Roadside Bibingka, Catmon Cebu
A couple of weeks ago, Marketman & Company went off to Malapascua, that small island on the Northern tip of the island of Cebu. The next dozen or so posts shall chronicle highlights of our terrific trip up North. A leisurely three hour drive plus 30 minute banca ride from Cebu City, Malapascua is a diver’s paradise and sometimes hailed as a “mini-Boracay” or “Boracay -15 years ago”. Heading North out of the City of Cebu, at the early hour of 5 a.m., we passed Mandaue, Liloan (where the famous Titay’s rosquillos are made), and through more and more rustic towns along the Eastern coast of Cebu. We kept our eyes peeled for roadside bibingkas that one of my crew recalled enjoying on previous trips along this route. Finally, in the outskirts of Catmon, we ran across some roadside street vendors whose stalls were just letting off a phenomenal amount of smoke.
We stopped the van and got out and crossed the street and sure enough, the most amazing little bibingkas were on display. But almost more amazing were the makeshift ovens in which they were baked. Made of some galvanized iron sheets with burning coconut husks placed above and some hot embers underneath a drawer filled with small pans, this oven was hot enough to cook the bibingkas in say 10-12 minutes. Probably better referred to as “puto” in Manila and up north, these simple rice cakes with a little coconut milk and sugar were sublime simply because they were hot out of the oven and done in such an ingenuous, and smokey manner. Cooked in little metal tins lined with banana leaves, these vendors sell hundreds of these bibingkas to passing cars and trucks every single morning (with the possbile exception of Sundays).
I tried to get close to one of the ovens to take some photos but was quickly OVERWHELMED by the smoke! Teary eyed and temporarily blinded, I decided to step back and do telephoto snapshots instead. With 4 guys in the van, I figured a dozen small bibingkas would be sufficient, but we quickly regretted not buying more, because just a few kilometers down the road we ran out of the hot, tasty, baked (not steamed) bibingkas. They were incredibly fresh tasting, the cake springy and lighter than most steamed putos available in Cebu, and they had a subtle coconut milk flavor and just the right amount of sweetness. Perfectly cooked, they had a nice “crust” on top. And get this, at a price of PHP2.50 or 6 U.S. cents each, these were definitely the bargain purchase of the trip!
Yum! I missed my neighbor’s bibingka back home. Looking forward to your post on Malapascua. =)
April 23rd, 2008I remember these puto/bibingkas or what I thought were baked putos when I first had them. Very tasty and love them slathered in butter.
April 23rd, 2008Didn’t see anything on my ride up to the pier to Malapascua, as it was in the middle of the night and the roads were kind of spooky! But it is a place I’d love to return to one day.
Roadside bibingka is considered another truly pinoy classic. One can see that this are still baked in a make do oven, fired with coconut husks or shells from top and below. Although amazingly primitive one can see that it is the very basic principle of an oven. The one in the photo is already a new style, here in the province the makers just use veg. oil tin cans. This is still how rural folks do it today in our part of the country. But you’re right there MM the smoky flavor makes it unique! Before baking powder, bibingkas were leavened with tuba which made them all the more distinctive, but it takes a long time for it rise. Would you be interested in a recipe for this bibingka?I will be happy to provide you with one that is if you don’t have it already.
April 23rd, 2008Homebuddy, would love a recipe with tuba… all the ones I have, including those for tortas, already use baking powder. However, I understand the version with tuba needs to “stand” overnight or at least several hours… Thanks for the offer! Mila, I can definitely see how the drive up at the witching hour could be utterly creepy. Gaye, lots of posts coming up from Northern Cebu and Malapascua…
April 23rd, 2008hmmm…yummy! unlucky me i havent got any chance to taste a really good bibingka.
April 23rd, 2008those are some great looking and i bet great tasting bibingkas! i haven’t tasted one of those since last year lol! bibingkas like that can also be spotted in aklan and i really love them hot. anyway, thanks for a scrumptious post mr. marketman! ^^
April 23rd, 2008They also have that in Pardo and Talisay. Love the smell of freshly baked bibingkas. I would rather have them than the oily suman.
April 23rd, 2008I have never had one of these fresh from the oven. My Cebuano officemate brings them as handcarry whenever he comes back from a weekend with his family. We have to make do with reheating it in the microwave and then slather them with sweet butter. I find them denser and richer, probably because of the coconut milk.
Maybe I can cook this using a traditional bibingka contraption only maybe I would put it in muffin tins. Hehe…
April 23rd, 2008MM, sorry I couldn’t find the old, old recipe using tuba as leavener, I have probably discarded it because sometimes the bibingka turns a little sour because tuba ferments and it takes forever, before it can be cooked. But don’t worry, this version taste the same without the sour taste. Try to use “lina”, newly harvested tuba minus the coloring, one that you posted a few weeks ago. However, if not available new tuba with coloring will do. By the way, I use my toaster oven with a thermometer, one with coils on the top and below to achieve the same results as that of the make do native oven. Works very well, although you can only bake 4-6 pcs. at a time.
“Bibingka Bisaya”
1/2 kilo “Laon” White Rice soaked in water overnight.
Drain then add 2nd extraction coco milk. Let
stand for 30 min. and grind to a smooth paste.
(include coco milk when grinding rice).
3 coconuts grated
a. 1st extraction: Add 1 1/2 cup hot water and
extract cream. Set aside.
b. 2nd extraction: Add enough water to cover the
rice
Since commercial rice flour is so convenient and easy, I use:
4 cups rice flour
1 1/4 cups coco milk (2nd extraction.
1/4 cup Tuba
Soak flour and let stand until all the liquid is absorbed and a thick paste-like consistency is obtained.
1 coconut “ungol” (coco that is in between young and mature)
grated. Grind with the rice. If using rice
flour, process “ungol” so its finer and mix with
the rice paste.
To the 1 1/2 cups coco cream, add 1/4 kilo refined sugar and cook stirring until it turns to “latik” (heavy syrup stage, not jam). Cool and mix this with the rice paste.
Add: 3 Tbsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
The consistency should be like thick batter.
Line molds with wilted banana leaves and fill 3/4 full. May garnish with buco strings if desired ( it tastes better with buco). Cook in a 350 deg. toaster oven until done, then turn on the broiler in the last 1-2 minutes of baking to get that burnt crisp top crust.
Do keep me posted on the result of your bibingka.
April 23rd, 2008When we were small, whenever we went on trips around Cebu, and especially to the beach, my sisters and I always kept our eyes peeled for roadside bibingka. What a treat! Several decades older now, but some habits never change, still stop the car at the hint of bibingka! Thanks for this post, MM.
April 23rd, 2008only P2.50? wow!
makes me want to go back to cebu soon.. thanks for the post, will list down bibingka @ carmon, cebu for our next cebu trip =D
ps.. can i request for a list of yummy torta makers in cebu? thanks thanks
April 23rd, 2008Thank you so much HOMEBUDDY for posting your recpe…would love to try it.
Sister, MM, Homebuddy, Maria Clara, Apicio, Silly Lolo…anyone out there, can you please help out a fellow foodie? Don’t have access to tuba over here…What can I substitute for tuba? Would adding yeast work?
April 24th, 2008Can’t wait for your post on Malapascua Island. I visited the island about 7 years ago. I was pleased to see it was not as crowded and overbuilt as Boracay. Locals still live by the sea and we even photographed the kids who were playing/swimming in the beach with us. We couldn’t understand them much as we did not speak the dialect but the laughter and smiling faces I will never forget.
April 24th, 2008betty q: There is tuba at the Thai market in a beer like bottle. It tastes exactly like our tuba it is called “Palm Juice.” I would use yeast or baking powder concurrently with the tuba to give the galapong/batter a lift. It is very rich though not sweet at all but flavorful has different flavor profile from coconut milk. I use it making guinataang bilo bilo and pina colada cocktail drink but not in puto or bibingka.
April 24th, 2008Thank you MC for coming to my rescue as well!…I shall try that…
April 24th, 2008I feel nostalgic looking at the photos… I, too, have a favorite freshly-cooked puto/bibingka(we call it puto in Ilocos)the ones sold at the foot of the historic Santa Maria (Ilocos Sur) church… they are delicious! (Although I doubt it if they sell it at P2.50 ea!)
April 24th, 2008mm, these are the kinds of posts i truly look forward to reading. I will be in the philippines this july and have been going over your previous posts for ideas of where to go and what to try. bibingka is definitely going to be on my list!
April 24th, 2008MM The best Bibingka (and cooked in a virtually identical way) we have eaten were on Bantayan Island a couple of years ago. I have been addicted since. Bantayan is close to Malapascua and north Cebu - must be something in the Bibingka air in that area…
April 24th, 2008Have been away for a while and have not had the chance to say that the Mangosteen jam I was fortunate enough to win was absolutely great and many thanks to you! We tried it all sorts of ways but the favourite was at weekend breakfast with croissants (which is a treat and not the normal fast gulped coffee and out of the door to work!). We also covered some pork chops in a mangosteen jam, ginger, onion and other bits mix, individually wrapped them in foil and then baked them in the oven. Sounds awful but tasted delicious - it makes the meat succulent and sweet.
Looking forward to your Malapascua stories - it’s a nice island.
yummy, bibingka(any kind, as long as it’s fresh and slathered with butter + kesong puti)my favorite…can’t wait to try this when i visit the philippines soon!
April 24th, 2008Betty Q,
April 24th, 2008You’re welcome! You can probably use the semi-day red wines that taste like bahalina, anyway the tuba in the recipe is just for flavor. Happy baking!
Thanks for the recipe Homebuddy, and many more thanks for the tip on using an oven toaster. That I have in my cramped apartment. No need to kill the neighbors with smoke from the traditional bibingka cooker, though the smoke flavor would be nice. Hehe…
April 24th, 2008hmmm, yep i can still remember the smell of these roadside bibingkas the last time i went to bantayan island(they have the same route, right?)..apprarently i haven’t tried the bantayan bibingkas but im pretty sure its going to taste good as well. as far as i can remember, vendors are also selling this inside the bus-still very fresh and hot.
April 24th, 2008i guess every part of the Philippines has their own version of their bibingkas especially those towns that has vast coconut plantations….
i have tasted also bibingkas in davao(not in the city but rather in the neighboring towns/cities like digos and tagum) and they are very tasty aswell.
MM, pls forwrd me recipe of you bibingka. i am from capiz and would really love to get hold of ur recipe. my wife from the US will be here in 2 weeks and she always loved bibingka. pls help. thanks in advance
April 25th, 2008Rayan, there is a simple recipe for bibingka in the archives, but it is more the tagalog bibingka.
April 25th, 2008MM!
i almost cried seeing those scrumptious bibingkas lined up… we used to go through the same road, and probably bought from the same stall. bibingka made with tuba is really the best, although it doesn’t last as long after it’s cooked.
if only plane fare from Dallas was like MNL-CEB via PAL… Tsk, tsk…
April 25th, 2008I miss bibingka. The ready-to-make version from a box just doesn’t cut it.
April 28th, 2008my holidays been cancelled…. sniff sniff… miss cebuano bingkas very much…
April 28th, 2008btw my family originally from catmon
No wonder bibingkas in Lugait, Misamis Oriental, hometown of my husband, taste and look like Catmon bibingkas. My husband’s family hail from Catmon as well as 3-4 generations of his relatives who are now taga Lugait. Everytime I visit Lugait I always ask my late mother in law to order the Lugait bibingka and Kabog suman. The latter also originated from Catmon, Cebu and is only available after the February fiesta in Catmon when some people from Lugait would visit and buy a kind of “bird food” which they use for Kabog. Kabog, in addition to bibingka is a must taste for everyone who wants to experience truly Filipino countryside snacks.
May 3rd, 2008Do you have a bibingka recipe using yeast instead of baking powder? In the late 40’s on the island of Maui, I recall my grandmother making bibingka with yeast, ground sweet rice,white sugar, coconut milk (don’t recall other ingredients, if any) and pouring batter into tin cans lined w/banana leaves. It was baked. Results was not cake. More like a dense bread. Hope you can help me out.
Mahalo!
May 6th, 2008Joie, sorry, I haven’t done one with yeast…
May 6th, 2008Marketman:
May 7th, 2008Thanks for responding.
:)Joie
Maria Clara’s post about tuba in Thailand made me purchase here in Australia some frozen puto from Thailand made wth tuba. It is called “Kanom Tarn” and ingredients are listed as:
May 29th, 2008white rice flour 40%, coconut cream 22%, Toddy Palm 20%, sugar 17% salt 0.7%, water 0.3%.
It was unlike any rice cake dish I have ever tried with an underlying lingering richness, which must experienced as it cannot be described. It was even packaged with fresh grated coconut.
Interesting observations on my common snack when I was growing up. I was born in Argao, Cebu to a mother who is from Maca-as, Catmon.
June 7th, 2008Bibingka was our snack food especially during Thursdays during Catmon, Cebu’s market day, our “tabo” in Catmondaan, a barrio six kilometers from the “lungsod” or town center where the church is located.
One of my cousins have a secret recipe for bibingka, I just don’t have it now….but the taste makes all other bibingka’s pale in comparison. One of these days I will ask her to make that bibingka here in Manila.
Homebuddy! Craving roadside bibingka these days. My Tita tried to cook one but it’s the Abra version. I’m in Canada. Is it possible to cook it without using Tuba? What can be used as a substitute to Tuba?
June 9th, 2008can i please have and know the recipe of puto galapong and bibingka. thanks
September 4th, 2008I have tasted the bibingka in COLAWIN ,ARGAO, CEBU, I love it
September 27th, 2008I would like to know how they are mixed it.IM IN IRELAND AT THE MOMENT IS IT POSSIBLE WE ONLY USE YEAST, COZ I HEARD THAT SOME ARE USING TUBA, BUT WE DONT HAVE TUBA HERE.
Thank you soo much Homebuddy for the recipe. i really miss bibingka in cebu! its been a long time since i eat some. waaa the picture makes my mouth watering..i remember when i was in cebu (in our province) everytime there is a fiesta my mama bought lots of bibingka for us,hehe.
i will try to make some at home! tnx again Homebuddy for the recipe.
October 3rd, 2008