Bibingka

Happy New Year!!! The Holiday Season just passed and back in the Philippines, the streets at night waft with a distinct aroma during this season. Not with pine trees or gingerbread cookies, but with bibingka and puto bumbong! These are two rice cake delicacies traditionally sold during the holiday season, specially outside the church after the Simbang Gabi or dawn masses. Although I think street vendors nowadays sell these delicacies all-year round. I really miss the puto bumbong and bibingka back home! I urged my mom to find a puto bumbong steamer for us the last time she went here in the U.S., but her search for the steamer was no success. So we had to content ourselves with bibingka because it's easier to make, and some Asian stores - mostly in California, but not much here in Houston - even sell the ready-to-bake mixes.

I haven't cooked bibingka before, since we can easily buy them back home. The last time I cooked bibingka here in the U.S., it was out of the box :) It was ok, but I wanted to challenge my self to cook it from scratch. I looked around for recipes and bought the ingredients. But apparently, I did not read the recipes properly. I bought glutinous rice flour, instead of the regular rice flour! There's a big difference between these two, because the glutinous rice flour tend to be sticky and doesn't rise much (that explains my hubby's first attempt to cook puto, but that's another story). I couldn't find any bibingka recipe that uses glutinous rice flour, so I had to improvise. Here's my take on this yummy delicacy, using glutinous rice flour.

2/3 cup glutinous rice flour, sifted
2/3 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
2-1/2 tsp baking powder, sifted
1/8 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp butter, melted + some for toppings
2/3 cup sugar + some for toppings
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup milk
banana leaves (for lining)

Toppings (at least 1 or all of these):
sliced cheddar cheese
sliced salted duck egg (1 or 2)
grated coconut

Line 12 pieces of  4-inch tin ramekins or small tart pan with banana leaves. Make sure you wiped clean the leaves and there are no holes or tears. You may also use a 9-inch round or a 8x8 square cake pan. Pre-heat the oven to 325 deg. F.

In a medium bowl, combine the rice flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well and set aside.

In another bowl, beat eggs and add melted butter, sugar, coconut milk and milk. Beat the mixture using an electric mixer set on low. Then slowly add the flour mix to the liquid mixture, in about 3-4 batches. Beat them well until there are no more lumps. The batter should be almost similar to or may be a little thinner than pancake batter and not lumpy.

Pour the batter in the cake pan, or about 1/3 cup in each lined ramekins. If using ramekins, place them on a baking sheet or tray. Put the tray in the middle rack of the pre-heated oven and bake.

If you're using ramekins, bake for 12 minutes. Then get them out of the oven. If using a cake pan, bake for 20 minutes before getting it out of the oven. Top with cheese slices and/or slices of salted duck egg. Put them back in the oven and bake for about 5-8 minutes more or until the toothpick comes out clean when inserted.

Turn the oven to BROIL, then transfer the bibingka pan to the top rack of the oven and broil for 1 or 2 minutes or until the top part turns brown to mahogany (for that "burnt" effect of the authentic bibingka cooked in charcoal).

Remove from oven, then brush with butter and sprinkle with sugar on top. Serve hot, with grated coconut on top (optional).

Some substitutions:
If you are using regular rice flour (NOT glutinous), use 1 cup rice flour and 1/3 cup all-purpose flour. 
If using coconut cream, use 1/4 cup coconut cream and 1/4 cup water. 
If you do not have banana leaves, use parchment paper to line the cake pan then add 1/2 tsp pandan essence. I prefer using banana leaf, though, because it contributes a distinct aroma to the bibingka.