Buko Pandan Jelly

Buko Pandan is just a favorite dessert in most parties. The fragrant smell of pandan is soothing after a filling meal. Pandanus leaves are often soaked in water and boiled to extract both the green color, a natural food colorant, as well as the aroma which is a bit nutty and reminiscent of freshly-cooked jasmine rice. One can prepare Buko Pandan Jelly with or without pandan leaves. Of course you will need pandan essence that can be bought online (Check here). If there are no pandan leaves or pandan essence available (especially those based outside the Philippines), then one will just have to leave it out and pretend the flavor is there.

Ingredients
7 Pandan leaves (skip this if you have Pandan flavoring or Pandan essence )
5 Buko (young coconut) grated
Water from 5 Buko which is about 10 cups
2 bars of Green Gulaman
3 small cans of Nestle Cream
1 medium can of Condensed Milk
1 1/2 Cups Sugar (adjust to taste)

Directions

1. Boil buko water with the 7 pandan leaves. Twist each pandan leaf so juice can easily be extracted. Simmer for 20 minutes.

2. When you smell the aromatic pandan , remove from fire. Discard leaves.

3. Check if the remaining coconut water is equal to 8 cups since 1 bar of gulaman is good for 4 cups of liquid.

4. Add gulaman to the remaining coconut water and stir well to dissolve the gulaman. Add sugar while mixing.

Continue doing so for at least 5 minutes.

5. Strain the mixture and place in cooling tray so gulaman mixture can cool and harden. When cool, refrigerate.

6. Mix the cream, sugar and condensed milk with the grated buko. Set aside.

7. Get chilled gulaman from the refrigerator nd cut into 1 cm cubes.

8. Mix well with buko mixture. Chill in the refrigerator before serving.

That’s it.

For those using pandan essence/flavoring

For those living outside the Philippines, you can buy pandan essence also known as pandanus extract or screwpine paste, online at importfood.com.

Skip steps 1 and 2 and just proceed to step 3 making sure you have 8 cups of coconut water. Use a few drops of the pandan essence to add in coconut water/gulaman mixture.