Pandan Paradise

If the Western world has vanilla, the East has Pandan. This sweet-scent flavor is extracted from the leaves of Pandanus amaryllifolius that is definite in Southeast Asian cuisine specifically in the Philippines. The leaves of Pandan are very sweet-smelling and aromatic that is this is often included in boiled rice to boost the appetite. 

Some food experts said that Pandan does not taste like vanilla. Several experts say that the fragrance and taste of Pandan is similar to that of buko. For men, the scent and flavor of Pandan is totally exceptional smells like banana leaf, grassy and somewhat chewy like Jasmine rice.

Here in the Philippines, Pandan is normally combined with coconut desserts and snacks such as buko-pandan ice cream.

Yummy Buko Pandan Ice Cream

16 oz heavy ice cream

16 0z coconut milk

6 pandan leaves

3 oz sugar

A pinch of salt

8 egg yolks

Procedure

Prepare the base in a large saucepan, heat the heavy ice cream, pandan leaves, coconut milk, sugar on medium heat for about ten minutes. While heating, prepare the egg yolks. Crack all the eggs and separate the yolks from the white. Set aside the yolks and throw away the white or you can set them aside for other dishes.

Mix the yolks with sugar until they are well blended. Remove the pandan leaves from the base mixture the mix the egg yolks with the base. Blend well. Cook in medium heat for about 5 minutes, add some pandan concentrated extract to enhance the flavor.

Turn off the heat, then pour the base and use ice cream machine to churn for 25 minutes. Pour it in a large bowl, wrap with plastic then freeze for at least 10 hours.