October 11, 2007

Puto Bumbong

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Watching the Via Mare recipes makes me think this early of the coming Christmas holidays, Stuffed Queso de Bola and Stuffed Turkey (or a large chicken) are already on my menu. And I have also been dreaming of Filipino Christmas treats like puto bumbong smothered with butter, plenty of shredded coconut and sugar while drinking hot tea. Black glutinous rice from Thailand (I wonder if the rice is originally from the Philippines just like the jasmine rice, more on this later) is readily available here in the US and procedure for making them is all over the Internet, the only thing missing is the steamer. But when I get a craving I can't seem to stop until I get to eat it. Luckily I have an Ikea silicone ice mold that has long and thin cavities meant for water or soda bottles which worked surprisingly well. Now I can enjoy puto bumbong any day of the year.:-)


Puto Bumbong
1 cup black glutinous rice
½ cup white glutinous rice
½ cup regular rice
water
banana leaves
butter
shredded fresh coconut
sugar
  • Mix rice with water to cover top 1 inch, set aside for 2 hours.
  • Grind in blender until smooth. Pour the mixture on a large piece of muslin, twist the cloth and tie with kitchen twine, place on a large sieve. Put the sieve on top of a big bowl, weight down with a sauce pan filled with water, and leave 4 hours or overnight.
  • The next day, crumble the damp rice paste and fill well-oiled molds loosely. Steam in boiling water for 12 minutes. Remove with a plastic chopstick onto banana leaves. Spread butter all over and serve with coconut and plenty of sugar.


I had these with cold-brewed green tea (instead of hot) which I declare is the perfect drink with puto bumbong.

About the jasmine and the black rice, I don't know if it is a unique Filipino rice because China also has its black rice variety, although non-glutinous. Thai black glutinous is the one being sold here in my area and I read somewhere that this variety is now being grown in California. Could the Thai black rice have come from the Philippines or China or maybe it's native to Thailand. I'm sure most Filipinos my age know that the white Thai jasmine rice was developed, or what is now called genetically engineered, in the Philippines in the IRRI, International Rice Research Institute, based in Los Baños, Laguna in the early 1960s. The GE rice was named and branded MILAGROSA (miraculous) and when it first became available to the Filipino public my father refused to eat it and had forbidden my mother from buying it. He was not willing to eat this 'frankenrice' because he honestly believed part of it is a variety of weed, yes weed, in the Philippines.

Read related article here: Part II, item I and if you LOVE to read here is an even longer study on rice varieties and development in the Philippines. It seems milagrosa has been around as early as 1915! I didn't know that.

19 comments:

Gitta said...

Lolo M. is so weird. "Frankenrice" hahaha!

Did you just make these? Mmmm I'm tempted to come home for lunch.

Anonymous said...

Such a great and inventive idea using the ice molds! And I had no idea about black rice. Thanks for those rice links.

Oggi said...

gitta, aren't we "lucky" we both got his weirdness gene.:-)

marvin, you're welcome. The mold has been sitting idly in a drawer for 2 years before I thought of using it for puto bumbong.

Sidney said...

Puto ! one of my favorite snacks!

Oggi said...

We love all kinds of puto!

Anonymous said...

i was so homesick last month and was longing for puto bumbong then i came across your site. i tried your recipe, sobrang sarap!!!! pikit na lang ang mata ko and imagine ang langhap ng bumbong para na ako na pilipinas. i even invited my pinay friends over and drank salabat!!

thank you so much for posting this!!

ria

Oggi said...

Ria, you're welcome!

Anonymous said...

ingenious talaga about using that kind of mold...i am going to have to try that.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
You are such a great cook and genius too. Wer can i buy the molds?
Tnx.I am here in Guam and nothing like that here.

Oggi said...

Anonymous 6/28/10, thanks. I've seen something similar [probably] at Target in the ice tray section.

Anonymous said...

can you steam using the ikea silicone mold?

Anonymous said...

Thanks Oggi,
You helped me a lot in my business by these great ideas you shared. i have a small business now and i got the idea of puto in your blogs and my business is doing good. More power and God bless u!
Anonymous 6/28/10

Oggi said...

A, that's great and congrats!:)

Anonymous said...

The puto bumbong sold in Los Angeles by various provider are made of sweet rice flour from the stores. There is a man in Los angeles who used to make it the old school with a steamer and bamboos. He soaks pinirutung, reg rice,sweet rice and grinds it. He used to sell these wrapped in banana leaf, wich fresh coconut and muscovado sugar and not just white sugar or brown sugar. It is so good, just heat it up for 20 sec. The ones at Seafood city looks so proceesed, I believe Sarap Pinoy and Planet Pansit where selling his products. Mini Sapin sapin, Bibingka, Puto bumbong and others. Now he just caters

Anonymous said...

can I try the powdered gloutinous rice? Just make it into galapong then let it stay for few hours or overnight?

Oggi said...

I don't recommend it because the recipe calls for a combination of black and white glutinous plus regular white rice...but you can always try.

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much.I'm a Filipina living in Spain and I was so happy to see this recipe and many others when I was looking for a gluten-free recipe for puto as my daughter has gluten intolerance...Voila,, I saw your website.I'll be busy trying all those recipes.....

Liberty Fizz said...

Hi, where did you get that amazing mould from, and do you know what they are called? thanks!

Anonymous said...

anonymous on Guam, they sell some silicone items in the micronesian mall, check Macy's for it. It might be cheaper just to order it from amazon though of course.

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