Buko Pandan Salad

Buck Pandan Salad is a type of fruit salad not typically made with canned fruit cocktail but of "buko" meaning young coconut in Tagalog, and "pandan" an aromatic leaf used in Filipino cooking. It mimics the holiday fruit salad with the use of cream and condensed milk.

Having had some recently at a friend's house, I was again intrigued on how to make this dessert salad and finally gave it a go. After researching on the internet on ways to make it, I've put my own spin on it. In a good way. I tried it with tapioca pearls and "kaong" and while it is really a personal preference, it does not change the end result much.

The main requirement for this recipe is an Asian grocery store for most of the ingredients (with the exception of Knox) can be found in the Asian grocery store.

There are several ways to make it, but I've found the following works best for me:

Needed:

1 box of Knox gelatin (you will use all 4 small envelopes in the box)

3 c water, room temperature

1 c boiling water

1 1/2 t pandan flavoring (can be found in your local Asian grocery store or Amazon!)

8 drops green food coloring

1 large can Nestle table cream (approximately 13 oz)

1 can condensed milk (approximately 13 oz also)

1 bag shredded buko or young coconut (frozen from the Asian market)

1 c cooked small tapioca pearls, optional

1 large bottle kaong, optional (see link above; also found in your Asian market)

1. Make the gelatin. Place the contents of the 4 small envelopes into a bowl and mix with the 3 cups of room temp water. Mix until you start to form a soft gelatin. Then, pour in the 1 cup of boiling water and mix thoroughly.

2. Add the pandan flavoring and stir. Add the food coloring and add more, if needed, to suit your liking of green-ness.

3. Refrigerate overnight for best results. I found that it is not enough to just wait until the gelatin hardens. It's best if it's hardened overnight because the mixing of the other ingredients will make a soft gelatin break.

4. While waiting for the gelatin to harden, drain the buko from the packaging. Also, if using kaong, drain from the bottle. Mix the kaong occasionally to ensure most of the syrup is drained. If using tapioca, cook according to package instructions and drain.

4. Once the gelatin has hardened, cut into small squares. I like my squares about 1/4 inch square. Transfer the cut up green gelatin squares into a large bowl.

5. Add the table cream and condensed milk to the gelatin squares. Also add the drained buko and if using, the tapioca pearls and kaong. Mix thoroughly.

6. Let chill in the refrigerator and then enjoy!