Biko

There is another kind of cake that I love and it is rice cake, specifically Filipino and Japanese rice cakes. this cake is basically made from rice, but comes from a variety of shapes, forms, and cooking methods from different cultures, mostly from Asia. There is a rich variety of these lovely sweet treats that will likely appease everyone, from basic bland puffed European rice cake to elaborate Korean tteokcake. However, let pick up something nourishing, delicious and simple to prepare, let us start with biko.

Biko is a rice cake from the Philippines that is made of glutinous rice, coconut milk and brown sugar; sometimes it is topped with latik, caramelized coconut milk syrup, for a special biko recipe. This type of rice cake is basically part of kakanin recipes, Filipino sweet rice cakes, usually eaten as snacks and/or dessert.  The word kakanin is derived from the kanin the means cooked rice. This is a very simple recipe but one needs to lean who to properly cook a certain variety of rice called, malagkit or glutinous. But other than that, this is easy to make. So, here we go:      

Regular Biko Recipe

The recipe yields 16-20 servings.

Preparation Time:                          10 minutes

Cooking Time:                                40-50 minutes

Waiting Time:                                 6 hours

Ingredients:

4 cups (1 kilo)                                Malagkit or glutinous rice

4 cups                                            water

4 cups                                            coconut milk

3 cups                                            brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon                                  salt

1/2 teaspoon                                  Anis seeds

or

1 thumb                                          ginger, crushed

Procedures:

1.  In a large mixing bowl, place in the rice and run cold water. Rinse it by scrubbing the wet rice between your hands and then drain. Repeat rinse and drain until the water is almost clear.  Cover with water and soak for 6 hours or overnight. Drain and place in a pot or rice cooker. Add water and boil until done.

2.  In a large sauce pan under medium-heat, combine the coconut milk, brown sugar, salt, ginger or Anis seed, mix well with a heavy-duty wooden spoon and quickly bring to boil to simmer. Reduce the heat to low, stir constantly until thick.

3.  Add the cooked malagkit or glutinous rice, blend well. Continue cooking at low-heat, constantly stir until very thick and very hard to handle.

4.  Remove from heat, remove the ginger, and transfer to a platter, or form small mounds.

  

NTS:

   Arrange mounds in a plate lined with banana leaf.

   Run banana leaf over heat or flame to make it more pliable.

 

Feel free to share your thoughts, any corrections, suggestions and reactions, as it will definitely guide and inspire create better content. Thank you so much.

As always enjoy!

Reference and Inspired by:

1. My mother’s cooking notes.

2. Tom S.