Coconut is one of the most dominant crops in the Philippines, aside from corn and rice. It is also one of the great farm crops exported by the Philippines that reaches 1 billion dollars every year.
It is a crop that could give more benefits both in the food and health sector. It could act as an oil that is perfect for human health and biofuel and the fuel industry.
But most importantly, this coconut is very beneficial and consumable in the food industry as an ingredient used to make many dishes. It could be sweets or savory dishes and many more.
One of the famous dishes that you could make in coconut is the dish called Bukayo. It is a Filipino sweet delicacy served in many generations.
If you are fascinated with the dish, and you want to know more about this coconut dish, let us start stripping all the insights about this amazing featured dish in this article.
What is the Best Bukayo Candy
In the Philippines, many children love to eat sweet delicacy, whether candies or dishes. One of the popular sweet delicacies they love to eat is this dessert.
Bukayo is a dessert made with buko or coconut. These are famous after-dinner sugar-coated candies or freshly served comfort food that Pinoy elders and children love to eat.
There are different textures of this dessert. The smooth comes from gelatinous coconut with caramelized syrup. The crumbly is from mature coconut stir-frying it with sugar and a small amount of sugar. The last one is the hard textured referred to as a hard candies type food similar to brittle.
The dish is traditionally and particularly made from shredded bits or strips of coconut. It could either be a young, gelatinous, or mature type of coconut, caramelized brown sugar, and coconut juice added with vanilla extract.
It is a dish served as a snack or dessert during an after-meal. It is also a dish used as a garnish and fillings in different dishes.
Ways to Cook Bukayo Candy
A sweet delicacy of coconut is a dish that is easy to prepare and cook. Therefore, we would give you some ways to cook that you could use to recreate the dessert dish featured here.
Stovetop
This method of cooking is one of the traditional ways of cooking dessert dishes. You have to use a wide pan, casserole, or a pot and place it above the burner. You have to preheat it and put all the ingredients in the pan. You have to simmer it until it thickens and turns into the desired cooked dish.
Instant pot
Cooking in an instant pot is a bit similar to the method and process of making this dish. The only difference is you would use a multi-cooker instead of a casserole and put it above the stove to create the dish.
You have to put the rest of the ingredients inside the multi-cooker then wait for it until it is ready to serve. It is pretty much faster and easier to cook than the other way of cooking.
Other Delicious Variants and Recipes
Our dessert is a fascinating dish to recreate but having so many variants makes it more appealing and perfect for trying it. At this point, we would provide you some of the various versions you could try on and experiment with within your kitchen.
With Pandan Recipe
It is a version where the dish made from grated coconut meat, buko juice, and brown sugar is a dish flavored with pandan leaves when cooking it.
Making it with pandan is easy, like cooking the original recipe. You have to boil the sugar, buko juice, and pandan leaves altogether until the sugar dissolves it completely while stirring it, and the mixture becomes thick. Then, you could add vanilla extract and remove the pandan leaves. Afterward, the rest method is similar to the original formula and cooking the featured dessert dish.
Pandan leaves a particular ingredient used in various ways since it contains a pleasing and fragrant aroma that makes the dish more delicious and attractive.
Ilonggo Style
In this version, it is an Ilonggo style of making the dish. Instead of serving it scattered on the plate, you could make a circular shape and dry it until it becomes hard and looks like candies.
In this style, the formula for cooking the dish is the same as the traditional way but different in terms of appearance and serving. Ilonggos refers to Bandi's sweet dish, a sweet peanut dish made from peanuts, caramelized sugar, and topped with sesame seeds. It is a dish considered as well as peanut brittle.
With Condensed Milk Recipe
This variation of the dish is similar to the original way of cooking the dish. Unlike the Ilonggo style, it is a thick sauce made with brown sugar, fresh coconut juice, water, vanilla extract, and condensed milk.
Condensed milk adds more flavor and sweetness to the dish. It gives a delicate taste to the dish. It is a dairy product from cow's milk, which has a smooth and thick texture. It also has a slightly sticky taste than the fresh and evaporated milk. You also have two choices in this product, either unsweetened or sweetened condensed milk.
In Cassava Suman
Another wonderful variation of the featured dish is in Cassava Suman. Many Pinoys are fond of a popular sweet dessert and love to eat, especially snacks and breakfast with coffee.
This dessert in Cassava Suman is a dish made from cassava Suman, and this dessert is a filling of the dish. It is a unique dish in the Philippines' food basket.
Cassava Suman is one of the Filipino traditional rice cake cuisine made from grated cassava, coconut milk, sugar, and other ingredients wrapped in banana leaves. It is a dish usually served on different occasions.
In Palitaw Pangasinense Style
It is another amazing variation of the featured dish in this article. A simple Palitaw rice dish turns into another superb cuisine. It is a dish made from Palitaw rice cake, and it has a filling to it.
Palitaw is a simple snack or dessert made with grind glutinous rice. It is a sweet, flat, and small rice cake that you could serve as plain or with fillings. It is a traditional dish many Pinoys love to eat and serve.
Biko Bukayo
Biko is another rice dish made with Biko and Bukayo mixed. You could either mix it with the rice cake dish while cooking it or add it to a substitute to latik.
Biko is the most popular Filipino rice cake dish made with brown sugar, coconut milk, and sticky rice. This dish is commonly and particularly served over a Bilao with banana leaves. It is a dish usually eaten during afternoon snack or dessert.
Bitsu-Bitsu with Bukayo
Another wonderful version of the famous dish is the Bitsu-Bitsu. It is a doughnut dish with Bukayo filling instead of chocolate, milk, fruits, jams, or cheese. You could elevate the dish with this coconut shredded dish, which has a great texture and delicate flavor.
Bitsu, Bicho, or Cascaron is a Pinoy version of doughnut made from grated coconut, ground glutinous rice, and sugar. It could be in a ball-shaped, elongated, doughnut, or pancake-shaped dish.
Pan de coco
It is a version last on the list but has never been because of its fascinating taste and smell. You could avail it in different bakeries all over the world. Many people love this food and commonly eat it as a snack or served during breakfast.
Pan de coco is a popular bread, a sweet roll that uses our dessert as a filling.
Trivia about this Recipe
Were you aware that it is a dish that originated in the Philippines and known as "Conserva de coco" in Spanish? Yes, that is true!
During the Spanish colonization in the Philippines, it is a very well-known dish presented by the Pinoys. That is why Spanish people called it “Conserva de coco'' which means in English is coconut preserve.
It is a dish usually spelled as Bukhayo, Bucayo, Bucaio, Bokayo, or Bukayu. However, in Tausug, they called it Hinti.
The dish also refers to Peanut Brittle and locally known as Bukayo Mani. Lingayen, Pangasinan, is one of the great makers of this dessert in the Philippines.
Tips
Recreating the old all-time favorite dish like the featured dish, should be perfect due for this reason. You have to follow these tips to pull it off incredibly.
- Use a great shredded or strip bits of coconut when you want to use it as a filling to make another dish.
- You could add pandan leaves to add more aroma and taste.
- Make a beautiful slurry in a bowl.
- When making the coconut sugar mixture, make sure that your heat is medium to low heat to avoid burning the mixture.
- If you want to make your dish milky and creamier, you could add condensed milk.
- Make it a bit size by scooping it into small balls.
- You could serve it also in banana leaves.
Troubleshooting
What to save your dish from ruining when you accidentally make some cooking and preparation errors? Don’t stress yourself too much. We are here to give you saving tips for your dish.
- If the dish turned out to be very watery, keep boiling it in low heat to make the dish thicken.
- Add more sugar and shredded coconut bits if you overpower it with pandan leaves.
- If it tastes super sweet, add a pinch of salt to it and start simmering it again for a few minutes.
Best Serve With
This traditional sweet dish in the Philippines would not stand out without the other dishes highlighting its taste and flavors. Therefore, here are a few dishes that honor the featured dish.
- Kare kare- is a beef dish perfect for eating along with the featured coconut dessert dish.
- Beef Curry- is another beef dish that would honor the sweet taste of the featured dish.
- Pork and Chicken Adobo- is one of the famous Filipino foods which is perfect for serving along with the featured dessert dish.
- Pork Dinakdakan- is another dish many Filipinos love to serve along with this dessert.
- Pork Kilawin- is a perfect dish to complement the featured dessert dish since it has a sour and savory flavor while the featured dish has a sweet and creamy taste.
- Binagoongang Baboy- is a savory dish made from pork and shrimp paste. Perfect to accompany this dessert.
- Adobong Dilaw- is another popular dish in the Philippines that gives honor to the featured dessert dish.
- Tortang Talong with Giniling- is a wonderful dish that perfectly matches the featured dessert dish. Its savory taste honors the sweet taste of the desert.
- Yellowfin Tuna- is a fish dish that gives honor to the dessert. It has a savoriness that gives the featured dish highlight when you eat it.
- Nilasing na Hipon- is a crustaceans dish perfect with this sweet dessert featured here.
- Suwam na tahong- is another crustaceans food highlighting the featured dessert because of its taste and flavor. This type of food makes dessert stand out when you serve it after a meal.
- Tortang Alamang- is another seafood cuisine complement the taste of the featured dessert recipes.
- Bangus steak - is another savory dish where you could serve along with the featured dish.
Ampalaya Con Carne- is another simple vegetable dish that gives highlights to the featured sweet dessert dish. It has a bitter and savory flavor that compliments the sweetness and flavor.
Conclusion
Coconut recipes like this dessert stand out in many generations because of its unique taste and delicate flavor. For this reason, many people desire to recreate the featured dish here in this article.
And I know you are one of them! But don’t stress out about it because we would help you pull out the best Bukayo dish you could ever try to cook.
Hence, take all the stuff needed and start collecting all the ingredients! Step in your kitchen and follow all the steps we would give you.
If you desire to create more like these recipes, you may visit our website www.eatlikepinoy.com to learn to recreate recipes that use coconut as an ingredient. Enjoy!
Recipe
Best Bukayo Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups Buko grated
- 2 cups Brown sugar
- ½ cup Muscovado sugar
- ⅙ teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- In a pan, combine Buko strings, brown sugar, and muscovado sugar. Stir continuously for 20 minutes.
- When bukayo mixture becomes sticky enough to be molded in shape, you can now transfer it onto a tray with banana leaves.
- Shape the bukayo mixture into small rounds, serve and enjoy!
