Regarding dessert, one of the staple sweets that is almost available in every Filipino household is the Buko/ Coconut Salad. As a young kid, I always looked forward to this dessert during the Yuletide season as some of the main ingredients used were always included in the Christmas baskets that were given by my siblings' workplace.
When April asked what will be our food on the upcoming Noche Buena, I told her that we would prepare Buko Salad this time. I have some pasta and condiments available but told her that I would just cook it for breakfast instead as the noodles tend to be soggy if not consumed immediately.
Friday, ten in the morning I left our home to buy some coconuts. Initially, we plan to ask Aaron April's youngest brother, and get some coconuts from the trees. However, since there are no tools to be used that did not come to fruition.
Coconut vendors are not selling their goods early in the morning. Since I had been going back and forth to market for the past years they usually sell around eight or nine covering the time of scorching sun rays.
I bought five coconuts from the vendor and asked him to pick the ones that were for salad. He also grated it and separated the coconut meat and coconut water. Each cost 25 PHP or around half a dollar. Depending on your location, the price of coconuts either increases or decreases. Back in Biñan a single coconut cost around 35PHP or almost a quarter. The reason for that is that San Pablo is known to be a supplier of coconuts here in the south.
I already bought the other ingredients a week ago hence after buying the coconut I went home.
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Aside from the coconut meat, you will also need a fruit cocktail. For brands, I do not have a preferred brand, some have a ton of pineapples included while others have peaches and papaya.For Today's Mixed Fruits there's a good number of those but somehow not overpowering each fruit. I also drained the syrup as it is not included in the dessert.
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We also added sugar palm fruit / kaong to the dish. There's a white and green variant too but we stick to red. I planned to add some Nata de Coco too but can't find a small bottle thus we skipped it. We also drained the syrup as it is not needed anymore.
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For the base, we bought 2 packs of all-purpose cream. Condensed milk for sweeteners and half a pack of processed cheese.
In a bowl, using a hand mixer mix first the wet ingredients such as the all-purpose cream and the condensed milk. This is to make sure that all parts are well mixed and that no portion of the mixture is too sweet. Your mixture will increase, hence you need to use a bigger vessel to hold the mixture.
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In no particular order, add the other coconut meat, the fruit cocktail, processed cheese, and the palm fruits. Just make sure that they are mixed thoroughly and everything is well covered. Once mixed you are all done!
Depending on your preference, you can either serve it chilled or have it frozen first in the refrigerator. In my case, I like it stone cold frozen like an ice-candy.
We were able to fill up two tubs of microwavable containers with the said ingredients. I placed them both in the freezer as one was shared with my in-laws and the other will be consumed by our family ( mostly me).
This is just the remaining from last night's dinner. Maybe tomorrow afternoon this will be all gone as I eat them from time to time during my break in my computer.