Bibingka and Puto Bumbong

Bibingka

No Filipino Christmas is ever without bibingka and puto-bumbong. They are inexorably associated with misa de gallo, the dawn mass on the nine days before Christmas. While they are more common as street food, they are so popular (even among tourists) that even five star hotels serve them --- using the traditional cookware --- during the holiday season.

When we Filipinos see street vendors cooking and selling puto bumbong and bibingka, we can almost “smell” Christmas. Bibingka is a rice cake made from galapong, baked in a special clay pot, lined with a piece of banana leaf, with live coals on top and underneath. It is topped with slices of kesong puti (white cheese) and itlog na maalat (salted duck eggs). The newly-cooked bibingka is spread with butter and sometimes sprinkled with sugar then served with niyog (grated coconut).

Galapong is glutinous rice soaked in water then ground with the water to form either a batter or a dough, depending on what the cooked dish is supposed to be.

Puto bumbong

They say that the Philippines has the longest Christmas celebration. Beginning with the first month that ends with ber, Christmas is in the air. Well, here’s something that no Pinoy Christmas is never without.

Puto bumbong --- purpled-colored ground rice cooked in bamboo tubes that are placed on a special steamer-cooker. Then, they are removed from the bamboo tubes, spread with butter and sprinkled with sugar and niyog (grated coconut). They are then wrapped in wilted banana leaves which will keep them warm and moist until ready to be eaten. Along with bibingka, puto bumbong is inexorably linked with simbanggabi--the dawn mass on the nine days preceeding Christmas.

Filipinos who have lived abroad for a long time must miss bibingka, puto bumbong and simbanggabi.

This one’s for all of you.