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All About Food February 15, 2020

Biko-making

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All About FoodPhilippines

Biko-making

bee-ko) is a Philippine dessert made from glutinous rice, coconut milk and sugar.

We use black glutinous rice or white or mix of both.

My mother usually do mix. We love mama’s biko. I still remember when we were young and mama makes biko. My sisters and I help stir the latik (caramelized sugar in coconut milk) and of course have a taste when it’s done. We would have our own spoon and scoop the remaining latik on the kawali/kaha (wide cooking pot). Mama would tell us to be careful coz it’s still hot and it would choke us.

My mama’s recipe is simple. Cook the glutinous rice and make latik and mix them together.

I’ve been wanting to make biko for a long time but I just didn’t have the time or complete ingredients to make it.

And finally today, I did it.

I did not follow my mama’s recipe this time and tried something else.

I watched a video on Facebook and my friend also made something similar. It’s the style of biko where you put the latik on top and bake it.

I also the ingredients to my preference.

[ osqv2tir ]

Ingredients

2 & 1/2 cups glutinous rice

1000 ml coconut milk

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

Procedures

1. Wash and cook the glutinous rice. You can use regular pot or a rice cooker. I used a rice cooker. It’s easier.

2. While waiting for the rice to cook, put the coconut milk about half and half into two pots.

3. Put 1.5 cups of white sugar into one pot and 1.5 cups of brown sugar into the other. Turn on the stove to low-medium heat.

4. Bring to boil the coconut milk with white sugar and put the cooked glutinous rice into it. Mix until liquid is absorbed. (I had to turn off the stove and wait for the rice to cook).

5. Simmer the coconut milk and brown sugar mixture. Keep stirring in low heat until it gets sticky and brown.

6. Put the rice in a container and pour latik on top. (I did not have the right container so I just used my leche flan heart molder and another rectangular cake tray. I also did not have banana leaves to put on the tray so I just used parchment paper.)

7. Bake for 30 minutes at 380 degree Fahrenheit. I used our air fryer so it’s a preset function. I just chose “Bake” function.

8. Let it cool and enjoy.

Things I wished I should have done

1. I should have mixed the rice and coconut milk and sugar mixture longer and waited it to dry a little bit.

2. I should have used a bigger container and only fill it half with rice so there’s space for the latik. Mine just flowed out of the heart molder and left a mess in our air fryer oven.

……………………………………………………

There you go. My first time making biko with latik on top. Not bad but I could have done better. Till next time.

Join the conversation

Conversation starters

Unique, article-specific, language-matched conversation starters from reader perspectives that fit the article language, dated around when each story began finding readers. Clearly labeled sparks for the real conversation.

Last little spark

I came for “Biko-making” and stayed for glutinous rice, coconut milk, sugar, Mama’s biko, and sisters helping stir. Biko is delicious, but stirring sticky rice is where arm day secretly begins. The article even leaves a breadcrumb in “Put the rice in a container and pour latik on top..”

Biko memory keeper

The heart of “Biko-making” is glutinous rice, coconut milk, sugar, Mama’s biko, and sisters helping stir. The post turns a dessert into family memory, where food carries labor, childhood, and home.

Detail-noticer

The detail “Cook the glutinous rice and make latik and mix them together.” makes the article feel specific because it points back to glutinous rice, coconut milk, sugar, Mama’s biko, and sisters helping stir.

Feeling-first reader

It feels warm because the sweetness is not only in the biko but in the people gathered around it.

Human aside

Biko is delicious, but stirring sticky rice is where arm day secretly begins.

Question asker

The question I would put under this one: Why do family recipes taste partly like the people who made them?

Reader responses

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