A glimpse to modern day Kakanin

Rice is the staple foods of the Filipinos and with our creativity, we make it flavorful and extraordinary. It is called “Kakanin”; it is the native desserts or snacks of Pinoy.  It is made from rice (kanin), it can from whole grain, powdered rice or soaked in water for an hour then ground. It is regular rice or glutinous or sticky rice (malagkit) most of the time it has coconut milk and sugar to make it sweet. Kakanin are usually baked, steamed or boiled and always prepared or covered with banana leaves that add more favor to it. We have variety of kakanin in the Philippines, it came from different provinces and usually they have different versions of different kakanin.

Before kakanin was sold in the market (palengke), streets or vendors carrying "bilao" (basket) that peddle in the communities. Today kakanin can be found in the malls, restaurants, fast-food chain and also streets but with stall. The traditional cooking that usually took a lot of time and uses “coal” or uling that create a lot of smokes are now improved with technology. It is now smoke free, fast and effortless. The tastes were developed and add twist that makes it more flavorful and mouthwatering.

Kakanin is really a part of Filipinos rich culture. It is one of the distinctive identities of Pinoys that will always remain and preserved. As this week is the first week of “ber” months or for the Filipinos like us is the start of Christmas season and during this season the most popular kakanin are “bibingka and puto-bumbong”. People usually bought bibingka or puto-bumbong after “simbang gabi” or Dawn mass. Since “bibingka” is the most popular “kakanin” every Christmas season, here is a recipe of “bibingka” for you to taste it yourself or use it in your business this season.

Bibingka Recipe

banana leaves, optional

1½ cups rice flour (galapong)

1 tablespoon baking powder

pinch of salt

¾ cup powdered sugar

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup coconut milk

4 tablespoons melted butter

kesong puti (farmer's white cheese), sliced into 1 inch x ¼-inch thick pieces

Procedures:

• Preheat oven toaster to 425°F.
• Line muffin cups with banana leaves. In a medium bowl, mix all the ingredients, except cheese, until well incorporated. Butter should be runny; add more milk to adjust consistency. Fill the cups half-full. Top with 2 pieces of cheese and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown.
• Spread some butter and sprinkle sugar on top, if desired.
• Best served with hot "salabat" (ginger tea)

Pinoy Sweets

We Filipinos especially I really love to eat sweets and I think you are not a Filipino if you are not going to eat rice every day. The combination of these two is having a product of “Kakanin”, imagine! Having two likes of Filipinos in one is so delicious. One of the best delicacies of every Filipino in the Philippines is what we called “Kakanin”. It is very popular when month of “ber” was/is coming, because “ber” month is a month of winter season, that’s why people always want of some hot and heavy food to fill up their needs and that is “Kakanin”. It gives extra benefits for those people who ate it. First, it can satisfy your stomach needs. Second, since it was made up of ground rice it can help your body to supply lots of nutrients and lastly, it is “sulit” or get more what we pay for, since it was affordable and available in every season.

Without “Kakanin” on your table during Christmas feels like an ordinary day, because having “Kakanin” in Christmas gives more excitement in every Filipinos. Now that is month of “ber”, lots of vendor selling it along the streets so, it is easy to find, affordable and yummy and especially it is pure Filipino so we better patronize it. “Kakanin”! Gawang Pinoy.

Flavors of the Streets

Are you hungry but you’re budget is not enough for fast-food restaurants? The sidewalks are the perfect place to go! You can find delectable, convenient, practical and best of all easy on the pocket foods that can satisfy your appetite. These are ready-to-eat foods and drink that cost less than a restaurant meal or popularly known as the Street Foods. Most of the street foods are barbecued, fried, boiled or steamed, etc. and sometimes exotic.  This is suitable for most of the people with limited time and budget. Street foods have become part now of Pinoy cuisine and culture. Here are some of the most popular street foods:

"Halo -halo ni Juan dela Cruz"

Juan dela Cruz was really popular in terms of creativity; for every crops they made, there's a reflection of tradition, culture and patrimony to their motherland; love, happiness and care to everyone; and even in the names they've given to those crops, were creatively done, which recognizes as one trademark of Juan dela Cruz. And some of those were foods.

Halo-halo, adidas, barbaque, balot, penoy, isaw, betamax, kwek-kwek and fishballs are some popular foods for Juan, which you may buy along the streets (Streets foods). Those street foods were really affordable and delicious, that's why those were indeed popular to the taste of Filipinos and even sometimes to those foreigners.

Halo- halo can be categorized as street food and is one of the most popular dessert or Snack for Filipinos and even to other nationalities who have been visited Juan. Since the country archipelagos were found near the equator, Philippines spent its year of mostly hot weather. That's why this food is really in demand.

Halo-halo is basically made up of different ingredients or a mixture of banana, ripe mango, gelatin, ripe jack fruit, sweet corn or chick peas (garbanzos), shredded coconut, cooked sweet yams (ube halaya), shaved ice, milk, scoops of favorite ice cream and chopped peanuts or rice krispies.

To say that Filipino Cultures were reflected in this food, that is Juan's cultures were mostly influenced by the western country, as you can see the ice cream, which is a Western ingredient, may be on top of the concoction, likewise, to say that Filipino culture is essentially Eastern at the same as taking only the Asian tropical fruits in the halo-halo and failing to drink the melted ice cream in the mixture. One then misses passion, which is the creme of Filipino culture.

But on the other hand though there are various interpretations about this, no doubt that even Filipinos have different cultures and traditions we see that just like Halo-halo, contained different ingredients, put together, there's a wonderful taste that everybody would search once they taste it. like on Juan's Cultures and traditions, even those were diversified, when those were put together you'll see the beauty, reality and amazing colors of Juan dela Cruz.

Turu- turo (pointing out the Pinoy taste)

“Turu- turo” or Street foods. I think the best way I would define street foods in the Philippines are, affordable and readily available at all streets and corners. It is ready-to-eat food or drink sold along the street or other public places like schools, churches, parks, office buildings, or any other place with a sidewalk, even in malls. Everywhere you look you will find crowded people eating along the streets and corners, because prices of commodities are getting high, many Filipinos look for cheapest food, and at the prices ranging from three pesos(P3) to twenty pesos(P20) you can now easily satisfy your hunger somewhere out there.

I can also say that street foods are Filipinos addiction; it is a mouth watering pleasure that is quickly satisfying and perhaps and most importantly affordable. It is an alternative to restaurant dining or meal that can also fill your stomach without spending too much.

Foods play an important part of Filipino culture. They say street foods are often reflecting to our culture, because we Filipinos really love to eat even when we’re happy, sad, anxious, bored and angry, sometimes we just trip too. While the infinite number of unusual restaurants or street stalls ready to serve us to satisfy our hungry and cravings.

Each street food activity/enterprise is generally small in size, requires relatively simple skills, basic facilities and small amounts of capital, yet they are very numerous and have considerable potential for generating income and employment. It is a good remedy for those who are unemployed because of difficulty of attaining jobs in the formal sector. The income derived is enough to supply their daily needs.

In my opinion, I think we need to acknowledge the importance of informal sector, even though some of us thought that it symbolize as a lack of our economic development, but we need to understand that not all Filipinos are in a good way of living. Selling foods along the streets create a big help for the low-income families to support their daily needs and it would be worse off if there were no street food vendors to serve fast in inexpensive foods. So let’s support street foods.