Where Filipinos acquired the habit of serving punch for the noche buena, I have no idea. Probably the American influence. Punch is great, I won’t argue about that but punch for noche buena is just a bit too predictable. Here’s something surprisingly different.
Ingredients
- a large cucumber
- one coconut with tender meat (mala-kanin, the same kind used for making buko salad)
- coconut water
- a little sugar
- ice
Instructions
- Peel the cucumber and scrape off the seeds with a spoon. Dice.
- Scrape the coconut meat from the husk.
- Place the cucumber and coconut meat in the blender.
- Add a tablespoonful or two of sugar.
- Pour in the coconut water and add some ice.
- Pulse the blender several times to process the coconut meat and cucumber.
Quick notes
You can run the blender on the highest speed but that will puree everything. Personally, I like the sensation of the tiniest bits of coconut on my tongue. Your choice, really. Ultra smooth or somewhat grainy, the combination of cucumber and coconut is amazingly good!
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 4
hi ms. connie! this is really unique….i really, really love smoothies…since ill be going home to our province, na masyadong maraming buko, this christmas..masubukan nga ito..nakakasawa na kasi yung palaging softdrinks pag-noche buena…
Looks good. My mom made something like this some years back. I remember being really surprised by how the cucumber added that “fresh” feel. I’m into the taste of cucumbers, but this is an exception. She also topped her version with pinipig and rice crispies. I dunno, she said it’s a variation on a type of sago-gulaman drink that uses gata.