#170_ Biko & Mango Jam Deja Vu

Biko Topped with Home-Made Mango Jam
from Post #167

The kids in my ward were playing "Fear Factor"
and requested people from other nationalities
to bring food from their countries.
Well, I didn't want to gross the kids out too bad so I thought
the new biko recipe of mine might be a good one to take to them.

Lisa Taylor in the center is holding the bilao-ful of biko
with the rest of the no-fear-for-the-biko youths.


Here's how to prepare this dessert:

1) Make the Biko without the traditional topping.
To check out the Biko recipe, click here.
2) Press cooked Biko in a baking dish and slice it into squares.
3) Place each slice in paper muffin cup liners.
4) Make indentations in the center of each rice cake
with the back of a measuring teaspoon,
then fill them with mango jam.

ENJOY!!!

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#167_Biko with Mango Jam Topping

Here's another way to serve Biko.....
top it with Mango Jam. Mmmmmm goodness!!

I might be breaking the rules here
by deviating from the traditional biko topping,
but this sure gives the "old" Biko (click here), a nice lift.

I had biko and mango jam in the freezer and every time
I opened the freezer these two kept staring
at me like they're screaming:
"get me out of here!" and " eat me, eat me!"
I felt sorry for them so, finally the other day,
I took them out of the freezer
and thawed them out in the fridge overnight.
Just before I put them together,
I heated up the Biko in the microwave,
then topped it with Mango Jam.
What an excellent pair! Made in Heaven!
Fabulistic!!!

Mango Jam goes really well with sticky rice or malagkit or biko.
To make plain Biko check out Sushi Style Biko recipe #165.
For Mango Jam recipe click here.

I bought a box of these red/green mangoes a while back.
I knew I wouldn't enjoy them, but because I was desperate,
I thought I'd give them a try.
Didn't care much to eat them after all, but
to turn them into jam, they're okay.

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#165_Sushi Style Biko with Mango Custard Cream Filling

Mangoes + Brazo de Mercedes + Biko + Sushi=
A fantastic dessert

Not quite Heinz 57, but this is one "mixed-up" dessert!

For those not familiar with Brazo de Mercedes, it is a very popular dessert in the Philippines
made with baked meringue filled with custard cream, then rolled up like pumpkin roll cake or jelly roll. Here's some of the pictures, click here.

Biko is another favorite dessert in the Philippines made of glutinous rice, cooked in coconut cream and sugar. Click here.

To make this dessert, you'll need:

1 recipe for Biko without any topping
1 recipe for Custard Cream Filling
1 ripe mango, sliced lengthwise

The beauty of this dessert is that the main ingredients, the biko and cream filling, can be made ahead of time then refrigerated.
Before serving, just heat them in the microwave. You can even assemble it in front of our guests. It is that easy to make.

I modified the method for making Biko just for this recipe as I'm using it to roll up the mango filling, and it is not going back to the oven.

Here's how I did it:

This is just a half of the recipe
Please refer to recipe #7, click here, how to make Biko.

After cooking the glutinous rice in the rice cooker, dissolve 1 cup brown sugar in a 1/2 a can of coconut

milk, in a pan over medium heat. Bring it up to a boil. Stir in the cooked rice and continue to cook until it dries up and rice is fully cooked.

Lay a piece of plastic wrap on a work surface. On the plastic wrap spread some of the cooked rice into rectangle and spread some of the Custard Cream Filling. Arrange some sliced mangoes on the cream.

Roll up the filled rice just like rolling a jelly roll cake

Cut the rolled up Biko into about 2-inch thickness

Serve them on a plate with the cut sides up.
Put some more cream filling and cubes of mangoes on top.
Thin down the cream filling with milk
so you can drizzle it easily on top.

This is the best kind of mangoes to use for this dessert.
ENJOY!!

NOTE from MaMely:
For the custard cream filling, I used 1 whole can of coconut cream instead of 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup coconut cream.

#103_The Food Blogger's Lunch Today

Pancit Sotanghon Guisado and Black Rice Suman
What a perfect pair!

Actually this is the first batch of suman out from the steamer. The cook gets to taste test it first!
It is flavored with real langka fruit...Mmmmmm. It smells and tastes like langka!!!

Click here for post on black rice ; pancit sotanghon recipe here.

#7_ Biko ( Rice Cake)

In Pangasinan, this is BIKO. I know that different regions in the Philippines have different names and versions for this kakanin, but for me, this is "the" BIKO and I'm sticking to it!


Originally, Biko is topped with ganosal, in Tagalog, latik, which is the curdles from the coconut milk when making coconut oil. Well, there were two reasons I didn't make latik for the topping: One, I don't know how to make it. Two, I know it is so tedious to make it because I had seen my mother make them all the time and I don't have any interest whatsoever in learning how to make it. My friend, Aida, substitutes toasted coconut for the latik. It's a very good substitute and in fact it's as good as the latik if not better. Personally, I like the toasted coconut better because it gives crunchiness to the BIKO.

This version of biko is from my friend Gloria. There is no soaking the malagkit in water for hours,(which causes the grains to break up when cooked). You don't need to cook the sugar and coconut milk on top of the stove. This is very easy to make and yet its very good and it is the way I like biko to be, not mushy and the grains retained their shapes, they are not broken up to pieces. I've been doing it wrong until just recently Gloria told me to fully cook the malagkit. I cooked it that way today and also my water-malagkit ratio was precise. It came out so perfect!

Ingredients:
4 cups malagkit
4 cups water
1/2 can coconut milk (updated)
2 cups DARK BROWN sugar, firmly packed
Sweetened Flaked coconuts, toasted (optional)

Procedure:
1. Rinse the malagkit and cook it in rice cooker with 4 cups water
2. Grease a 9"x13" baking dish with butter and line it with a piece of banana leaf. Grease top of banana leaf also.
3. When the malagkit is fully cooked, turn power off but leave the malagkit in the rice cooker pot. In it, while the malagkit is still hot, add the coconut milk and the sugar stirring well but gently until everything is all blended together.
4. Spread the mixture in the prepared pan. Do not press down, just smooth the top out
5. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour.
6. Sprinkle toasted flaked coconuts on top.

Related posts:
Nilatikan>>>>>http://pinoyamericanrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/01/64glutinous-rice-cake-with-topping.html
Biko:>>>http://pinoyamericanrecipes.blogspot.com/2011/04/291mango-sticky-rice.html

Notes from MaMely:
I found that using dark brown sugar brings better result. Taste, texture and color are better. No, there's no taste of molasses. The amount of water used in this recipe is the key. Make sure the ratio is 1:1

Lining the bottom of pan with banana leaf is optional.