Filipino Native Delicacies – "Kakanin" Recipes (2024)

Kakanin, or Filipino native delicacies, are snacks usually made with or containing any or combination of coconut milk, rice flour, glutinous rice, cassava and sugar.
Kakanin are usually prepared whenever there is a special occasion like fiesta, birthday, Christmas, anniversary or just enjoy a fun afternoon kakanin snack party with your family and friends.

Here are some kakanin recipes you can try at home.

Bibingka Espesyal (Rice Cake)

Bibingka Batter

Ingredients:

1 cup rice

1 cup water

1/2 cup refined sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp melted butter

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup thick coconut milk

Utensils:

mixing bowl

wooden ladle

Procedure:

1. Soak one cup of rice in one cup of water overnight.

2. Drain water from the soaked rice.

Produce rice flour by grinding the rice softened by soaking, in a rice grinder.

If you don’t have a grinder, you can have the rice ground in the public market.

Any stall selling galapong will have a rice grinder.

3. Once the rice flour is ready, mix it with sugar.

4. Add baking powder, melted butter, beaten eggs and thick coconut milk to the rice flour mixture.

5. Mix the rice flour mixture thoroughly.

This will serve as the bibingka batter.

B. Cooking Bibingka

Ingredients:

bibingka batter

4-5 salted eggs

1 packet white cheese

grated coconut

butter

Utensils:

mixing bowl

ladle or deep-cupped spoon

a pair of tongs

rice caked mold (hulmahan)

stove

improvised basin for live coals

firewood coals

banana leaves

turner for frying or toasting

measuring cup

Procedure:

1. Put some coal in the improvised basin made of a piece of G.I. sheet or tin.

Make the coals red hot.

Set aside first.

2. Line the rice cake mold in a piece of banana leaf.

3. Put one cup of rice batter into the mold.

4. Arrange a few pieces of the sliced salted eggs and sprinkle a little amount of white cheese on top of the batter in the bibingka mold.

5. Put the mold with batter over a stove with live coals and place the improvised tin basin with live, red hot coal over the mold containing the rice cake batter.

The rice cake should be cooked in this manner:

with live coals under and over the mold containing it.

6. Cook for 10 minutes or until the upper skin or the batter turns golden brown.

7. Once cooked remove bibingka from the stove and transfer bibingka on a plate.

8. Serve bibingka with grated coconut on the side.

This recipe makes 2-4 whole medium-sized bibingka or rice cake.

Camote Suman

Ingredients:

½ cup coconut milk

1 kg sweetpotato, grated

1/3 cup young coconut, grated

1 cup powdered pilit (malagkit)

¾ cup sugar

banana leaves

Procedure:

1. Cook grated sweetpotato with coconut milk and sugar.

2. Remove from fire.

3. Add young coconut and powdered pilit (malagkit).

Mix well.

4. Wrap in banana leaves.

5. Steam until cooked ( 10-15 mins ).

Ube Halaya

Ingredients:

1 kilo ube yam root

1 can (14 ounces) evaporated milk

2 cans (12 ounces) condensed milk

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla (optional)

Cooking Instructions:

1. On a pot, boil the unpeeled ube yam in water and simmer for 30 minutes.

Drain and let cool.

2. Peel and finely grate the ube yam.

3. Heat a big wok in medium heat.

4. Melt butter or margarine, add the condensed milk and vanilla flavoring.

Mix well.

5. Add the 1 kilo grated ube yam.

6. Adjust the heat to low.

7. Keep on mixing the ingredients for about 30 minutes or until sticky and a bit dry (but still moist).

8. Add the evaporated milk and continue to mix for another 15 minutes.

9. Let cool and place on a large platter.

10. Refrigerate before serving the halayang ube.

Cooking Tips:

* You may spread additional butter or margarine on top of the jam before serving.

* For the sweet toothed, sprinkle a little sugar on top of the jam after placing on the large platter.

* Instead of manually grating the ube, you may cut it in cubes and use a blender to powderize the ube.

Baye-baye

Ingredients:

2 cups pinipig

1 cup coconut water

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups butong (young coconut), grated

How to make baye-baye:

1. Grind toasted pinipig.

In a bowl, mix ground pinipig, coconut water and sugar.

Blend well and add grated butong.

2. Divide into serving portions.

Wrap each serving in banana leaves or wax paper.

Chill before serving.

Tupig

Ingredients:

4 pcs mature coconut, shredded

1 pc young coconut, shredded

1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

4 cups water

1 kg malagkit flour

banana leaves, wilted

3/4 cup molasses

How to make Tupig:

1. Extract coconut milk from mature coconut by adding water and squeezing out gata or coconut milk.

2. Strain and set aside.

Add remaining ingredients to coconut milk.

Mix well.

3. Pour 1/4 cup batter on wilted banana leaves, roll and seal ends.

4. Bake over live charcoal 15 to 20 minutes or until done.

Suman Sa Moron

Ingredients:

100 gms glutinous rice

200 gms Star Margarine

200 gms ordinary rice

50 gms peanuts

milk from 3 pcs coconut

1 tbsp Hershey’s syrup

400 gms white sugar

banana leaves

Procedure:

1. Mix glutinous rice with ordinary rice and boil with coconut milk until mixture becomes fine.

2. Add remaining ingredients, except banana leaves, and boil until sticky.

3. Wrap in banana leaves by serving portion.

4. Boil in pot until suman is cooked.

Puto Bumbong

Ingredients:

1 cup glutinous rice

2 tsp purple food color (ube)

2 cups water

panutsa

Utensils:

knife

muslin cloth

sifter or strainer

2 pcs bamboo tube (bumbong)

steamer for making puto

Procedure:

1. Soak glutinous rice in water overnight.

2. Grind the soaked rice. (see bibingka how)

3. Mix food color while the glutinous rice is being ground.

4. Wrap the ground glutinous rice on a piece of muslin cloth and place it in a strainer to drain excess liquid.

Another technique in draining excess liquid is by pressing a heavy object that has been placed over the muslin cloth.

5. Once the ground rice has slightly dried, rub it against the screen of a strainer to produce coarse grained rice flour.

6. The rice flour for making puto bumbong is now ready to cook.

Fill each bamboo tube (bumbong) with just enough glutinous rice and put them into the steamer.

See to it that the steamer contains boiling water.

7. Steam rice flour in the bamboo tubes for 10 minutes.

8. Once cooked, shake out the contents of each bamboo tube or remove the cooked glutinous rice from the bumbong with the help of a knife.

9. Spread butter on the puto bumbong and place a small piece of panutsa (sugar cane sweets).

10. Add a small amount of grated coconut before serving.

This recipe is good for 6-8 pieces of puto bumbong.

Cassava Cake

Ingredients:

4 cups grated cassava

2 cups coconut milk

2 tbsp. melted butter

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 tbsp. salt

1/2 cup pure coconut cream

Grated cheese

Directions:

1. Beat eggs.

Add sugar, butter and salt.

Mix thoroughly.

2. Add the grated cassava and coconut milk.

3. Mix well and place in a pan or bibingka mold lined with banana leaf.

4. Bake until almost done.

5. Brush with coconut cream.

6. Sprinkle with grated cheese or strips of local cottage cheese.

7. Brown top under hot cover or oven broiler, or top with pure coconut milk with sugar to taste and brown under broiler.

Maja Blanca

Ingredients:

½-cup cornstarch

½-cup white sugar

2-cups coconut milk

coconut cream from 1 grated coconut

Procedure

Coconut cream:

1. Extract coco cream and coconut milk from the grated coconut.

2. Place grated coconut in a muslin bag wrung out of warm water.

3. Twist the open end and squeeze out the coco cream without adding water.

4. Set aside for cooking Latik.

Coconut milk:

1. Add three portions of warm water and squeeze the bag of grated coconut with every addition of water.

2. Cook coco cream in a frying pan over medium heat until oil and latik form.

3. The latik should have a delicate, golden yellow color and must not be burnt.

4. Transfer latik into a cool dish separate from oil or further heating will turn the latik to darker shade.

5. Blend cornstarch and sugar thoroughly in a 1-quart bowl and add ¼-cup of coco milk.

6. Boil the rest of the coco milk in a 2-quart saucepan.

7. Add the cornstarch-sugar mixture, stirring with a wire whisk until it boils.

8. Hold for 2 minutes to attain a cooked flavor of the starch.

9. Pour while hot into two oiled cereal dishes.

Cool completely.

10. Cut into pie wedges.

Garnish each piece with latik.

11. Serve hot or chilled.

Palitaw

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo glutinous rice flour

1 grated mature coconut

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Pinch of Cinnamon (optional)

Procedure:

1. Boil water.

2. Shape galapong into small disks.

Drop one by one to the boiling water.

When it floats, it’s already cooked.

3. Remove cooked palitaw with a slotted spoon to drain the water and place on a bed of coconut (niyog).

Cover both sides of the palitaw with coconut (niyog).

Arrange on a platter or banana leaves.

4. Mix sugar, toasted sesame seeds and cinnamon.

Sprinkle over the palitaw.

Cuchinta

Ingredients:

1 cup rice flour

2 cups brown sugar

3 cups water

1 teaspoon lye water

freshly grated coconut

Procedure:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well.

Pour into muffin cups, until half full.

Steam in a large pan with a cover;

the water should be 2 inches deep.

Cook for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Add more water if needed until cooking is done.

2. Remove from the muffin pans and serve with freshly grated coconut.

Suman sa Lihiya

Ingredients:

1 kilo malagkit na bigas (glutinous rice)

2 tsp lihiya (lye water)

prepared banana leaves

thin cotton strings

Condiments:

grated coconut

brown sugar

Latik

Procedure:

1. Cut or separate banana leaves into two sizes (all approximates) – one 9 x 11-inch size and the other 5 x 5-inches.

2. Soak the glutinous rice in water for about 1-2 hours.

3. Drain and mix in the lye water.

It should turn yellowish (this would depend on the strength of the lye water), if not add more lye water a little at a time until it turns yellowish.

Mix well.

4. Put the big sized leaf lengthwise on a working surface – topside down.

Then put the smaller one on top of it – topside up and aligned either same as the bigger piece or positioned with the one of the corners pointing to the narrow side of the bigger piece.

5. Place about 3 tablespoonfuls of the glutinous rice mixture on the smaller piece of leaf.

6. Grab the 2 long sides of the bigger piece and bring them together.

Fold or roll that side to enclose the rice (about 3 half-inch folds).

It is now long and narrow shaped.

7. Fold about the lower 1/4 of the parcel towards the center.

8. While firmly holding the folded end of the parcel, put it upright and tap it on the table to pack in the rice and if need be add more rice through the open end.

9. Fold the top end towards the center.

You should have a parcel about 5 x 2-inches in size.

10. Make another one of roughly the same size.

11. Pair these two with the folded sides together.

12. Using thin cotton strings, tie the two ends together tightly.

13. Place the assembled pieces in a big pot and add enough water to cover the suman.

14. Bring to boil and bring down heat to low and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours.

15. Serve warm or cold with grated coconut and sugar.

Cooking Latik:

1. Add 2 Tbsp sugar and pinch of salt to a 400 ml can of coconut milk in a wok or pan (preferably non-stick).

Stir until sugar and salt is dissolved.

2. Bring to boil then lower heat and simmer until it renders oil and sediments (the latik) start to stick to the bottom.

3. At this point watch it very closely and stir it frequently (it burns easily) and fry the sediments until golden brown.

4. Remove from oil with slotted spoon.

Serve with the suman.

Suman sa Ibus

Ingredients:

3 cups glutinous rice

3 tsp salt

2 cups coconut milk

Procedure:

1. Soak glutinous rice in water until grains are swollen.

Wash rice and drain.

Add salt and coconut milk.

2. Fill 2/3 of the palm tube containers.

Close opening of the tube by pinning ends together with a piece of bamboo pick (about 1/3 the size of a toothpick).

Tie each suman with strips of buri.

3. Arrange in a deep kettle with water and cover container.

Boil suman for two hours or until cooked.

Sapin-sapin

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups malagkit dough (galapong)

1/2 cup rice galapong

2 1/2 cups white sugar

3 cups cooked ube (mashed)

4 cups thick coconut cream (from 2-3 coconuts)

2 cans (big) condensed milk

food coloring; violet & egg-yellow

Method:

1. Blend all ingredients except mashed ubi and food coloring.

2. Divide into 3 parts:

To one part – add mashed ubi.

To heighten the color of the ubi, add a dash of violet food coloring.

Mix well.

To 2nd part – add egg-yellow coloring.

Mix well.

To 3rd part – just plain white, nothing to add.

3. Grease a round baking pan.

Line with banana leaves and grease the leaves.

Then, pour in ubi mixture.

Spread evenly.

Steam for 30 minutes or more, until firm.

Note: cover the baking pan with cheese cloth before steaming.

4. Pour 2nd layer on top of the cooked ubi.

Cover again and steam for 30 minutes.

5. Lastly, pour in 3rd layer or the plain mixture.

Again, steam for 30 minutes or until firm.

6. Sprinkle top with “latik”.

7. Cool before slicing.

8. Serve with “budbod” or toasted sweetened coconut.

Espasol

Ingredients:

1 cup pilit/malagkit (glutinous rice)

4 cups rice flour, toasted until light brown

2 cups sugar

1 cup coconut milk

1-1/2 cups toasted shredded coconut

Anise seeds

Procedure:

1. Boil the pilit/malagkit.

2. Place sugar, anise seeds and coconut milk in a saucepan; let boil until thick.

3. Add toasted shredded coconut and cook for 3 minutes.

4. Add boiled pilit/malagkit, stir and cook until thick.

5. Remove from fire and add 3 cups toasted rice flour.

6. Mix with a wooden spoon and pass through a cornmeal grinder.

7. Divide into 2 parts and roll (about 2-1/2-inch in diameter) using the rest of the rice flour for rolling.

8. Slice into 1/2-inch thick pieces.

Buchi de Leche

Custard Filling:

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

1 tbsp. all-purpose flour

pinch salt

100 g. langka(fresh or preserved), cut into cubes

1 cup Evaporated Milk

3 pieces eggyolks, slightly beaten

1/4 cup butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Dough:

1/2 k. galapong

1/2 cup sesame seeds

cooking oil, for deep-frying

Instructions:

1. Combine first six ingredients in a heavy saucepan.

Cook stirring continuously over low fire.

When thick, remove from fire and stir in eggyolks, butter and vanilla.

Cook for about 2 min. more.

Cool then set aside in a chiller.

2. Knead galapong forming a cylinder and cut into 20 equal portions.

Flatten into patties and put about 1 tbsp. of chilled filling in the center.

Gather edges to the center, sealing well.

Roll in sesame seeds and deep-fry in hot oil.

Drain in paper towels and serve right away.

Biko

Ingredients:

2 kg glutinous rice

1 can condensed milk

4 cups water

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1 cup brown sugar

banana leaves ( optional )

grated coconut meat from 4 coconuts (reserve coco milk)

Procedure:

1. Cook glutinous rice in water just like you do with plain steamed rice.

2. In saucepan, pour brown sugar, coconut milk, condensed milk and vanilla extract.

3. Mix, stir and let boil. Add cooked glutinous rice to coconut milk mixture and cook until thick.

4. Spread evenly on platter (or bilao) lined with banana leaves.

5. Slice and serve.

Pichi-pichi

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups grated cassava

1 cup sugar

1 bundle of pandan leaves, boiled in 2 cups water until reduced to one cup, and cooled

[or canned pandan concentrate, or a few drops of pandan essence in a cup of warm water]

1/2 tsp lye water

Procedure:

Mix the sugar and the pandan flavored water and mix until sugar is dissolved.

Mix in the cassava and then add the lye water drop by drop mixing well as you do so.

Pour into a mold or bowl that fits your bamboo steamer until the mixture becomes translucent.

While still hot scoop out the cooked mixture (use ice cream scoop or a tablespoon the same size as the scoop) and roll into grated coconut.

Binignit

Ingredients:

1 pc white gabi (substitute cassava if available), cubed

1/2 cup sugar

2 pcs yellow camote (sweet potatoes), cubed

1/2 tsp salt

1 pc ubi (no substitute), cubed

4 tbsps landang or tapioca

4 pcs ripe cardaba (or semi-ripe plantain), sliced

2 cups coconut milk

1 cup coconut milk, diluted with water

Procedure:

1) Cook gabi, camote, ubi, and cardabang saging (or plantain bananas) in diluted coconut milk.

2) Add sugar, salt, and landang (or tapioca).

3) Simmer until all ingredients are tender and mixture is thick.

4) Add 2 cups coconut milk.

Cook in medium heat.

5) Do not boil or liquid will curdle.

Adjust amount of coconut milk to your available ingredients.

6) Serve hot.

Bibingkang Galapong

Ingredients:

4 eggs, well beaten

2 cups coconut milk

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup melted margarine

2 cups rice flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup coco cream,

1/4 cup sugar for topping

Procedure:

1. Add sugar to beaten eggs.

2. Combine salt and flour; add to egg mixture.

3. Add melted margarine, coconut milk, and baking powder.

4. Pour into banana leaf-lined mold.

5. Bake in 375 degrees Fahrenheit oven.