As a child, Edwin's mom told him, "If you want to eat, you should cook it yourself." And that's exactly what he's been doing ever since.

Ambrosia Salad With a Filipino Twist

The classic American ambrosia salad has some similarities with the traditional Filipino fruit salad—both contain fruits and heavy cream. But unlike ambrosia salad, Filipino fruit salad does not contain marshmallows. Also, rather than it being a side dish, it is served as a dessert, and it is sweeter because it contains condensed milk. Furthermore, it contains ingredients commonly found in the Philippines, such as fresh coconut. If you like ambrosia salad but want to try something different, you should give this a shot.

Cook Time

Ingredients

• 1 large can fruit cocktail
• 1 can table cream
• 1/2 can condensed milk
• 3/4 cup maraschino cherries
• 1 can jackfruit, cubed
• 1/2 cup kaong (sugar palm fruit), available at Asian stores
• 1/2 cup nata de coco (coconut gel), available at Asian stores
• 1/2 cup canned sweet whole corn kernels

Instructions

1. Drain all the canned and bottled ingredients in a colander for about 30 minutes.
2. In a mixing bowl, add the drained fruits, corn, condensed milk, and table cream. Mix well.
3. Refrigerate overnight.

Tips and Variations

• You can use fresh fruits, such as grapes, apples, etc., instead of canned fruits.
• Add freshly shredded or frozen coconut if desired. We normally use fresh coconuts instead of dried coconuts.
• To make it sweeter, you can add more condensed milk.

Kaong

Nata de Coco