Buko pandan

Green pandan jelly cubes and coconut strips in sweetened cream, with the pandan actually infused.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (condensed milk), dairy (double cream).

Ingredients

• 6 pandan leaves
• 700 ml water
• 25 g gulaman bars, torn up
• 80 g caster sugar
• 500 g young coconut strips
• 300 ml double cream
• 200 ml condensed milk
• 100 g tapioca pearls, cooked
• 0.25 teaspoon salt

Method

1. INFUSE THE REAL LEAVES. Knot the pandan, simmer it in the 700 ml of water for 15 minutes, then take the leaves out and squeeze them against the sieve. Bottled essence gives you the colour and a sweetshop smell; the leaves give you the grassy note the dish is named for.
2. Measure the liquid back up to 700 ml with water -- some has boiled off, and gulaman needs the right ratio or it sets rubbery.
3. Gulaman and the sugar into the warm pandan water, and simmer, stirring, 8 minutes, until no shreds are left undissolved. Undissolved gulaman means a jelly that sets in patches.
4. Pour into a shallow tray to 2 cm deep and leave it at room temperature to set, about 1 hour. Gulaman sets without chilling and sets firmer than gelatine.
5. Cut into 1 cm cubes. Smaller and they dissolve into the cream; bigger and every spoonful is jelly.
6. Whip the cream to soft peaks only -- it has to stay pourable. Fold the condensed milk and salt through it.
7. Fold in the coconut strips, tapioca and jelly cubes, in that order, with a spatula. Stirred, the cubes break their edges and the cream goes green.
8. Chill 4 hours at least. It needs the time to firm up and to let the coconut take up the cream.
9. Stir once before serving. Liquid separates out at the bottom on standing and folding it back through takes seconds.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes