Buko Pandan a traditional Filipino Dessert made with agar-agar, coconut strings, pearls, evaporated milk, and condensed milk.  This is a refreshing dessert to eat on a warm day. 

Buko Pandan is a traditional Filipino Dessert which is a staple dessert for most Filipino get togethers- and that’s how I discovered this delicious dessert!

If you ever visit the Philippines, purchase the Buko Pandan from Chow King, it is so good.  They top the Buko Pandan with coconut ice cream and it’s so delicious.  

I remember when I visited the Philippines in 2009, the week I was to leave, I visited the mall everyday to eat Buko Pandan.  *sigh* Which brings me to announce, I will be visiting the Philippines next summer 2015!  YEY!! I will be going with my church and we will be doing health seminars and VBS.  I cannot wait to go back!!

 

Tips on How to Make the Best Buko Pandan

• In this recipe, if you cannot find agar-agar, you can use green gelatin.
• If you just have the clear version of gelatin on hand, you can just put in a few drops of green food color after you dissolve it in hot water.
• If you are in the Philippines, I am sure you are so lucky to get the best of fresh buko flesh. Go ahead and use them! I am sure they taste so much better than the frozen ones!
• If you are using fresh buko flesh, don’t forget to drain the buko juice from the flesh completely, as the buko juice has the tendency to spoil desserts faster when included in buko desserts like Buko Pandan.
• The cooking time of tapioca pearls vary. When you use the bigger sizes, it usually takes 25-30 minutes to cook it. It is always best to taste it before draining it to make sure it is completely cooked.
• One tip to know if tapioca pearls are cooked already: it has to be translucent, soft and just has a bit of white part in the middle of each pearl.
• For a creamier Buko Pandan, you can add in your favorite all-purpose cream. I like using Nestle Cream

How to Make Buko Pandan:

Gather all ingredients- sliced young coconut, agar-agar, tapioca pearls, pandan flavor/extract, evaporated milk, condensed milk, and gelatin. You will also need water to cook the tapioca pearls in.

Feel free to use substitutes if what I used in my recipe is not found in your local grocery stores:

Start by dissolving the gelatin and/or the agar-agar. Just follow the directions indicated in the packaging. In this recipe, I did not add sugar as I will add condensed milk later:

Pour the dissolved gelatin and or agar-agar in a flat container and let it cool until it solidifies:

Slice the coconut flesh like what I did, or you can even slice them into smaller and thinner strips so you can have more coconut flesh distributed evenly when you mix it with the other ingredients:

Cooking the tapioca pearls is so easy to do. Just boil water into a deep pan and when it starts boiling rapidly, pour the tapioca pearls and continuously stir it to prevent the pearls from sticking together:

After about 10-15 minutes, the tapioca pearls are cooked. You only need the cooked tapioca pearls so completely drain all the water from the pan. Let the tapioca pearls cool and if you are in a hurry, you can place it in the refrigerator:

Now, this is the exciting part!

In a large mixing bowl, add in the cooled tapioca pearls, condensed milk, and evaporated milk:

Remember that we let the dissolved gelatin cool earlier? Here it is! Slice them into smaller squares and the easiest way to transfer them into the mixing bowl is to spoon it out, just like what I did. It doesn’t have to come out in perfect squares as no one would notice them while they eat this delicious treat 🙂

Add in the buko or coconut strips into the mixing bowl and mix thoroughly:

We are almost done, Simply Bakers! Add the pandan flavoring and mix it well:

The pandan flavor makes this dessert so fragrant you’re going to want to eat it now- but remember to be patient because it tastes better chilled.

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For a step-by-step tutorial of the Buko Pandan recipe, you can watch my video tutorial below.

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More Filipino Desserts that are Easy to Make:

Cassava Cake

Shakoy

Halo Halo

Turon

Happy Baking!

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