Experiences of an American woman who was married to a Serb.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Where to Buy Canned Coconut Milk in Belgrade?

"Need Thai food NOW!!!" is the heading of one of the lively discussions online at Belgrade Foreign Visitors' Club's bulletin board.

Having spent half my life, it seems, in search of Thai food while living in the most unlikely places to find it, I came to Belgrade well prepared. I have spice bags for both yellow and green Thai curry. I have big bottles of fish sauce, Tom Yum soup base, and soybean-chili sauce. Not to mention rice noodles. I even smuggled fresh lemongrass stalks, tiny hot thai peppers, and kefir lime tree leaves in past customs.

But, given how little room there was in my luggage, I was only able to pack two piddly cans of coconut milk. My sister-in-law assured me we would find some in one of the larger grocery stores or in the Chinese market in Novi Begrad. No luck though.

Any ideas? I don't want to have drive to Hungary as one guy reportedly did. (Although you never know, those cravings can hit real bad.)

5 comments:

Matt Lutton said...

I know this search well! You can usually find coconut milk at the N Belgrade Mercator, but usually I get cans from one of the 'zdrava hrana' stores around town. not all but most have it (along with organic peanut butter, I've recently found out).

Lafemmet said...

Hey girl, why don't you take one of your Serbian friends with you to a Kineski store and ask the Chinese person working there if they know where to get some... It might work. and then again, maybe where that person is from in China they don't use it. I think it is worth a shot.
IF you can't find any, you might try being creative with grated coconut flour. I have added that to a recipe in a pinch when cooking and lacking the milk. Best of luck!

Anonymous said...

Mercator... or goto any tesco in hungary :)

olja said...

you can make your own:

http://www.asianonlinerecipes.com/cooking_guide/coconut_milk.php

and most supermarkets sell kokos (desiccated coconut).

Craig said...

You can definitely find it at Mercator. I've been buying it there (as well as lots of rice noodles for Phad Thai) for years.