BIKO

Its few more days before the year of the water snakes arrives and sticky situation is never ending in my kitchen. Today, the cravings is on .... B--mo... B--ko! in latik.

There are many ways of cooking malagkit. Traditionally, this rice is cooked in a coconut milk and pandan leaves to christen the rice with aromatic characteristics. Constant stirring and slowly simmering until the luscious soft, moist sticky rice is achieved. As evolution continues, tedious cooking became a passé. Thus, some just drop the glutinous rice grain in a pan with water and cook it like any other regular rice. Sooo eeee--Z, mah! =)

The topping?... Latik! 

In southern part of the Philippines, latik is  a coconut caramel -- that is brown sugar and coconut cream (kakang gata) to be specific, cooked over a low heat, simmer to thick perfection.  As for the rest of the pinas world, latik is the coarse coconut milk crumb, obtained from extracting oil out of coconut milk while cooking over a low heat. Latik is the crumbs reduced from coconut milk. This crumbs are often use as topping for any kakanin of your choice, specifically Biko.


Gourmetic aside, the latik (crumbs), which is by the way have different name in our town, is often cooked by our granny during lent season particularly the eve of palm sunday. Which later on, passed on to our Mamang (Mom) who used to cook it on Holy Wednesday.  Mamang brings the coconut oil to church for the blessing of the priest who transform it to "holy coconut oil" which we used in various purposes, especially medical.  Whether we like it or not, we can't escape the medication because its healing power is enigmatic. Albeit the sweet aroma is annoying, the oil works!


Anyway so much for the food tale =), for my cravings sake-- I am going to use the coconut caramel to bring out the sweet--runny topping on Biko. This latik carries a distinct taste of sweetness blending over the cooked coconut milk. Uuuhmmmm.... Yum--my!

And fyi, in our family, we love our malagkit cooked the traditional way. So I did.  As we always chant --- "Pag may hirap,  May sarap!"

BIKO
makes one 6x9 pan,  enough petite share for 6.

Ingredients:

2 cups malagkit
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup water

Note: You can cook malagkit the way you cook an ordinary rice.

Procedure:

1. Soak malagkit in water about an hour or so, or just wash the malagkit in running water.
2. Simmer coconut milk and water. Do not cover the pan.
3. When the liquid is boiling, add malagkit and simmer until it dries out. Occasional  stirring is a must to prevent the malagkit from sticking to the pan. Better if you are using non-stick pan, saves you the trouble of cleaning up afterwards. 
Lower heat and let the cooking continues. 
4. Done when the malagkit is cooked, shiny, soft and moistly dry.

Topping:

Just the right thickness

200 ml coconut milk
100 ml water
1 cup (250) muscovado sugar

Procedure:

1. Dilute sugar in coconut milk and water, then let it simmer until thick consistency.
2. Place cooked rice in a baking dish or in a container. 
    Mine in a microwaveable container for easy storage.
3. Pour the toppings over the malagkit in a baking dish/ or your preferred container.
4. Let the topping settle, serve warm or under room temperature.

Just look at that sauce!

Enjoy!