A homey sweet dessert called Bibingka

Its been raining almost every other day in Singapore so I decided to prepare Champorado last Thursday to ease homesickness. This project had me end up with 2.5 kilos of glutinous rice overstock as there were no smaller packs available at the grocery. I hate it when ingredients go to waste so I decided to make use of the leftovers and prepare "Bibingka/Biko" last Sunday. I think this as perfect homey food during my rainy week.


I grew up knowing Bibingka refers to 2 kinds of sweet sticky rice dessert. During Christmas season, it would often refer to this bibingka famously baked cake using glutinous rice flour. And then there is this kind of bibingka also sometimes called biko, famously made from the town where I grew up. "According to the anthropologist E. Arsenio Manuel, bibingka, like biko, originated from the Chinese, The name comes from the Hokkien root word "bi", which means uncooked grain"- Wikipedia. I would assume the abundance of rice and coconut back in the days may have inspired to make these wonderful delicacies.

Sunday's afternoon tea time was a pleasant one with the bibingka to fill us up. The bibingka was moist but not that sticky that it will get stuck to your teeth and yet still sweet enough because of the latik (coconut milk and sugar jam). Since it was a very heavy dish we weren't able to finish the whole pan. So the Husband brought some to work today. And on this rainy Monday morning, a perfect breakfast consists of 2 slices of bibingka and a cup of hot tea. Unfortunately the Toddler didn't like it that much.

Bibingka/Biko
adapted from PanlasangPinoy

• 1 cup glutinous rice (sweet rice or malagkit), washed 2 times
• 2 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2 packs of 500 grams coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp of pandan flavoring

Instructions

1. Combine glutinous rice and 1 pack of 500 grams of coconut milk in a cooking pot. Heat and let boil, then reduce heat and cook while stirring until the texture thickens. Occasionally stirring would ensure no rice is uncooked and sticking to the bottom of the pot.
2. Add 1 1/4 cups of sugar and salt. Again, continuously stir and cook for 10 more minutes or until the rice is completely done. The texture should be very sticky.
3. Add pandan flavoring and stir. 
4. Transfer the cooked sticky rice to a 9x 13 baking pan. Set aside.
5. Make the topping by heating a sauce pan and combining 1 pack of 500 grams coconut milk and remaining 1 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Let it boil and simmer while stirring once in a while until the texture thickens.
6. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
7. Spread the topping equally over the cooked sticky rice. Bake for 12 to 18 minutes or until the topping becomes caramelized and turn into latik. 
8. Remove from the oven and let cool.