Coconut beef patties (Rempah) and rice in coconut milk (Nasi Uduk/Gurih)

This meal was a bit heinous to prepare, but I'm the silly person who decided to start with a few fresh coconuts.  It wouldn't be nearly as bad to prepare with regular grated coconut,
but I think I couldn't find any at the store in the bulk bin where I usually buy it from, and for some reason when I was shopping, I thought it would be fun to start from a fresh coconut.  Unfortunately I didn't ever feel like breaking into the coconut, and put this meal off for 2 weeks before actually attempting it.  Definitely wouldn't do it again, at least not in the summer with all the boys home, and DH out of town.  I also didn't buy coconut milk thinking it was the water inside the coconut, but no, it is boiled water poured on grated coconut, left to sit, and then drained.  (I needed it for the rice.)  Anyway, dinner ended up taking a couple of hours to prepare.  But I did learn a lot.
First when cracking a coconut - I watched a couple of you tube videos about this.  This was my favorite, and the one I tried.  I loved the tip on tasting the milk.  I did that, and had a bad coconut.  I tried opening it anyway, but sure enough, it was awful and went in the trash.  I watched another video that had you crack the coconut first, but then put it in the oven to make it easier to get the shell off, but I liked the idea of the coconut cracking a bit in the oven first.  This was a horribly messy and time consuming process though.  I had that fuzzy outside of the coconut all over the counters, and sticky water from the inside all over the counters as well.  It was just messy - certainly not worth my time with 4 small children.  Maybe worth someone else's though.  Another video didn't cook the coconut and made it look way easy.  Maybe with some practice it would become easy who knows.  I didn't attempt this method because I don't have a heavy butcher knife and my hammer isn't pretty.  I wanted to use it as little as possible, and definitely didn't want any food (coconut or water) touching it.  Soo, enough of the coconuts, on the the recipes - really they weren't too bad.
The beef patties really would have been simple if I liked my food processor, but I don't.  It is far to small for me, and doesn't mix well in my short experience with it.  With a good food processor, these would be so simple.  My other problem with this recipe is that I didn't feel like frying them, so I just pan fried without oil and they got over cooked because I was using a new meat thermometer that is horrible inaccurate.  The second batch I quit cooking when it said something like 140 (beef should be to 160) and it was plenty done - if not overdone.  I left the first batch on way longer and they were very overdone.  The flavor was good if they were made right, or I wouldn't bother posting.
The rice was simple once the coconut milk was made, and was a nice and simple flavor.  Nothing spectacular, but not bad either.  Just a slightly coconutty flavor.
The Beef patties are from Malaysia and Singapore.  They were supposed to be served with another rice but it was way more involved, so I chose a simpler rice that also had coconut.  It was from Indonesia.

Coconut-beef patty ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef (I actually had 1.25 pounds)
• 4 cups coconut, finely grated (not sweetened)
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• salt and pepper to taste (I just added a couple shakes of each)

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in food processor.  Process until blended, smooth and fluffy, (about 3 minutes) scraping down sides as necessary.
2. For each patty, scoup up about 1/4 cup of mixture with hands and pat into a round disk about 2 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick.  
3. Pan fry (or if you like the original instructions, heat 2-3 cups oil in a skillet and fry) until browned and cooked through.

Rice in coconut milk (Nasi Uduk/Gurih) Ingredients

• 1 lb rice, such as basmati or jasmine (I actually just used 2 3/4 cups because I made it in my rice cooker and that is the lowest amount, plus I was using homemade coconut milk and didn't have enough coconut to make 3 1/2 cups coconut milk.)
• 3 1/2 cups  coconut milk (I just filled my rice cooker up to the bottom line.)
• 4 inch piece of lemongrass washed and trimmed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

directions 

1. Place all ingredients in rice cooker and turn on.  (Or, place all ingredients in a large saucepan, bring to a boil, stir, reduce heat, cover and cook until all moisture is absorbed, 18-20 minutes)  Remove and discard lemon grass.  

Rice milk (In case you feel like making it home made) Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh coconut
• 2 cups boiling water

Directions

1. In a blender or food processor, mix coconut and water.  Let cool for 30 minutes.  
2. Line a strainer with double thickness dampened cheesecloth or napkin and set over a bowl. (I actually just used a strainer I have with tiny holes, no cloth - I was in a time crunch by the time I actually got to this part.)  Pour coconut mix into the cloth a little at a time, making sure all liquid drains through cloth.  Once liquid has drained, pick up the edges of the cloth and twist it tightly to release as much milk as possible (obviously I couldn't do this, but I did push as much out of the strainer as I could with the back of a spoon.)  Discard coconut in cloth.  For thinner milk, add more water.  (This amount almost filled my rice cooker.  I added just a little bit more water to get it where it belonged.  No idea on amounts though - I drained it right over the rice cooker.)