Maja Blanca

Maja blanca (Tagalog pronunciation: ˈmaha ˈblaŋka]MAH-a-BLANK-a) is a Filipino dessert made primarily from coconut milk. Also known as coconut pudding, it is usually served during fiestas and during the holidays, especially Christmas.

Maja blanca is relatively easy to prepare. A coconut milk (not coconut cream) and cornstarch mixture is heated to boiling over a low flame while stirring. Agar (gulaman inFilipino) can be substituted for cornstarch. Corn kernels, milk, and sugar are also often added, though these are not traditionally part of the recipe. Once the mixture thickens, it is then poured into serving dishes previously greased with coconut oil and allowed to cool. Once firm, latik (browned coconut cream curds) are then sprinkled as toppings. It is also often refrigerated and served cold to improve the 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.

Puto Rice cakes

Puto – these are rice cakes that are made from rice flour, evaporated milk (or coconut milk) and sugar (among others). They come in various colors. They can even come in bite-sizes or they can just fill up a whole plate. Puto is best served with hot chocolate or dinuguan (as a replacement for rice). It is best eaten freshly baked and right out of the steamer.

Puto is a Filipino dish that is always served during the holidays. It is a steamed sweet cake that is traditionally made from ground rice. It is eaten by itself, with butter or grated coconut. However, this recipe is an adapted way of making puto, using cake flour instead of ground rice. There are many variations of puto that include different flavoring such as ube (purple yam) and pandan. It can also be topped with cheese or salted egg.

Puto Bungbong Filipinos traditional to eat after simbang gabi

Puto Bumbong” is already being sold near the church areas. Sellers of Puto Bumbong gather around near church’s premises since it’s been a tradition for Filipinos to eat and take home this kakanin after “Simbang Gabi”. Puto Bumbong was named after the traditional Filipino cuisine Puto or steamed rice cake. Its only difference from the ordinary puto is its glutinous texture. “Bumbong” however is the bamboo tube where the delicacy is steamed until it rises out and is ready to eat.

You can make your own Puto Bumbong with this few easy steps: Ingredients: 5 kilos piruruntong (this can be bought from supermarkets) 1 cup ordinary rice 1 tbsp. lilac food coloring 1 kilo freshly grated mature coconut Margarine Muscovado Procedure: 1. Prepare puto bumbong galapong. 2. Prepare the steamer. 3. Grease the tube with margarine. Half-fill it with the galapong. 4. Cover the tube’s top end with cotton cloth. Place it into the steamer’s nozzle. It’s cooked when it steams. Invert tube to ensure even cooking. 5. To remove puto bumbong from the tube, thump out the content over the prepared banana leaves or plate. 6. Spread with margarine, sprinkle with muscovado and coconut before wrapping. If served on a plate, do the same without wrapping. Serve immediately A True Filipino Christmas Delicacy

Kinilaw ng Pinoy

KINILAW is better known to Japanese food-eating Pinoys as raw fish sashimi. But to Filipino folk from Aparri to Jolo, it has been there forever. Kilawín is a raw seafood or meat dish from the Philippines, similar to ceviche. In the Ilocos region, kilawín is made with raw fresh meat of goat, beef, carabao, and deer, while seafood used includes shrimp, tuna, and anchovies. The main ingredient of the dish is an acidic solution, often vinegar, calamansî (Citrofortunella microcarpa) juice, or a combination of both. Shallots, ginger and Chile peppers are also added. The meat used in kilawín must be fresh, i.e., taken immediately after an animal has been butchered or from fishermen that have just docked their boats, as there are bacterial hazards involved with consuming raw meat and seafood.

Kinilaw applies to fish (such as tuna, dalag, pagi, dilis); crustaceans (such as shrimps, crabs and talangka); mollusks (such as oysters, sea urchins and clams); meats (such as deer, carabao, boar); other seafoods (like squid, octopus, seaweeds). All can be eaten raw with a souring agent-commonly vinegar, kalamansi, or dayap and ginger, pepper, garlic, onions, salt. Perfect as an appetizer or “pulutan” (beer pairing) Kinilaw or Kilawin is a delicacy often found at Filipino parties with drunk uncles and grandpas…or in this case, here on Food pinoy delicacies.

Bulalo ng Pinoy

Bulalo is a beef dish from the Philippines. It is a light colored soup that is made by cooking beef shanks and marrow bones until the collagen and fat has melted into the clear broth. Bulalo is native to the Southern Luzon region of the Philippines.

Many references have evolved regarding its origin. One of it says that this type of dish originated from Batangas where you find the many versions of Bulalo. Other reference says that it actually came from Tagaytay in which there are a lot of cows. A beef soup comprised of shank with bone marrow still inside the bone, Bulalo is considered to be one of the most favorite main dishes in the Philippines.

bulalo is best during cold days. Sipping the soup alone makes me feel comfortable. This bulalo that we have here is my favorite because it is the simplest yet it produces an excellent dish.

Biko(Sticky Rice Cake)

Biko (BI-KOH) is the Filipino term for sweet sticky rice cake. It consists of mainly 3 ingredients: sweet rice, coconut milk, and brown sugar. Some serve it with toppings, some don’t. Others also add vanilla extract, but it’s not necessary. This dessert is popular during New Year’s Eve celebration in the Philippines, because Filipinos believe that if you consume as many sweet treats as you can during this time, the coming year will be a good one. It is time consuming and work incentive. It is truly a labor of love to make it as it needs patience as you stay by the pot stirring the cooking coconut milk and sugar to get the right consistency. Other version of biko doesn’t use black sticky rice. Usually they use, mix sweet rice with black rice to give it that dark purplish look, which is more of the signature biko, time consuming. Biko is best for “pista minatay” during November 1. It is good and amazing to taste.

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Kutsinta

Kutsinta is another native delicacy that is sweet, sticky, and golden brown rice pudding that is made from ground malagkit. Achuete is used for coloring and lye is added to improve its texture. The kutsinta ingredients are put into molds and steamed for 15 minutes. It is usually served with freshly grated coconut. Filipinos love of kakanin can be traced way back pre-colonial times when our ancestors used suman as offering to gods and visitors. I remember when I was a child and used to help my Inang, a native of Bulacan, grind soaked glutinous rice in a huge grindstone (gilingang bato) to make galapong to be used in making sapin-sapin or kalamay or bibingka. We used to spend hours in this process and usually need to take turns with my cousins to finish grinding several kilos of malagkit to be used in making sapind-sapin or kalamay or other kakanin depending on the occasion.