Glutinous Rice Snacks

betcha can't eat just one of these crispy chewy glutinous rice macapuno balls
Several months ago several readers emailed me asking if I can post the recipes for bilo-bilo, buchi, or bicho. These, I believe are variations of the Filipino snack made with glutinous rice and water or coconut milk formed into tiny balls or flat ovals usually boiled in coconut milk, or steamed, fried or baked. The balls I made today are a combination of several recipes I found online. I don't know what it should be called, I think glutinous rice balls or bilo-bilo are both okay. Or Crispy Chewy Sweeties. BTW, I prefer these tiny snacks without any sauce, except for the plains ones which I like with caramelized sauce flavored with a little soy sauce.

Macapuno Bilo-bilo
1 cup glutinous rice flour
½ cup water
½ cup chopped macapuno
light olive oil for frying
coconut sauce or brown sugar sauce (boil 1 cup brown sugar and ½ cup water until syrupy), optional

• In a mixing bowl, combine the glutinous rice flour and water until a dough is formed. Adjust water or flour as necessary. Add the macapuno to the dough and mix well.
• Form dough into 1½ inch balls and place on a platter.
• Heat half an inch of oil in a medium non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Fry the dough balls a few pieces at a time until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately with or without sauce.
• For simple bilo-bilo, omit macapuno and fry as above. Serve with preferred sauce.
• Variations: omit macapuno and add chopped sweetened ripe jackfruit or grated young coconut.
• Sauce variation: caramelize 1 cup white sugar and ½ water, add a few drops of soy sauce.

Buchi
1 cup boiled and mashed yellow mungbeans
1 cup sugar, or to taste
2 cups glutinous rice flour
¾ cup to 1 cup water
½ cup boiled and mashed taro
light olive oil for frying

• Combine mungbean and brown sugar. Form into 1-inch balls. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, combine flour and ¾ cup water until a stiff dough is formed. Add more water as needed, 1 tablespoon at a time. Mix in the mashed taro.
• Form the rice taro dough into golf ball size rounds, flatten a little bit, place a mungbean ball in the middle, gather rice dough together and seal. Flatten to about half inch thick ovals.
• Fry in hot oil until golden brown. Serve immediately.
• Variation: fill with a mixture of sugar and toasted sesame seeds.
• Keep leftover mungbean paste in an airtight container and refrigerate.

eat them while they're hot and puffed

My Ube Is Broken

it doesn't look pretty but it's yummy

Yes, my ube roll is literally broken in several places. I have been trying to make ube (purple yam) roll cake and failed, twice. The first one was too tall and dense for a jelly roll cake and as expected broke into many pieces. Not to mention it was absolutely inedible! I was a little bit suspicious of the amount of flour in the recipe from the Filipino FOOD magazine but went ahead and baked the roll. I should have listened to my gut instinct and reduced the amount of flour by half. The second ube roll (pictured here) is so soft, has a very tight crumb, and delicious but should be spongier/springier because again the cake cracked in several places as soon as I rolled it. The cake is very good though and will probably make it again as a layer cake or cupcakes. The only problem is I can't remember the measurements, silly me.

I am posting the Ube Roll recipe for the cake from the FOOD magazine but not the frosting because I have read a similar recipe online that is proven by users and readers to be unreliable. I am also not able to provide at this time the recipe for the second cake. I used this Pumpkin Roll recipe as a guide, substituting ube which has a different consistency and behavior than pumpkin and forgot to note the adjustments I made. I eyeballed the consistency of the batter as I mixed it. It will not be helpful either because there is something lacking in the (adjusted for ube) recipe to make it spongier and therefore more resilient, maybe eggs or cake flour. Or maybe I need to take ube cake baking lessons. Or tips from experts. Help!:-)

Ube Roll
recipe from FOOD magazine
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon rum
½ cup milk
1 cup ube, peeled, mashed, and strained
½ cup light corn syrup
7 egg yolks
½ cup corn oil
1 cup egg whites
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon violet food color

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 15 x 11 x 1 inch jelly roll pan. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, salt and ½ cup of the sugar. Set aside.
• In a blender combine vanilla, rum, milk, and ube. Blend until smooth.
• Add corn syrup, egg yolks, and oil into the ube mixture. Blend well. Stir into the flour mixture until smooth.
• In a large bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until soft peaks form. While beating, add remaining sugar gradually and beat until stiff. Fold in ube mixture and food color. Pour into pan.
• Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until done. Turn the cake on a piece of cheesecloth or baking paper and roll immediately. Let cool before filling.

half of the broken ube roll, filled with custard and macapuno

Coconut Leche Flan With Caramelized Macapuno Strings Topping

I was browsing the Filipino cookbook Memories of Philippine Kitchens and the leche flan with caramelized macapuno preserves caught my eye. I didn't follow the recipe because there's too much sugar in it. I used my own recipe and used both coconut milk and low fat milk. I also baked the leche flan with the macapuno already at the bottom of the molds. I think Romy Dorotan's idea of adding the macapuno topping after the leche flan has been unmolded is the better method, mainly for presentation.

Coconut Leche Flan
flan
1 can coconut milk
1½ cups milk
½ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar (more if you like the flan sweeter)
4 egg yolks
4 whole eggs
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

caramel
1 cup sugar for the caramel
Kayumanggi brand macapuno string preserves

• In a large bowl with a handle, heat the coconut milk in the microwave until lukewarm, about 40 seconds . Add the rest of ingredients except the 1 cup sugar for caramel and macapuno. Whisk until thoroughly combined, set aside.
• Prepare the pans.

• I used 4 ramekins and 1 oval leche flan mold. Spoon a layer of macapuno evenly on the bottom of the mold and ramekins.
• In a small skillet, heat ½ cup sugar until it caramelizes and color is golden brown. Pour into the four ramekins covering the macapuno completely. Wash the skillet and caramelize the other ½ cup of sugar and pour into the oval mold.
• Pour the egg mixture through a fine mesh strainer into the four ramekins, pour the rest in the oval mold. Arrange the ramekins in a square baking pan and the mold in another square baking pan. Pour hot water halfway up the sides of the ramekins and mold. Bake in a 325°F oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Cool completely in the refrigerator before unmolding.

Easy As Macapuno Pie

With a little adjustment in my fat reduced pie crust recipe I was able to make a really easy, flaky, yummy macapuno pie using 2 jars of macapuno preserves. For this recipe the only brand that works is Kayumanggi. Other brands are too sweet and have buco instead of macapuno.

The easiest macapuno pie:
2 unbaked store bought or homemade pie crusts for 10-inch pie
2 jars Kayumanggi brand macapuno preserves

• Pre-heat oven to 425°F. Roll 1 crust into a 12 inch round, ease onto the pie pan. Fill with macapuno. Roll the second pie crust and put on top of the macapuno. Pinch edges together. Brush with 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water. Bake for 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown.