Mama's Biko
When I think of Biko I remember Mama's love,
when I eat Biko I can feel Mama's love,
and when I close my eyes savoring the taste
I swear I can feel my mama hugging me.....
When I think of Biko I remember Mama's love,
when I eat Biko I can feel Mama's love,
and when I close my eyes savoring the taste
I swear I can feel my mama hugging me.....
When my mama made Biko it was always for a special occasion coming up where family and friends would get together and good times hanging with the cousins. I could remember my mama's Biko right after it was baked and the smell that would fill the kitchen was overwhelming with wholesome goodness. Just thinking about the aroma creates memories in my mind of mama giving me a hug. It seemed like all the extra special care that my mom put into making her Biko was out of total affection for me. That's why every time I think of Biko it triggers memories of unconditional love that only a mama can give. I miss my mama sometimes especially when I'm at a family gathering and I see and eat the biko that someone else had brought.
My turn to make Biko!
When I close my eyes and taste the biko I could almost feel my mama hugging me.... Well I wish she was hugging me and giving me advice when I was trying to recreate her biko hahaha!
I looked up recipes online by Googling them and came up with some wierd recipes. Some recipes included eggs and milk and someone on Facebook mentioned "what! Are you baking a cake? That's when I realized that's not the Biko my mama used to make. Thank goodness there were those who had recipes passed down from their parents the same way my mama used to make it.
Well as you can see below it took me four attempts to get it right and actually it's still not as good as mama's.
The first attempt was with that cake kind of recipe including eggs and milk and that came out all wrong. The second attempt wasn't any better and that's when I got frustrated and started asking for help on Facebook. The third attempt was close but came out a little too soggy so I made it into a Biko Pecan pie and actually tasted great. The fourth attempt was a charm! Finally came out the way I remember from my childhood but it'll never be as good as mama's because the ingredients that will always be missing is mama's unconditional love and affection. It's time to close my eyes and savor the memory.
When I close my eyes and taste the biko I could almost feel my mama hugging me.... Well I wish she was hugging me and giving me advice when I was trying to recreate her biko hahaha!
I looked up recipes online by Googling them and came up with some wierd recipes. Some recipes included eggs and milk and someone on Facebook mentioned "what! Are you baking a cake? That's when I realized that's not the Biko my mama used to make. Thank goodness there were those who had recipes passed down from their parents the same way my mama used to make it.
Well as you can see below it took me four attempts to get it right and actually it's still not as good as mama's.
The first attempt was with that cake kind of recipe including eggs and milk and that came out all wrong. The second attempt wasn't any better and that's when I got frustrated and started asking for help on Facebook. The third attempt was close but came out a little too soggy so I made it into a Biko Pecan pie and actually tasted great. The fourth attempt was a charm! Finally came out the way I remember from my childhood but it'll never be as good as mama's because the ingredients that will always be missing is mama's unconditional love and affection. It's time to close my eyes and savor the memory.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||
| 1st attempt, my Biko Flop | 2nd attempt, Biko Frustration | 3rd, made a Biko Pecan Pie | 4th attempt, finally perfect |
Recipes:Although some recipes for Biko say to use sweet rice like da kine in the picture but you can use Calrose rice as well.
INGREDIENTS:
3 Cups Sweet Rice
1 Can Coconut milk
1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
½ Jar Coconut Jam
1 Cup light Brown Sugar
PREPERATION:
Prepare Syrup:
Heat 1 can of Coconut milk, with 1 cup dark brown sugar and ½ jar coconut jam, low heat until all dissolves and thickens. (Will only use about half so put away in jar in refrigerator for later use)
Cook sweet rice in rice cooker. When done, mix in 1 cup of light brown sugar until dissolved.
Place in aluminum baking tray (9 x 9) or (8 x 8). Press firmly into tray. Pour syrup mix on top.
Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, or until whole top layer begins to bubble.
Then broil medium for 10 minutes, or broil high for 5 minutes. Again, wait until the top layer bubbles and darkens.
This will darken the top layer, and the edges will crust up. Make sure to keep a close watch during the broiling process. My first few batches, I left too long and burnt the top. And as tempting as it may be, don't cut it until it cools down...
This is the best recipe I could find and I forgot where I got it from, oh well, enjoy.
The Coconut Grinder
My dad made this heavy wooden device with a serated toothed piece of metal to grind coconut meat out of the shell. The metal piece was a heavy peice of steel or a large metal spoon with serated teeth cut into it at the end. My dad use to sit on the Igad (Coconut Grinder) by the stove in the kitchen to scrape the coconut meat out of the shell. I knew when my dad was doing this my mom was going to make some kind of Filipino dessert.
They made what they called "tombong tombong". Rice flour dumplings cooked in a sauce made of coconut, brown sugar, coconut milk and rice sticks. My mom made the best biko mixing the brown sugar n coconut. I remember how good the house would smell.Then we knew we were going to have bibingka malagkit (parents were both Illocano but would call it malagkit) or those sweet rice balls cooked in coconut milk.
My dad made this heavy wooden device with a serated toothed piece of metal to grind coconut meat out of the shell. The metal piece was a heavy peice of steel or a large metal spoon with serated teeth cut into it at the end. My dad use to sit on the Igad (Coconut Grinder) by the stove in the kitchen to scrape the coconut meat out of the shell. I knew when my dad was doing this my mom was going to make some kind of Filipino dessert.
They made what they called "tombong tombong". Rice flour dumplings cooked in a sauce made of coconut, brown sugar, coconut milk and rice sticks. My mom made the best biko mixing the brown sugar n coconut. I remember how good the house would smell.Then we knew we were going to have bibingka malagkit (parents were both Illocano but would call it malagkit) or those sweet rice balls cooked in coconut milk.
