Ang Sarap (A Tagalog word for "It's Delicious")

Puto with Salted Duck Eggs

Don’t laugh or get mad if you are Spanish as this might have a different meaning to you, For this post I am referring to the food item in the Philippines thats far from being obscene.  Puto is a type of steamed rice cake in the Philippines and this is what I will be sharing for this month’s themed post at “World in a Plate” which is picnic items.

When we the “World in a Plate” members decided that we will have picnic food items for this month’s theme, a lot of dishes came into my mind as Filipino picnics are way much different to our Western counterpart, usually we pack full meals like adobo, spaghetti, fried chicken to name some.  We barely have picnic items that are easy to consume and will always be using proper utensils like fork, spoon and plates the only rule in what to bring is something that would not spoil easily.  The reason behind this is that the usual picnic for a Filipino entails a lot of travel probably at least 2-3 hours (in scorching heat) because we don’t have quality parks in Metro Manila that is within reach of someone’s residence, this means a small snack would not be enough as everyone will be tired from the travel plus the stressful traffic and by the time you reach your destination it is already lunch and a small snack would not be appropriate.

Puto with Cheese

Now to be picnic friendly to those non Filipino’s I decided to share puto, another picnic item but not as popular as full rice meals. Like I had said on my introduction it is a type of steamed rice cake, usually served with butter or grated fresh coconut. It is used to accompany savoury dishes like dinuguan and pancit but can also be consumed on its own. There are a lot of variations of this dish and every province in the Philippines will have their own specialty here are the popular ones to name some.

• Puto Bumbong – found almost anywhere specially during Christmas it is made out of a purple glutinous rice flour called Pirurutong, cooked in bamboo tubes.
• Puto Calasiao – found in Pangasinan this puto is small in size, sweet and sticky.
• Puto Lanson – found in Iloilo it made of grated cassava
• Puto Manapla – found in Bacolod this puto is cooked using banana leaves as its lining
• Puto Mamon – a cross between mamon and puto, it’s light and airy.
• Puto Maya – found in Cebu this puto is made out of purple glutinous rice called tapol, coconut milk and ginger.
• Puto Pao – a cross between siopao and puto

For this post we will not me making any of the above specialties as that will be reserved for later posts, we will be making the most basic ones instead. This recipe I guess is one of the most common ones at it’s easy to make and you don’t need some special rice flour to make, all-purpose flour is the only flour we need. For this recipe you make them plain or you can have several topping like salted duck egg or slices of cheese.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cups white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
3/4 cup evaporated milk
3/4 cups water
1 tbsp butter, melted

Toppings

Edam Cheese, sliced
Salted duck eggs, sliced

Method

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl, set aside
2. Beat eggs using a hand mixer then combine all wet ingredients.
3. Fold dry mixture into the egg mixture and once even in consistency pour into lightly greased moulds (i.e. ramekin, muffin pan or puto moulds) 2/3 full. If using salted duck eggs place them on top.
4. Place in steamer and steam for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Time will depend on how big your put is.
5. If using cheese place slices of cheese on top right after the puto is cooked.

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