meat on top; pour cheese and salsa liberally on top.
Toppings that increase happiness include but are not limited to:
*guac / avocado
*sour cream
*bacon
*scallions or cilantro
77 recipes just popped up on my Instagram: https://www.epicurious.com/ingredients/our-favorite-coconut-milk-recipes-gallery?mbid=social_twitter&utm_brand=epi&utm_source=twitter&utm_social-type=owned&utm_medium=social