Tom Ka Moko-gai Soup

I'm in Molokai for another day, and highlights of the stay (aside from the beaches and sun) have been eating local. For Christmas we slaughtered a lamb (and by "we" I mean, I stayed as far away as possible until the lamb was cooked).

We also decided to repeat last years Tom Ka (molok)gai Soup. The special Molokai part is that we make the coconut milk from scratch. This is quite a process, starting with using a machete to cut the coconuts out of a tree, peeling them, draining their water, baking them, cracking them, shelling them, and finally grinding them in a food processor until they become milk. Here's a pic of the assembly line, from my dad opening them with a machete, Rebecca peeling, and Sarah hammering holes to drain the water:

A true recipe involves using a cheese cloth to drain the coconut shreds from the milk, however, we went without, which results in a slightly more crunchy soup, which turns out to be quite tasty. A labourous process, but completely worth it!