Not every recipe wants a tin. Creamed coconut and coconut milk powder give you the same flavour from the cupboard, keep far longer, and let you dial the richness up or down.

Creamed coconut comes as a solid block — grate or chop off what you need and dissolve it in hot water. A small piece thickens a curry; more gives you the richness of full coconut milk. Dunn's River and KTC both in 200g.

Coconut milk powder mixes straight into hot liquid. Grace in a 50g sachet for single recipes, Maggi in 150g and 300g for regular use. Useful when you want coconut flavour without extra liquid — porridge, rundown, or thickening a sauce at the end.

Rough guide: around 50g of creamed coconut or three heaped tablespoons of powder to 400ml hot water gives you roughly a tin's worth of coconut milk.

Prefer it tinned? Coconut milk is in Tinned Milk & Cheese.