How to make Biko(sticky rice)

I will share with you the recipe on how to make the sticky rice. Its really not that hard. Just a few ingredients with it. Really you can buy lots of sticky rice here in some of the snack shops, but I want to make it the way my mom used to make and use the coconut that just came from our farm.

I say coconut that came from our farm, what I mean for that is I will have the coconut milk from the coconut that grew in our farm. My sisters really know how to choose the right coconut for that. They really know if the coconut is way old already which means had less coconut milk or way too young. I used to know all those tricks before. My sister got the talent of my mom on making all kinds of good snacks. In short I am not good on that.

Honestly my nieces and nephews that grew up in the farm know the difference between the sticky rice that’s made by my mom and the one that just bought in the store.

Anyway here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• Sticky rice 2 kilos
• Sugar ( 1/2 kilo brown sugar & 1/2 kilo muscavado sugar-Kinugay) Splenda is good too.
• 8 to 10 cups coconut milk
• 1 glass of  water
• dash of salt
• Banana leaves( you can find it in any Asian store)

Procedure:

First cook the sticky rice just the way you cook the regular rice. When its cooked then let it cool. On a big pan put the coconut milk and let it be simmer in a medium heat keep on stirring. It could take up to almost an hour. When its simmering you can see small pieces floating that small pieces(we call it lunok here in Bisaya). You can also see that it’s getting oily since its came from coconut.  Take out the lunok and put it in a bowl and you can eat it. Don’t eat too much though its not good for your tummy.  Then add the sugar half a kilo first in the pan and keep stirring, and add  a glass of water and a dash of salt, continue stirring until the sugar mix well and  dissolved.  Keep tasting until your desired sweetness. When you see that the sugar mixed well keep stirring for maybe like 10 minutes. Then take out like a cup from the batter you just made and put in a bowl and put aside. Then time to add the sticky rice slowly to the batter, a little bit at a time and continue mixing until you reach your desired consistency. Some people like me to have our sticky rice a bit drier, some people in my family likes it to be a bit more saucy.  You can add the sauce that ou save in a bowl if needed. Then put the banana leaves on top and put the lid and let it cool a bit before eating.

A lot of us in our family likes our biko eaten the next day. It’s good with coffee and sikwati/tsokolate(cacao). Some people put some nuts or some shredded young coconut or more muscavado sugar on top of the biko. Really its up to you. You can also put food coloring on it too. I saw some colored  biko like yellow, purple, green and many others.

Hope you guys will try it. Have fun cooking.

Cheers!

Scalloped Pineapple

As you may know, here in the Philippines there two places that I know which are famous for growing pineapple.  They are both here in Mindanao.

One place is Bukidnon, the Del Monte Plantation is in Manolo Fortich. The other one is in Polomolok, near GenSan, the Dole Plantation. If you go to these places, everywhere you look at its all pineapple as far as you can see. You will be in awe just by looking at the place as all your eyes can see were the pineapple plants. I was asked before by a family member in the States if the pineapple grow in a tree? I told them NO. They really were shocked. I told them how the was pineapple planted and how to harvest it and how we can tell that its ready to be picked, we are not pineapple farmers, but we have some in our farm that my parents planted for our consumption. So we are not experts on this though.  But we like to eat pineapple.

One time we went to Polomolok with the kids, we showed the kids the pineapple plantation just at the foot of Mt. Matutum. The kids were so amazed by it. All of the sudden a security guard come running to us and telling us to leave because people are not allowed to take photos of the fields. We just didn’t argue with the guard we just left.

Anyway, I will share with you the scalloped recipe I got from Bob’s mom that she usually made it when we were still in the States. She will make this during Easter and Christmas time. Scalloped pineapple really compliments good with ham. Since we have lots of pineapple here in Mindanao I make this recipe every now and then. Really the only time we can avail plenty of ham here just during the holiday season. Its coming up soon. But Swiss Deli and Hola Espana carry ham all year round. I’m happy for that, its just a bit of hassle sometimes going there with the traffic on the way. Its a headache.

Oh well, almost Christmas time I know of a good place to order a really delicious ham here in Davao. I’m really looking forward to it. Whenever I make this recipe with my family they always think its for snacks. Hey they think that because with ham it should be rice you know? But people here in our household they will eat it with ham and they like it.

Scalloped Pineapple

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup or 1 stick butter melted (room temperature)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk ( I made half and half – 1/4 milk & 1/4 all purpose cream)
• 1 can pineapple chunk drained ( Hey look for Dole or Del Monte made in the Philippines)
• 10 slices bread cut in cubes or 4 cups cube size bread ( crust removed)

Procedures:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (162 degrees Celsius)I usually put my oven temperature to 200 degrees Celsius. Our oven doesn’t really give good heat, so I crank up a notch a lot of times.

Beat the sugar and the melted butter until smooth. Add the egg one at a time and keep beating. Personally I put just 2 drops of vanilla just to give a delicious smell. Mix in the milk and pineapple and keep stirring. Then toss the slices bread and stir until mix well.

Pour the mixture into the buttered 9 inches dish. Bake it for at least an hour until lightly browned on top.

I hope you guys enjoy the recipe. Let me know if you tried already.

Have fun eating.

Very good banana cookies!

For a while, I have been cooking banana cookies.  They are a lot like banana bread, but in cookie form.  I have shared them with many visitors over the last few months, and they all seemed to enjoy them, and I know that Bob and the kids like them a lot too.  I got a request from Marilou if I could send her the recipe, so instead I decided to put the recipe here, since I know she reads this site.  I hope that you all enjoy them.  Bananas are really a key product of the Davao Region, so these cookies can really bring you a piece of Davao!

Banana Cookies by Feyma

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar and 2 tbsp of sugar- optional, just add this 2 tbsp of sugar if the banana is not ripe enough.
• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup of mashed banana (really ripe one is the good one)
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tsp. of baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp. of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg or mace
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 cup of pecans or walnuts or raisins or chocolate chips. (My favorite to mix is the raisins).

Procedures:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cream the butter and the sugar until creamy and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until mixture is light and fluffy.
2. Mix the mashed bananas and the baking soda in a bowl and let it set for about 2 minutes.
3. Mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture. Mix together the flour, salt and spices into the butter and banana mixture and mix just until combined.
4. Put the chocolate chips or the raisins into the combined banana mixture. Drop in dollops onto parchment paper-lined baking sheet or onto a spray cookie sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until nicely golden brown. You can also put the banana mixture onto the sprayed muffin pan. Bake it until golden brown maybe like 20 minutes.

Hope you guys like it. Here in the Philippines I tried to used the Lakatan, Murado and Saba kind of banana. I think our favorite is the Lakatan. Have fun cooking!