[Ilonggo Notes] Scrumptious and salacious Ilonggo bingka and puto

Filipinos usually mess around with phrases and use sexual innuendo when referring to meals, and our ubiquitous rice muffins, that are day by day fare, bear this out. 

“Bibingka” (AKA bingka), or baked rice cake, is used as a naughty reference to feminine genitalia. Many years in the past, when out with pals, flirting, doing informal hook-ups, if one within the group catches the attention of another person, we’d joke, “Aba, ang benta ng bingka mo,” (Hmm, your bingka is a greatest vendor) which might ship the group into peals of laughter. 

Whereas “puto” (steamed rice muffins), are almost certainly an adaptation of the Malaysian phrase “puttu” (“portion”), others declare that the time period refers back to the male model of “puta” (whore, gay), a derogatory time period in Spanish. Then there’s the extra explicitly named “monay” bread, with its attribute form. 

Maybe these phrases are methods of reacting to sexual repressions imposed by faith and society. However anyway, coded language, alliteration, double-entendre, and subversion of the phrases all make them hilarious.

Puto, the steamed, barely fermented rice muffins, combined with coconut milk and sugar, are frequent in all components of the nation. And Iloilo has a number of distinct variations. One sort has banana leaf as base, clean, sweetish, and a part of it might keep on with the leaf, which I’d usually scape off utilizing fingers and tongue. That is “puto Manapla,” presumably due to its origins in Manapla city in Negros Occidental.

One other sort, barely grainier in texture, has a contact of coconut milk; each have been usually vended door-to-door within the mornings. Later, one other well-liked model cropped up, which was produced in Santa Cruz road in Villa, and named after the proprietor. Ted’s rice puto was smaller, formed in a mildew with ridges, was a bit heavier/dense. 

Ted stated he all the time used a particular sort of rice — as a result of different sorts wouldn’t simply minimize it. Sadly, Ted handed away lately, and his descendants now not make it. 

I used to go biking, wanting on the signal outdoors his little residence/store, for the handwritten signal on a blackboard, which both learn, “wala na puto” (No extra puto) or, “Could puto pa” — which means, it had not but offered out. 

Later, different variations have been added by entrepreneurs: meals colours – orange, inexperienced, purple; a sliver of cheese, a minute piece of floor pork, and these have been christened “cheese pao,” ‘ube pao” and “puto pao” (from the chinese language siopao, or steamed bun). 

One other well-liked iteration is a bunch of three puto wrapped in banana leaf, or “puto sa dahon;” some name this “puto likit.” Sellers say it’s really made in Guimaras island, or in some components of Pavia city. 

All some of these puto go effectively with savory soups equivalent to La Paz batchoy or with dinuguan, a pork blood-and-entrails stew. One different model of puto, is fabricated from malagkit (sticky rice) and taro (ube), with coconut strips; it’s purple and is gooey, finger-stickingly good; this is called “puto tikoy.”

Through the Christmas holidays, “puto bumbong,” an import from Luzon, is well-liked; it has a attribute tube form, violet colour, and topped with shredded coconut and muscovado sugar. In an effort to draw younger consumers, some toppings now embrace grated cheese and condensed milk. Then there’s “puto lanson,” which is fabricated from grated cassava, and stated to have originated in Iloilo. This can be the one puto that doesn’t have a grain of rice.

The phrase “puto” can be typically used to imply “bankrupt” although the way it turned so isn’t clear. I might hear references to “daw na puto nga Intsik” (somebody wanting like a Chinaman who misplaced all his cash, or maybe, was actually “f*cked up”).   

Molo, my hometown and a former parian (chinese language quarters) within the 18th to nineteenth century, was residence to dozens of Chinese language merchants and mestizos, so this may increasingly haven’t been an unusual sight then!  

“The various faces of bibingka” (2023), notes that the phrase “bibingka” could have originated from the chinese language “bi” (raw rice). In some components of Indonesia, a rice and coconut concoction similar to the Ilonggo bibingka exists; whereas the Goan dessert, “bebinca” — nearly equivalent in identify, (stated to be Indo-Portuguese in origin), has 7-16 layers, and is topped with almonds and nutmeg, is completely totally different from the Philippine bibingka.

I had my first style of an Ilonggo bibingka over six many years in the past. On Sundays, Dad would take us to Villa seaside for a swim. Villa again then had high-quality blackish-gray sand, gently sloping shores, with bamboo tables set out below coconut bushes and sheds roofed with palm fronds, lengthy earlier than Breakthrough and Tatoy’s turned bywords. We’d go for bingka on the best way residence.  

These skinny, little rice muffins, made with rice flour, eggs, sugar, and shredded younger coconut, can be cooked in a makeshift oven of flattened galvanized iron, with coals (wooden, dry coconut husks) on prime and beneath. The combination can be ladled onto somewhat spherical mould minimize from a tin can of evaporated milk, about an inch thick, and lined with banana leaf. Generally the perimeters can be somewhat burnt, making it “tostado,” which might be a further deal with for me. 

Years later, comparable variations of this “Villa” bibingka would discover its strategy to the opposite districts of Iloilo, across the plazas, in Molo, Mandurriao, and Jaro. Our neighbors, the Tacorda household, have a pop-up stall within the Molo plaza, and have been promoting bingka for nearly 50 years now. 

The following model of bibingka that I recall is a plumper, softer one, way more like a cake or mamon (muffin), with token coconut strips. This is able to be the traditional “Bingka ni Neneng.” It may very well be topped with salted egg or cheese and would even have a banana leaf base. It might have a dab of margarine. 

These have been well-liked pasalubong from Manila for some time, only for the novelty; within the ’80s it was even popularized in a tune of the identical identify. This is able to be billed as “Royal Bibingka” as if to “elevate” it. One more model of the bibingka is fabricated from balinghoy (cassava), and it might be known as “cassava bibingka;” it might be extra moist, usually with a candy caramelized topping.

Then, there’s Bingka sa Mohon — on the Mohon (boundary) of town correct and Oton city; the barangay is of the identical identify. Mohon’s bingka is famend for its bigger dimension, rectangular form, thicker and gooey texture, and plenty of younger coconut strands. That is offered in a home made cardboard field, and actually goes like hotcakes, normally all gone earlier than midday.   

The weblog Flavours of Iloilo notes that Felicidad Animas first cooked this up within the Nineteen Fifties, and the enterprise stays with the household. That is my favourite of all of the bingkas, and an ode to it’s beneath:

Ang bingka ni Neneng
Matambok-tambok
Ang sa Molo ya
Manipis, higad garagumo
Ang sa Villa iya
Ang lubi nagasobra
Pero sa akon
Sa kanamiton
Wala makadaug
Sang Bingka sa Mohon
(Neneng’s bingka
Is plump and fluffy
The one in Molo
Is skinny, edges crispy
The Villa Bingka
Overflows with coconut
However for me, the tastiest-
None can prime
The bingka of Mohon)

A dialogue about Iloilo’s bibingkas extends past town’s limits and wouldn’t be full with out mentioning a number of extra distinct variations — the bingka from Balasan (a northern Iloilo city), out there in December as much as the Jaro fiesta month (February) within the Jaro Plaza.

Ilonggo meals author Pleasure Rosal describes the RCJ Balasan bibingka (after the initials of the household who originated it), as “distinct for the properly glazed prime and wealthy creamy inside, the correct proportion of younger coconut strands, glutinous rice, refined sugar, eggs and milk.”

And, many others swear by Leling’s bingka of Sta. Barbara city, about 12 kms from town, which has a puto-like texture however properly browned with a barely firmer prime, thicker and topped with coconut strands.  

The persistence — and recognition of each puto and bibingka in Iloilo to today, is a part of its gastronomic heritage — the panorama and local weather that grows rice, coconuts, and sugar abundantly.  Moreover, the improvements in utilizing regionally out there materials (banana leaf base, coconut husks for the hearth, cassava, makeshift tin ovens and pans), and its cheap value, make it a really native deal with. Absolutely, “mabenta ang bingka asta san-o. (Bingka shall be a greatest vendor endlessly).” – Rappler.com