Healthier choice recipe: Snow white coconut cocktail

Healthier choice recipe: Snow white coconut cocktail

SINGAPORE - Make a healthier coconut dessert using low-fat milk, instead of full-cream milk.

Adding milk makes a dessert more nutritious as milk and other dairy products provide calcium, which is essential for healthy bone growth and development.

Using low-fat milk makes it even better as this reduces the amount of saturated fat in the dessert.

When consumed, saturated fat is converted into low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or "bad" cholesterol, which is distributed through the blood to tissue to make hormones.

When in excess, it is deposited on artery walls, narrowing the arteries and raising a person's risk of developing heart disease and strokes.

Mr Eric Teo, who owns food consultancy firm ET Culinary Arts, created his dish of snow white coconut cocktail, helped by the Health Promotion Board (HPB).

His dessert is among 150 healthy dishes that several chefs and HPB came up with, either by adapting existing recipes or developing from scratch.

Mr Teo said: "The coconut juice really makes a difference to this dessert. You can serve it cold or hot. As an occasional indulgence, you can even add a scoop of ice cream."

Recipe
Snow white coconut cocktail (Serves four)

Ingredients

20g white fungus
100g rock sugar
1 cup of water, to cook with rock sugar
4 young Thai coconuts
1 cup low-fat milk

Method

Method

1. Soak the white fungus in water until it becomes tender. Remove the hard portions and cut the remainder into small pieces.

2. Parboil the pieces in water till they are cooked and then rinse them with cold water.

3. Leave them aside.

4. Wash the rock sugar.

5. Cook it with one cup of water. Turn off the heat after the rock sugar has dissolved completely to become syrup.

6. Cut ½ inch off the top of each Thai coconut to make a lid. Remove the juice from each coconut.

7. Add the syrup and the coconut juice to the low-fat milk and mix them well.

8. Pour the mixture into the Thai coconuts and add the white fungus.

9. Cover the coconuts with their lids and serve.

Nutritional information (Per serving)

Energy: 116 kilocalories
Protein: 2.9g
Total fat: 1.5g
Saturated fat: 1.03g
Cholesterol: 5mg
Carbohydrate: 22.9g
Dietary fibre: 2.2g
Sodium: 95mg

Tips

•Add more fruit and vegetables to dishes. They contain fibre, vitamins and beneficial plant substances called phytochemicals, which reduce the risk of some types of cancer.

•Use measuring spoons and cups. These kitchen tools are helpful as they measure just the right amount of fluid, such as oil and seasoning, for use in cooking.


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