Pancit Buko (More Experiment In The Kitchen)

My son and I were watching  a culinary show on TV while lingering at the table after breakfast. Then he said, “I miss lumpiang Shanghai, you no longer prepare that”. I told him we have the ingredients but we don’t have lumpia wrappers. “Let’s experiment“, I said. Sometimes, our kitchen ventures are just that….little experiments that turn out good and yummy in the end.  I remember one time watching a feature on the Coconut House in Quezon City where they use coconut and coconut products  in their restaurant. “Why not Pancit Buko?” So off he went to buy two buko (young coconut), have them shredded and the juice saved for drinks.  This is how it turned out.

Instead of using the traditional noodles like bihon, canton, sotanghon  or fresh miki, buko did the trick. I tell you, it was a yummy dish and the nutty flavor added to the  tasty dish.

It’s cooked like your traditional pancit and it taste great with the veggies. You would need:

• shredded buko meat  (about four cups)
• 1/4 kilo pork kasim  (I used 3 pcs. of pork chops)
• 1/4 kilo Baguio beans
• 1 large carrot
• half of a medium-sized cabbage
• Kinchay (Chinese parsley)
• green onions for topping
•  a head of onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• salt and pepper to taste or you can add in 2 tbsp. soy sauce

You can try this maybe even without the pork,  put some quail eggs instead.

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Mom Says It Tastes Better Than Fruit Salad

Every year, when Mom is with us during the New Year celebration, I make it a point to prepare fruit salad, the usual mixture of fruit cocktail, kaong (palm nuts) nata de coco, pineapple tidbits, cream and condensed milk. Mix them together then chill, that’s all there is to it. Mom is a salad buff, for want of a better word, be it a simple mix of veggies with a nice dressing or a cold plate of macaroni salad, she’s happy with them all. Yesterday, she watched me prepare Buko Pandan and she was fascinated how the gelatin is made using the juice of Pandan leaves and powdered pack of gelatin  in Pandan flavor.   I told her it is so easy to prepare it just like her favorite fruit salad.

I used five young coconut (buko) bought at the nearby fruit vendor. Every year, during Christmas and New Year, you can see so many ambulant vendors in every corner anticipating a good sale since they can mark up the price to their hearts’ desires. The other year, it cost P20, then yesterday, it has gone up to P25, on ordinary days though, they sell it at P18 a piece.

I don’t want to buy the grated buko which they sell by the kilo since I am after the buko juice which is very good for cleansing. It is highly recommended when you have urinary tract infection.  You can guess, I drank the full pitcher of the juice. It’s healthier than water, don’t you think?

Hubby did the grating  of course.  He got around ten pieces of Pandan leaves from the garden and I let it boil to extract the juice.

It’s the same thing you will use to prepare the gelatin mixture which will later absorb the flavor of the Pandan juice. I added sugar since I bought the unsweetened pack of gelatin powder.

In itself, you can have it for dessert.  See how green it looks because of the Pandan juice and it smells so good  because of the flavor of the Pandan.

Slice the molded gelatin into bite-size flavor, let drain of excess water if any and  set aside. Combine a medium can of condensed milk and one can of all-purpose cream into the grated buko.  You can add more milk according to your taste. I usually reduce the sweetness since it is not always good to eat food with too much sugar.

Presto! This is how it looks chilled, a yummy and sweet Buko Pandan. And mom says it is better than fruit salad. Wanna bet?

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