Bukayo is a native Filipino dessert delicacy which is made mainly with coconut strips and sugar. There are variants - moist and dry (also called bocarillo).
The former is typically made into toppings and fillings for suman latik and inday-inday, among others, though I just love eating it right from the container. The latter is more of a hard candy type reminiscent of bandi, which takes a shape of its own and is more convenient to be eaten on the go.Basically both share almost the same recipe with some more or less tweaks to make the other.
Here's a recipe to make Bukayo.
Ingredients
- 2 cups Young coconut meat, shredded
- 2 cups Muscovado Sugar
- 1/2 cup Coconut juice or plain water
- Vanilla extract (optional)
- Calamansi rind (optional)
How to make Bukayo
- In a wok, place coconut juice or water and sugar then mix thoroughly. Adjust the amount of liquid so as to dissolve the sugar but not to runny.
- Bring to boil then add coconut meat gradually to make sure it is evenly coated
- Add a few drops of vanilla extract and grate (a few strokes of) calamansi rind.
- Mix until it starts to crystallize
- Over wax paper, form the carameled coconut meat into the size you desire.
- Leave to dry and form
- Store in an air tight container.
You can also make a festive bukayo by using plain white sugar instead of muscovado. Then separating the cooked coconut strips, you can add food color and make a visually appealing bukayo with all the colors you want.