If there’s one thing Filipinos love as much as food, it’s Christmas. In fact, Filipinos love Christmas so much, our holiday season begins as early as September 1! And bibingka is the perfect example of a classic Filipino Christmas food. Like the famous Ben & Ben song of the same name says, we can find…
Rice Cake Recipes
Biko Recipe
Biko is a Filipino rice cake made from sticky rice (locally known as malagkit), coconut milk, and brown sugar. Like other rice cakes, this is referred to as kakanin (derived from the word “kanin” which means rice) and is often eaten as dessert or meryenda (mid-afternoon snack).
Traditionally, this delicious rice cake is placed over banana leaves in a bilao (round weaven bamboo tray) and garnished with latik (cooked coconut milk residue) on top. In addition, Biko is served during special occasions such as birthday parties, family reunions, and town fiestas.
Try this simple yet delicious Biko recipe.
Ube Kalamay Recipe
Ube kalamay is a type of Filipino “kakanin” (also referred to as rice cake). It made from grated purple yam, which is known as “ube” in the Philippines. The other ingredients as far as this recipe is concerned are glutinous rice flour, white sugar, and ube flavoring. This has a sweet taste and it is…
Suman sa Ibos Recipe
Suman sa ibos is a simple kakanin recipe. This is pretty much the same as suman sa lihiya except that the later uses lye water and is wrapped in banana leaves. This recipe requires glutinous rice and coconut milk and the wrap is made from buri or palm leaves. The word “Ibos” pertains to the…
Maja Blanca Recipe
Maja Blanca is a Filipino dessert made from coconut milk, cornstarch, and sugar. Often called Coconut Pudding, this luscious dessert is easy to make and the ingredients are very common.
Unknown to many, the original Maja Blanca Recipe does not include corn and milk. In this recipe, I added whole sweet kernel corn and condensed milk for added taste and a more creamy texture.
Since Christmas season is just around the corner, this would make a very good holiday dessert especially during potluck Christmas Parties and Noche Buena as well.
Try this Maja Blanca Recipe.
Puto Cake
Here is a recipe for puto cake. It might sound new to you, so let me explain what to expect. If you are familiar with puto (which is a type of Filipino small rice cake), this is a bigger version of it. Aside from the size, this version is not dense — in fact, it…
Puto Bumbong Recipe
Puto bumbong is a type of Filipino purple rice cake which is prepared by steaming ground purple rice mixture inside a bamboo tube. The tube is referred to as “bumbong ng kawayan” in Filipino. This might have been the reason why this was named as such. Puto bumbong has been associated with the Christmas season…
Cheese Puto Recipe
Making your own Cheese Puto at home has never been easier. This recipe will show you how to make it from scratch in less than 40 minutes. This makes a good snack and it can even be eaten for breakfast with a hot cup of brewed coffee. Yummy! I made this cheese puto using all-purpose…
Buttered Puto Recipe
Buttered Puto is a variation of the famous steamed rice cake, Puto. This steamed mini cakes are usually eaten as dessert but most prefer to have them during breakfast (with hot coffee or chocolate) or mid-afternoon snack (usually eaten with dinuguan or blood stew). If you are looking for an easy puto recipe that you…
Nilupak Recipe
Nilupak is a delicious Filipino treat made from cassava. This is enjoyed in the Philippines as a snack and it can also be considered as a dessert, sometimes. Other ingredients involved are grated or shredded coconut, condensed milk, and butter or margarine. There are other Nilupak versions that make use of saba banana. The traditional…
Rotisserie Chicken Arroz Caldo Recipe
Rotisserie Chicken Arroz Caldo Recipe is my other version of arroz caldo in which I use pre-cooked chicken, instead of the usual raw chopped chicken. This recipe calls for rotisserie chicken or lechon manok. You can use left overs of freshly cooked chicken for this recipe. Using cooked chicken will save you time and it…
Kalamay hati Recipe
Kalamay hati is a sticky Filipino rice cake. This is made from glutinous rice flour, muscovado sugar, and coconut cream. Sticky rice cakes such as kalamay is a special treat in the Philippines. This is often served on special occasions such as holidays and town fiestas. Kalamay hati is usually eaten for breakfast with a…
Cassava Suman Recipe
Cassava suman is a native Filipino rice cake (kakanin) that is comprised of grated cassava, brown sugar, and coconut cream. The mixture is wrapped and sealed individually using banana leaves. This recipe is straightforward. Anyone can easily prepare the mixture. The issue might be on where to get the banana leaves, specifically the people outside…
Sapin Sapin Recipe
Sapin sapin is a Filipino rice cake made from glutinous rice and coconut milk. This delicious sapin sapin recipe is composed of layers each with a different color and flavor. Normally, sapin-sapin is composed of 3 layers: the bottom layer is colored yellow and has the flavor of ripe jackfruit; the middle layer is white and has…
Bibingkang Malagkit Recipe
Are you a fan of rice cakes? If you liked biko and suman, then you will love this sticky rice cake recipe called Bibingkang Malagkit. This might sound like the delicious bibingka sold during simbang gabi, but it is totally different. This is more of a modified biko, in my opinion. Bibingkang Malagkit can be…
Suman sa Lihiya Recipe
Suman sa Lihiya is the most basic variation. Glutinous rice is soaked in water for several hours before putting-in a portion of lye water and wrapping each serving in soft banana leaves. The wrapped mixture is then boiled until the glutinous rice is done. This is best eaten either with sugar or latik (this is the residue when coconut milk is simmered).
Glutinous rice comes in different varieties; each has a different name, but all seem to possess the same texture. When shopping for glutinous rice, do not look for the “glutinous rice” label alone. This sticky rice has many names and varieties. Feel free to choose among the following: sticky rice, waxy rice, botan rice, biroin chal, sweet rice, mochi rice, pearl rice, and malagkit.
If you are in the Philippines or any tropical place, getting fresh young banana leaves will not be a problem. If in case your situation is like mine wherein banana leaves comes fresh frozen from Asian stores, try not to run the leaves over fire to make it more flexible – it will most likely crack. Instead, gently wash it with warm water.
Cinniejen’s Puto de Ube
Making ube flavored puto is easy and fun. If in case you want to make other varieties, you can still use this recipe and add the flavor that you desire (don’t forget to remove the ube). There are countless ways to make your desired rice cake with this recipe.
Shared Recipe. Cynthia’s Sugar-free Carrot Pandan Puto
This is a shared recipe by Cynthia Magallanes. This recipe is one of her entries for the ongoing Panlasang Pinoy Recipe Contest . Do you want to earn extra bucks for your recipe? Submit your recipe now!
I made this specially for my mom so she can eat as much without risking her sugar level. I actually got the recipe from Panlasang Pinoy, but I Splenda instead of sugar; this made it sugar-free. I also added a little water. I felt that adding carrots would make this healthier; so, I added some. By the way, I’m planning to work on my Sugar Free Malunggay Pandan Puto later.
Simple Maja Blanca
Here is another version of the Maja Blanca shared to us by Claire Pfendle of Rochester, New York. Her blog, clairebakescakes, features different interesting cake recipes. Thanks for sharing Claire!
Let’s consolidate our skills and passion.If you have recipes to share, don’t think twice. Check out our Share Your Recipes page.
Tikoy Recipe
Tikoy or Nián gāo is a type of rice cake made from glutinous rice flour and considered as a centerpiece during Chinese New Year. This is also popularly known as Chinese New Year pudding.
The Philippines is once considered as the melting pot of Asia. People of different origins call it home – including the Chinese. Chinese customs, traditions, and good food were embraced by the Filipino’s and even make it a part of their own.
The legend behind the Tikoy tells about a Kitchen God that observes the behavior of each family for a year. It was said the Kitchen God goes back to heaven before the Chinese New Year to report the findings; a depressing report would mean a year of bad luck for the family. According to the legend, feeding sticky rice cake to the Kitchen God will make it difficult for him to say anything against the family – it will be difficult to speak when his mouth is full and the sticky rice cake will keep his mouth shut.
How do you want your Tikoy cooked? I like mine dipped in beaten egg and fried.
Happy Chinese New Year! Kung Hei Fat Choi!
Palitaw Recipe
Palitaw is a term used to call a sweet flat rice cake that is eaten in the Philippines as a snack or dessert. Originally, grounded or pounded sticky rice is used to make this rice cake (called kakanin in the local language) – however, the practice of using packaged rice flour became common because it…
Ube Halaya Recipe
Ube Halaya is a dessert made from boiled and grated purple yam which is locally known in the Philippines as “Ube”. Aside from Ube Halaya, different desserts and pastries such as ice cream, tarts, and cakes makes use of this root crop.
In this presentation, I used a ready-made boiled grated ube that I got from the Asian store. Having a prepared product such as this saves me time but I still prefer making this dessert from scratch using uncooked purple yam (If only there is any available). For those who are using uncooked purple yam – simply boil and mash them before proceeding with the steps below.
Espasol Recipe
Espasol is a type of rice cake that is made of rice flour cooked in coconut milk. This cyclindricaly shaped treat originated from the Province of Laguna and is visible in almost all bus stops and “pasalubong” stores.
Like the other famous rice-puddings (or kakanin), there are various ways in making Espasol. I’ll be showing you one of the simple ways on how to make this fabulous dessert. Say adiue to your cravings and start making your own delicous Espasol.
Try this Espasol recipe.
Buchi Recipe
Buchi or Butsi is a rice cake made from sweet rice flour that is molded into shape with a sweet bean paste filling and sesame seed coating. This delectable treat is deep fried under high heat before serving.
The most famous establishment that serves this in the Philippines would be Chowking . It is a Chinese fast-food chain owned by the largest local fast-food company in the Philippines, Jollibee corp. I remember ordering buchi as a dessert after having some Siopao Asado. It really tastes great especially when you have the gulaman drink by your side.
There are several types of filling that can be used for Buchi. The most common is the sweetened red bean paste while the ube and condensed milk mixtures are also becoming popular. You may use any filling that you want as long as it suits your taste.
Try this Buchi Recipe.