Cucumber and coconut smoothie

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.

To make four glasses of cucumber and coconut smoothie, you will need a large cucumber, one coconut with tender meat (mala-kanin, the same kind used for making buko salad), coconut water, a little sugar and some ice.

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. 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!

You might want to try these too!

1. Melon and coconut milkshake
2. Summer coolers
3. Cucumber salad with roasted pili nuts
4. New Year’s Eve menu: chicken satay, pork teriyaki, potato salad and mango rum sorbet
5. New Year’s Eve menu: rib-eye steaks, mashed potatoes, buttered vegetables, and peaches and cream
6. Lechon, stuffed turkey, smoked duck or roast chicken?
7. Rice pudding with custard topping
8. Recipe archive
9. About the noche buena section

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Noche Buena

• Roast pork with salsa verde
• Buko pandan
• Ox tongue with gravy
• “Bibingka” and “puto bumbong”
• Rolled porkloin with bacon, basil and rosemary
• Bangus belly steaks
• Chicken in sour cream
• A Christmas Eve story
• Chicken, pesto and yogurt salad
• Adobo, quail eggs and rice

Oh, so sweet!

• Coffee jelly dessert
• Chocolate coated gummy bears
• Mandarin Orange Royale
• Easy dessert crepes
• Mango Royale
• Choco-mocha-cinnamon pudding
• Christmas jello
• Green tea and rambutan dessert
• Mango-rum sorbet
• Crepes a la mode

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