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reduce
medium heat, wide pot, uncovered, barely stirred
the thick cream skimmed off the top of the unshaken coconut cans, heated until it thickens, dulls, and then visibly breaks — the surface goes from smooth white to grainy with a clear oily sheen pooling at the edges. This is the fat separating out of the emulsion, and it is the frying medium for the paste. If you shake the cans first there is no cream to skim and no oil to crack out, and the dish becomes a thin coconut soup with curry powder in it