Trivia about Filipino Delicacies During Christmas

BIBINGKA – One of the well-known delicacies found throughout the Philippines is this rice cake made from ground rice, sugar, eggs and butter or margarine. After cooking, the cake is spread with more butter, sprinkled with sugar and served with freshly grated coconut. Special versions have additional toppings of sliced salted eggs and/or kesong puti (local mozarella). This is the traditional Christmas rice cake served with hot ginger tea (sa/abat) after simbang gabi (dawn masses).

KUTSINTA -Another popular rice cake is this sticky, heavy, slightly gelatinous rice cake made with lihiya (lye). They come in small and medium-size rounds or even cut into rectangles and are eaten with freshly grated coconut meat.

SAPIN-SAPIN (meaning layered) -‘This is multi-colored and multi-layered rice cake made from flour, coconut milk, sugar, and a variety of bases (cassava, squash, etc.).

PUTO BUM BONG – This is a sticky purple cylindrical rice cake made from a special kind of rice, perurutong. It is cooked in a small bamboo tube (bumbong) over steam. This rice cake is tapped from the tube then spread with butter or margarine, sprinkled with sugar and topped with freshly grated coconut. It is a traditional Christmas snack together with bibingka and salabat (ginger tea)