Test Kitchen Tuesday…Coconut Salara
I have always been a lover of anything coconut, but this takes the cake!! Its a guyanese baked good named salara. The best description would be a deliciously, fragrant, sweetened coconut mixture rolled in a soft sweet bread. I’ve never made this before and for some reason have always been afraid. I think it’s because it involves making bread. For some reason whenever a recipe has bread anywhere in it I automatically think it’s time consuming and an aerobic workout. Today was different, my love for all things coconut drove me to take on this task and I must say I’m pleased. I’m currently scarfing down a piece as I write…trust me, it was worth it!! I found this recipe on www.guyanaoutpost.com they have great guyanese recipes.
Coconut Salara
1 tbsp dry yeast
¼ cup warm water
¼ cup sugar
1 cup milk
¼ cup shortening
1 tsp salt
3 cups flour
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp butter
1 egg white
Filling
1 cup shredded coconut
½ cup sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp vanilla essence
Red food coloring
Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of sugar. Mix and let stand.Warm the milk, set aside. Combine the shortening, salt and sugar and flour. Add milk, egg and yeast to dry ingredients. Knead to make a moderately stiff dough. Shape into a ball. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover; let rise to double in size for about 1 hour.
Combine all the filling ingredients and set aside. Punch down the dough and divide in half. Roll each half into an 12 inch x 8 inch rectangle, and brush with melted butter. Sprinkle half of the filling mixture on each rectangle of dough. Roll up lengthwise and seal the edges. Cover and let rise until double in bulk. Mix 1 egg white with water and brush the dough. Bake at 325 for 25 mins until golden brown. Allow to cool before cutting.
That sounds great! Bookmarking the recipe 🙂
only a true guyanese would type up this recipe.
and another would look it up. =)
man i LOOOOVE salara.
I am trying this out this w/e hopefully it turns out like your pictures…
Hi, I tried this receipe last night. I didn’t think with my luck that it will come out ok, but it did. It is so easy to make and tasted so good!! If you follow the receipe exactly as it is, you’ll get perfect salara. Thanks for this receipe.
You’re welcome Nalini..keep visiting!
i’m trini and i love salara coconut bread it is my favorite coconut bread of all times no other can top it… thanks for the recipe
I know salara is veggi. Never hear eggs in the dough. But will try it. Thanks for the recipe.
urmela, i usually omit eggs from all my recipes and you can never tell. I can’t wait to try this!
Do you replace the eggs with anything or just leave out completely?
I will like to know if you will cook the coconut with sugar for a few mins before putting it on the dough.
Thanks
Indera, no you do not have to cook the coconut.
I try this recipe three but the dough did not rise …I follow the recipe step by step
Dolly if the dough didn’t rise it could be because your yeast is not longer active. I always buy a new package of yeast when I make food requiring yeast and I’ve even had an incident where the fresh yeast didn’t rise. Also was it left to raise in a warm place? Yeast thrives on warmth and needs it to do it’s job.
Thank you!! JehanP
Hi there, I’m off on sick leave and have been cooking up a storm with all of your recipes. Today I made chowmein, Chinese chicken and salary. I love love Salara. And I plan on making it agin next week for a fundraising event to help out my kids in Guyana . The salary was good but I like it when the coconut wet and juicy. Any tips? And I wasn’t sure how many drops of coconut to use. But it came out pretty well I think.
Yadah, I wish I could help you with this but unfortunately I can’t. I do not make salara too often and as you can see this recipe was not my own. So sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
It’s all good. Everybody lugs it. So good I mek it three times since then
Yadah, to get it a little more juicy in the filling add 1-2 tablespoons of water to the mixture but the sugar should get it pretty juicy enough
I tried this recipe, it was absolutely delicious. Can’t stop baking and cooking from your site. Also I did add a tbsp of water. I remember my dad making this umteen years ago. Do you have a recipe for coconut bread.
Thank you for the recipe ….came out perfect
Hello Jehan,
I just said to my friend we should make salara hoping she would have made it or seen it made at least once. Not so, of course. So it’s off to the internet.
Your pictures look closest to how I remember salara looking.
I will make some alterations to the recipe to match what I grew up using.
Thanks so much for posting!
Your bread recipe has made our Xmas family gathering memorable.Every family member is baking up a storm now,I have made six loaves so far..xmas…new year.Thank you so much for sharing.
I followed your recipe closely, used 1-1/2 cups of coconut instead of 1 cup and found the end product was delicious but needed more coconut filling. I will make again using 3 cups of coconut – thanks for recipe.
You’re welcome Lisa. My recipes can be used as a base, you can always adjust according to your liking!
I tried this and couldn’t be any more pleased with the outcome! We call this ‘Slice’ in St. Vincent and it was the best slice I ever tasted! Great blog, great job! I intend to try some of your other great recipes.
I made this today and I have to say it was wonderful! I agree with the coconut lovers that say that you could put more coconut. I’m currently wearing braces and it was so soft I was able to eat it and it was so good! Will be making again. Thank you for sharing!
Followed the recipe exactly and it turned out so soft and beautiful – agree with some of the other comments – you could double the amount of coconut if you like I think.
Making again for my Uncle’s birthday as part of sweet treat bag.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!