bibingka royal

bibingka royal – /bi-bíng-ka ro-yál/ Ilocano snack) [n.] flat glutinous rice cake. 

A baked wide flat rice cake. Its light yellow color is from the yolks of chicken eggs used in the ingredients. Bibingka royal is brushed on top with melted butter or margarine, sprinkled with white sugar, and topped with grated cheese. The commonly used cheese is Eden cheese, cheddar cheese, or any processed filled cheese that can easily be grated into strands like those used for ensaimada bread.  

When served, it is sliced like pizza and served with the optional grated coconut meat as topping right before eating. 

To make bibingka royal you need at least 3 whole chicken eggs, a cup of refined sugar, 1-1/4 cups of kakang gata (coconut cream), 2 cups of galapong (ground glutinous rice batter), and 4 teaspoons of baking powder to help raise the rice batter.

Before mixing all the ingredients, the oven is preheated so baking will proceed right after the mixing process.

Mixing procedure start by combining sugar and half of the coconut cream in a mixing bowl and stirred well until sugar are dissolved. 

In another mixing bowl, the rice flour and baking powder are mixed and sifted. White sugar is added to sifted rice flour and the mixed ingredients is poured slowly into the previously prepared sugar and coconut cream mixture. The remaining half of coconut cream is added next and slowly while mixing continuously. 

Also in another mixing bowl, eggs are beaten until light and thick, then added with melted butter (or margarine) and mixed to blend well. The mix is pour in the previously prepared galapong batter mix.

For the baking pan, sheets of fresh banana leaves are laid as linings on 2 large round flat pans. The prepared batter is poured into the pans, spread thinly and evenly. If banana leaves is unavailable, tinfoil or parchment  paper will do.

Baking proceed in the preheated oven. The bibingka royal is baked until it is dry and hold its shape. Toothpick test will tell that the rice cake is done. 

When done, and while the rice cake is still hot, the top side is brushed with butter (or margarine) then sprinkled with white sugar and grated cheese. 

Bibingka royal is sliced like pizza and served with the optional siding of shredded coconut meat. You may spread coconut shreds as additional toppings right before eating the rice cake.

Bibingka royal from the food stall in Tuguegarao City's Mall of Valley.

Check this recipe on how to make bibingka royal

Related posts:

Tarang Bulan

Parirutong

Daral

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Edgie Polistico 

suman maruecos

suman maruecos – /sú-man ma-ru-we-kos/ (Tagalog and Bulaqueño snack) [n.] purple rice stick.

A sweet and sticky rice snack delicacy made with ground glutinous purple rice, sugar, and coconut cream.  The rice mix is wrapped in banana leaf and rolled into a log and topped or sprinkled with latik (the aromatic brown curd of boiled coconut cream) and then steamed to cook.

Its consistency is quite similar to tikoy or a thickened calamay.

Can be taken and eaten as is or with hot coffee, hot or cold chocolate drinks, or ice-cold cola drinks, and other palamig (cold refreshments).     

Suman maruecos of a booth that sells native Bulaqueño snacks and delicacies in Market-Market, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City.

To make suman maruecos, 2 cups of purple glutinous rice is washed, drained, then soaked in water enough to cover and for at least 4 hours. Afterward, the water is decanted and the soaked rice is ground into galapong (rice batter).

Another 1 cup of rice flour (ground ordinary rice, not malagkit) is added and blended well in the glutinous galapong to minimize the stickiness of would-be suman maruecos. Then 1/2 cup of coconut cream and 1/3 cup of sugar are added and mixed well for every cup of galapong produced.

The mixture is then cooked in a pot on low heat and stirred continuously until the mixture thickens into a paste. The pot is then removed from heat and set to cool.

When cool, 2 spoonfuls of thick rice paste is laid and spread on a banana leaf wrapper and rolled into a log (size similar to a jumbo sausage), and sprinkled with latik (those aromatic brown curds of boiled coconut cream, as in when making coconut oil).

The banana leaf wrapper is then rolled and pulled to wrap the suman maruecos. Both ends of the banana wrapper are folded to seal the contents. Several pieces of suman maruecos are piled in a steamer and cooked for about 30 minutes. 

When cooked, the consistency of suman maruecos would look like tikoy (Chinese sticky rice cake) or a thick calamay (sweetened sticky rice paste).

If purple glutinous rice is not available, white glutinous rice can be used as a substitute added with mashed ube to give the suman its purple color.

Check this simple recipe for suman maruecos

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Let us know your opinion on the subject. Feel free to comment in the comment section, below. It is important for us to know what you think.

Tell us what other topics you would like us to write, share, and discuss. 

For more about Filipino food, see  this Philippine Food, Cooking, and Dining Dictionary. It is OPEN and FREE.

Continue to follow my blogs. You can also follow and learn more by joining us in our Facebook group. Have more bits and pieces about our kind of food, ingredients, and ways of cooking, dining, and knowing food culture across the 7,641 islands of the Philippines.

Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling. 

Edgie Polistico 

humba (braised pork)

Humba cooked by a relative in Inopacan, Leyte.

 

humba – /húm-bâ/ Cebuano, Boholano, Waray, and Tagalog dish;  dw Chin. Hokkien hon bà [highly spiced pork dish] < ho [saucy] + bà [meat]) [n.] braised fatty pork 

Other local names:

• a.k.a. humba Bisaya in Cebuano
• umba in Capampangan

This is a dish of chunky slices of pork, complete with those wobbly thick layers of pork fat and skin. 

To cook, the chunks and fatty slabs of pork are braised in a mixture of vinegar, soy sauce, water, spices (crushed garlic, peppercorn and laurel leaves, etc.), and salt to taste. It is simmered for long hours until the oil from pork fat would exude and blend in the gravy. The meat must be very tender with the pork fat having a jelly-like consistency that would easily wobble when you shake the dish, and when you prick or press it with a fork or table knife, the tines or blunt blade would effortlessly sink into the skin and fat. 

There are now many variations of humba across the country depending on what ingredients are available. In some places of northeastern Mindanao, eastern Visayas, and Laguna, humba is seasoned with tahure, and tausi, and added with skinned peanuts. The Visayans would add peanuts and a spoonful of brown sugar to enhance the texture of every bite and taste.

The humba of Warays in the eastern Visayas has the skin of pork removed before cooking, leaving only the fatty layer and meat in the pot. Skinned peanuts are also added.

A tray of humba sold at an eatery in Panabo City.

Humba is also savored in Luzon that an old version of humba called umba by the Capampangans of Central Luzon (particularly the provinces of Pampanga and Tarlac) and Tagalog region including Metro Manila. Humba in Luzon is cooked with chunks of cracked panocha (concave mold of raw cane sugar) or many spoonfuls of muscovado sugar to enhance the taste. They would also use crushed tahure (salted bean curd) or tausi (black beans) instead of toyo (soy sauce). They also add peanuts, kinchamsay (dried banana blossom), and/or ripe saba banana.

Some local Chinese restaurants in Metro Manila originally add kinchamsay to this dish.

In Iba, Zambales, humba has chunks or big slices of very ripe saba banana (Philippine plantain). 

In Iba, Zambales, humba has big slices of very ripe saba (plantain) banana.

Reheating the humba for several days (at least for 2 to 3 days) on low fire for at least an hour and occasionally turning over the meats would render the dish more flavorful, more tender, and tastier. When reheating, a little more water mixed with little more vinegar and soy sauce may be added to keep the dish saucy and the meat from getting fried by the pork lard. The more humba is reheated, the more delectable it would be.

Learn to cook with this simple humba recipe

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If you liked this post, share it.

Let us know your opinion on the subject. Feel free to comment in the comment section, below. It is important for us to know what you think.

Tell us what other topics you would like us to write, share, and discuss. 

For more about Filipino food, see  this Philippine Food, Cooking, and Dining Dictionary. It is OPEN and FREE.

Continue to follow my blogs. You can also follow and learn more by joining us in our Facebook group. Have more bits and pieces about our kind of food, ingredients, and ways of cooking, dining, and knowing food culture across the 7,641 islands of the Philippines.

Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling. 

Edgie Polistico