[Ilonggo Notes] Scrumptious and salacious Ilonggo bingka and puto

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

“Bibingka” (AKA bingka), or baked rice cake, is used as a naughty reference to feminine genitalia. A long time in the past, when out with associates, 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 most definitely 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 may be 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 kind has banana leaf as base, clean, sweetish, and a part of it could follow the leaf, which I’d typically scape off utilizing fingers and tongue. That is “puto Manapla,” presumably due to its origins in Manapla city in Negros Occidental.

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

Ted mentioned he at all times used a particular kind of rice — as a result of different sorts wouldn’t simply minimize it. Sadly, Ted handed away not too long ago, and his descendants not make it. 

I used to go biking, wanting on the signal exterior his little house/store, for the handwritten signal on a blackboard, which both learn, “wala na puto” (No extra puto) or, “Might puto pa” — that 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 in style iteration is a bunch of three puto wrapped in banana leaf, or “puto sa dahon;” some name this “puto likit.” Sellers say it’s truly made in Guimaras island, or in some components of Pavia city. 

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

Through the Christmas holidays, “puto bumbong,” an import from Luzon, is in style; it has a attribute tube form, violet shade, 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 made from grated cassava, and mentioned 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 shouldn’t be 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 house to dozens of Chinese language merchants and mestizos, so this may increasingly haven’t been an unusual sight then!  

“The numerous faces of bibingka” (2023), notes that the phrase “bibingka” might 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 similar in identify, (mentioned 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 a long time in the past. On Sundays, Dad would take us to Villa seashore for a swim. Villa again then had superb blackish-gray sand, gently sloping shores, with bamboo tables set out underneath 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 house.  

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

Years later, related variations of this “Villa” bibingka would discover its method 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 subsequent model of bibingka that I recall is a plumper, softer one, rather more like a cake or mamon (muffin), with token coconut strips. This could be the basic “Bingka ni Neneng.” It might be topped with salted egg or cheese and would even have a banana leaf base. It will have a dab of margarine. 

These have been in style pasalubong from Manila for some time, only for the novelty; within the ’80s it was even popularized in a music of the identical identify. This could be billed as “Royal Bibingka” as if to “elevate” it. Yet one more model of the bibingka is made from balinghoy (cassava), and it could be known as “cassava bibingka;” it could be extra moist, typically with a candy caramelized topping.

Then, there may be 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 measurement, rectangular form, thicker and gooey texture, and many 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 couple of extra distinct variations — the bingka from Balasan (a northern Iloilo city), obtainable 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 suitable 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 at the present time, is a part of its gastronomic heritage — the panorama and local weather that grows rice, coconuts, and sugar abundantly.  Moreover, the improvements in utilizing domestically obtainable materials (banana leaf base, coconut husks for the fireplace, cassava, makeshift tin ovens and pans), and its cheap worth, make it a really native deal with. Absolutely, “mabenta ang bingka asta san-o. (Bingka will probably be a greatest vendor ceaselessly).” – Rappler.com