Over the holidays, I was introduced to a special holiday dish: Tinubung. Tinubung is the Ybanag word, but they are also known as Puto Bumbong in Tagalog: special rice cakes made from red rice that are cooked in bamboo tubes. Why are they special? Well, to start with, they are a lot of work to make properly. Second, they are traditional, only made at Christmas, and especially New Year. They represent “thanks” for the last harvest and “hope” for the next harvest.
While Rebecca was growing up, her Grandmother used to make upwards of 300 tubes: Enough for every family in town to have a tube. The procedure was entirely done by hand, and took several days. In the modern world, one day is enough: The rice is milled mechanically now. (Though you still need to prepare the bamboo and dig a pit for cooking.)We made around 75 tubes: Enough for the aunts, uncles, and cousins. Everyone pitches in to help… That is part of the tradition. Funny enough, the taste (to me, at least) is still similar to Bibingka or Suman, sort of bland, but what makes these special is the love and utmost care that goes into the preparation of Tinubung. These are simply not something that you can go into a restaurant and order: Very traditional, home-made, and very special.
What goes into Tinubung?
For 75 tubes:
75 Freshly-cut tubes of Bamboo, skin (bark) shaved off, about ½ meter long
Copra shreds for sealing the tubes
15 kg. Red Rice, milled into powder
2 kg. Milled, dried coconut (macapuno, not buko)
5 kg. Dark brown Sugar (We used native Ilocandia sugar, which still has molasses)
1 kg. Raisins
Around 20 cans Condensed Milk
Around 20 cans Evaporated Milk
How do you make them? The pictures below will help give an idea about what I’m talking about. First, the tubes are shaved, cleaned, and cut. A long narrow pit is dug, about one meter deep, and lined with firewood. Steel grates and racks fashioned out of rebar are placed over the pit. The rice and all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed into a large wash basin and the tubes are filled around ¾ full, from a pitcher. As each tube is filled, they are tapped to release air bubbles and the tube is tightly sealed with copra. A fire is started, and large cooking pots are filled about ½ way with water (In Rebecca’s childhood, they used clay pots that were for making soy sauce). The tubes are boiled vertically, and removed after one hour. They are then cooked directly over the fire (grilled), for around another hour. During the entire cooking process, the fire must be continually adjusted to prevent burning. After cooking, the copra is removed and the tube split open with a sharp bolo… Time to eat!
Making the tubes
The rice mixture
Filling the tubes
Sealing with copra
Boiling the Tinubung (Yes, those are old metal oil cans)
Grilling the tubes
Finished Tinubung (Yes, it's supposed to be purple colored)
About JohnM
Great documentation, John! This is why your posts are some of my favorite to read in LiP.
Last time I had puto bungbong was in high school. (Cabanatuan city) I love puto bungbong.
thank you John for sharing your recipes.
Hi John – Same love and care goes into the holiday tinupig. The only thing better than eating it is sharing it with friends and family.
Wow that looks like fun John … Phil n Jess
Kamusta ka John,
Wow, a great article, so many different things we have to look forward to learning there in the Philippines….of course those of us here on this website..will be well educated before we get over there….bravo!!
Bye,
Danny
Hi John, I’m afraid puto bungbung & tinubong are two different things. The puto bungbung is a tagalog delicacy which is also done during the holidays. But the manner of cooking it is different. Sticky rice granules are put inside small bamboos & steamed for about 15 minutes or so. After which, the vendor pushes out the rice cake out of the tubes. Vendor puts margarine, sugar & grated coconut. Customers can actually wait infront of the stalls which are usually around the churches.
I remember I had tinubong once when I was in Isabela. I remember scooping it using a spooin right inside the bamboo which was split into two. That was a long time ago so I could be wrong. But I really thing tinubong & puto bungbung are not the same.
What about binalay? Has Rebecca served you one?
Mia: Thank you!
Ann: It was a new experience for me… Funny how you can remember the foods from childhood as an adult. I feel the same about certain Mexican foods.
Paul: Thank you…
Phil n Jess: Yes, it was a lot of fun… and very interesting.
Danny: Thank you!
Roy: Thank you for correcting me… Honestly, there are so many different types of rice cakes, I sometimes confuse them all. I do believe that Puto Bumbong is made with the same red rice, though. My mother in law tells me that the red rice is prized because it is difficult to grow properly and the yields are much smaller. In Abulug, they only reserve one paddy for red rice and the rest is for “regular” rice (I forget the grade they grow). The ingredients between the two are also largely similar.
Is binalay the one wrapped in the leaf with the margarine and brown coconut on top? If so, that is my favorite one (It tastes very “toasty” to me).
Hmmmm look delicious …..I would like to eat one I’d never seen this in Davao.Thanks John for sharing “Tinubong”.
Hi John!
Yes, that’s looks fun.
I haven’t eaten tinubung. The puto bumbong that I know is usually colored purple and made in a special cooking gadget , much like the way Roy describes it. Then the vendor puts brown rice and grated coconut on top and the puto bumbong is usually served on a banana leaf.
That tinubung on the picture looks good. I hope I will ever get a chance to taste some, someday.
I meant brown sugar, not brown rice.
Margs: I think it is a N. Luzon thing… They taste good, but they are a bit “gummy”.
Beth: Thank you for confirming Roy’s comment… I think the difference is the cooking process. Around New years, you can occasionally find them (Puto Bumbong) for sale outside the churches, but as Roy mentioned, they are not grilled.
Hi John,
When you say “toasty”, I have a feeling you’re referring to tupig or tinupig. It’s like suman (ground sticky rice, sugar & buco meat) but cooked over charcoal. “Binalay” is like a tasteless suman which is flavored only when you pour it w/ syrup (coconut & brown sugar).
I think “tinubong” is so tedius and uses a lot of materials (like bamboo) that’s why it must have stayed only in northern Luzon. There is no way, you can do this commercially. You know, put up a stall infront of the church & wait for orders from church goers. Even in Isabela, I have never seen my cousins do that. They just cook “tupig, binalay” or their version of bibingka.
But I appreciate John the way you documented the “Tinubong” making. The pictures showed how again, tedius it is to make tinubong. It’s a family affair. The men gather the bamboo while the women prepare the rice mixture. But I noticed ain the picture, a woman holds a bolo making the tubes.
Roy: Ok… I have tried Binalay, and I remember it being very sweet. Everyone was helping. The guys largely were the ones actually cooking, digging the pit, and shredding the copra. My Mother in Law was the “Foreman”, overseeing the process. Becky made the mixture and prepared the tubes with the bolo. I was the delivery boy and gofer, running back and forth to Ballesteros to get the rice milled and buy the canned milk (I got the easy job). Rebecca said that the process of making it is what makes it special… The family members and people in town almost come to expect that the family makes Tinubung at this time of year.
Hi John, let’s try it after Pizza and beer…
Klaus… You bet!
I’m from Ballesteros and I’ve never seen people from there cooking tinubong like using puto bumbong ingredients. I guess the traditional ingredients that Ilocanos using isn’t rice mill but a sticky rice mill putting some vanilla flavor, brown sugar, round scraped buko flesh, or sometimes we put raisins then we cooked it the way you just documented. Do you know why we prefer using the kind of bamboo in the photos and not other kinds of bamboo? It’s because of its inner lining like a thin white paper. Its that lining that keeps your tinubong stuff intact coz the lining will stick to the sticky rice giving you a clean coated tinubong stuff no need of scooping it. You can just hold it and eat till your last bite and it’s not messy. And the better way of opening tinubong is fron the bottom. And the best way of eating tinubong is by slicing it like a meat loaf dip in in scramble egg with a bit of salt in it and fry it. Taste like tikoy. And the reason why you said tinubong is kinda gummy because it’s already cold and they used rice mill. Unlike when you used sticky rice, it’s soft and sticky even more than 2 weeks it wont be spoiled as long as you don’t open and take out the seal. That’s the way we do it in Ballesteros.
I cook delicious filipino food too…
I happened to open your website looking
for best recipe for puto bumbung…
I know how to make traditional recipe
but since Im here in LA, I need to improvise
bumbung.
Amazing you live in Manila.
Garry: Since tinubong is local, I used the Puto Bumbong words to try and give a general idea of what it is like… You are right that they are different. Interesting about the bamboo… Now that I think of it, we went to one of Becky’s relatives in Bulala to get the bamboo, rather than using the bamboo at Mama’s house… It never dawned on me as to why… Now I know. Whenever Rebecca or her brother came home on leave, Becky’s mama made tinubong for them to bring back to Abu Dhabi, regardless of the time of year. It was her little “care package” for her children. (An a lot of work… She really loves them!)It never lasted more than a couple of days there, though (Not spoilage… eaten!).
Pinay: Thank you! I think the most difficult substitutions in LA would be getting the appropriate glutinous rice and finding the bamboo tubes. The rice could possibly be found at a Pinoy market like Seafood City in LA, though they may not carry the red variety (It can be difficult to locate even in Manila at certain times of year.) They MIGHT be ale to order it for you, though).
For the Bamboo tubes, I guess you could try to fashion some sort of container from a metal tube or pipe, boil them, and grill them afterwards to get the smoky taste.
Interesting project! Good luck, and I hope you come out with something that tastes nice!