Puto Bumbong Recipe – There are many ways to cook a dessert. But have you ever heard of a sweet snack being cooked in bamboo? That is exactly how Puto Bumbong is made. Puto Bumbong is a type of rice cake and falls under the puto (steamed rice cake) category. One example of puto is one with cheese as a topping. What makes this steamed rice cake recipe so different is that it uses “pirurutong.” Pirurutong refers to a type of glutinous rice that is deep purple or almost black in color and becomes soft, sticky, and aromatic once cooked. It is combined with white glutinous rice to create the dish.
This dish is typically served during the holidays. After the steaming process, this delectable treat is carefully arranged on top of banana leaves and generously brushed with butter or margarine. To add a touch of sweetness, muscovado sugar, brown sugar, or white sugar with sesame seeds is sprinkled over the top, along with grated coconut. For those looking for an extra treat, some even top it off with puto bumbong, condensed milk, or even cheese and leche flan.
How to Make a Puto Bumbong Recipe at Home
When making this dish, bamboo tubes are key. They are also cooked on lansungan, which is a special steamer with metal cylinders that hold the bamboo tubes. They’re available for purchase online, but they’re not completely practical. An alternative to using this tool is using thin aluminum foil containers and a regular steamer instead.
Another thing to note is that pirurutong is a type of sticky rice that’s hard to come by, but if you can find it, consider yourself lucky! If not, you can easily use glutinous rice mixed with some violet food coloring as a substitute.
Puto Bumbong
Ingredients
- 1 cup glutinous rice flour
- 6 tablespoon water
- ¼ teaspoon violet liquid food color
- ½ cup grated coconut
- 1 tablespoon Butter or margarine for brushing
- 3 tablespoon Brown sugar or muscovado
- Grated cheese optional
Instructions
- Let’s start by making some cute containers for our dessert! Take some foil and cut it into thin, long pieces, about 4 inches in length and ¾ inch thick. You’ll need around 8-10 of these.
- Next, let’s add some color to our glutinous rice flour. Grab a small bowl and mix some water with food coloring. Give it a good stir until the color is evenly distributed.
- In a separate bowl, pour in the glutinous rice flour and add the colored water two tablespoons at a time. Stir with a spoon after each addition until the mixture is well combined. Once you’ve added all the liquid, use your hands to mix the dough and break up any clumps.
- Now it’s time to fill our foil containers! Generously brush the inside of each container with butter or margarine, and then spoon in the glutinous rice mixture. Steam the containers for 10-15 minutes, and then let them cool down a bit.
- Once they’re cool, carefully remove the rice logs from the foil and place them on some banana leaves. Brush the leaves with butter or margarine and add up to 4-5 logs per leaf.
- Finally, add some toppings to make it even more delicious! Brush the top and sides of the rice logs with butter or margarine, and then sprinkle on some grated coconut and brown sugar or muscovado. If you like, you can also add grated cheese or roasted sesame seeds. Yum!
Tips and Similar Dishes to Try
When making this dish, there are a few things to keep in mind. If you are not careful with the mixture, you can end up with a completely different consistency. The best way to get right texture and prevent lumpy areas after steaming is by making sure to break up any clumps in your mixture using your hands. The mixture should be crumbly with small, grainy pieces. Additionally, generously brush the foil containers with butter or margarine to prevent sticking.
Puto bumbong is just one of many steamed rice cake dishes in Filipino cuisine. If you want to try a classic rice cake, “Bibingka” is the dish to try. You can also try “Leche Puto.” For another ube/purple yam flavored dish, there is “Ube Biko.” You can also explore other variants of rice desserts with “Sapin Sapin” and “Carioca.”
