Buko Pandan Dessert

Buko Pandan Dessert is a rich, creamy and refreshing dessert made with pandan jelly, coconut strips and chewy tapioca pearls!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Asian

Keyword buko pandan

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Chill Time for the Pandan Jelly 3

Total Time 3 35

Servings

Calories 527kcal

Author sanna

Ingredients

For the Pandan Jelly

3 cups water plus an extra 300 ml for dissolving
1 small bunch pandan leaves thawed, if frozen washed thoroughly) see note 1
2-3 drops pandan flavoring (green colored, preferred) see note 2
4 tbsp sugar
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin (Knox or Dr. Oetker) each envelope has 7 grams of powder for a total of 21 grams of unflavored gelatin powder. See note 3

For the Pandan Creamy Liquid

½-¾ cup condensed milk
¾- 1½ cup heavy cream
1 cup shredded coconut strips See note 4
1 cup cooked tapioca pearls or cook them yourself See note 5
1-2 drops pandan flavoring

Instructions

Make the Pandan Jelly

Boil 3 cups of water in a large pot. Add the thawed and washed pandan leaves. Let this simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove the Pandan leaves. Strain the liquid if necessary then pout liquid back to the pot. Add 2-3 drops of pandan extract (the amount maybe different for a different brand so read your label). Add sugar and simmer over low heat.
Meanwhile sprinkle the powder gelatin over 150 ml of cold water. Stir the powder in. Then, pour 150 ml of boiling water on top of the dissolved gelatin and stir to completely dissolve the powder.
Allow to simmer for about a minute. Pour into 2 wide and shallow containers. Allow to cool. Then, refrigerate for at least 3 hours or until set. Once set, use a knife to slice through the jelly horizontally and vertically in the container to make small jelly cubes.

Put Everything Together

Pick a large serving bowl from which you will serve the buko pandan dessert. Gently scrape and pour the cubed pandan jelly into the bowl. Add the cream and condensed milk, gently stir.
Add the coconut strips (see note 4).
Stir everything and adjust to your own taste. You can add more condensed milk to sweeten, more pandan extract for more flavor or more cream to add more liquid.
Chill in the fridge for atleast 1 hour, then serve. Scoop some cooked tapioca pearls into each serving.

Notes

Pandan Leaves. This is mostly found frozen in the Asian grocery. If you cannot find it, you can simply omit it and use straight pandan flavoring/ extract.
Pandan Extract. There are lots of brands for pandan extract. McCormick has one that is clear (colorless). For a more aesthetic buko pandan dessert, I prefer the ones that are green in color. Here is the brand I use (affiliate link).
Unflavored Gelatin. If you are using brand other than the ones I mentioned, please follow the package directions and amount suitable for using them in a recipe. The instructions I used here is for Knox/ Dr. Oetker brand.
Coconut Strips. I used the frozen variety. The package instructions say to heat the coconut to 74 degrees Celsius so I boil it in water briefly. This results in a more tender chew which I like. Please follow the package directions for the coconut brand you choose. If you can get it fresh where you are, lucky you!
Cooked Tapioca Pearls. There are Filipino brands in jars that are cooked already. All you have to do is drain and add it to the mix. However, I cannot find those so I bought one off of Amazon and it is so great! Quick cooking and yields such a tender, chewy tapioca pearls! I am beyond happy :) Here is the brand (affiliate link). Note: if you are using this, do not add it to the pandan dessert right away. It will harden as they sit in the liquid. Instead, store the cooked tapioca pearls in sugar syrup or maple/ honey in a jar. Scoop into the individual pandan desserts upon serving.

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