Suman sa Lihiya Recipe – Glutinous rice is a prominent ingredient in many Asian recipes. A popular way to enjoy glutinous rice is as a dessert. Among the many desserts and snacks that feature this ingredient, there is one snack that is majorly comprised of glutinous stick rice. That dish is called suman. Suman refers to a rice cake that originates in the Philippines. It is typically made by cooking glutinous rice in coconut milk. It is then wrapped in banana leaves, coconut leaves or palm leaves and steamed.
The glutinous rice dish is usually enjoyed with sugar or sprinkled with dried coconut (latik). Generally, you’ll find that there are plenty of Filipino desserts and dishes featuring coconut and rice. Other than suman, another type of Filipino dessert that heavily features coconut and glutinous rice. One example is Biko. Biko is glutinous rice cake made of coconut milk, brown sugar, and ginger. It is usually topped with latik and can be made with different flavors. One of these flavors is “Ube Biko.”
Suman is a generally simple dish but it comes with several variations. Suman sa lihiya is one of those variations. This variation is different from regular suman because it is treated with lye. This means the glutinous rice is mixed with lye water rather than steamed in coconut milk. It’s a fairly simple dish to make and you can try it with this Suman sa Lihiya Recipe:
Suman sa Lihiya
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups glutinous rice
- 1 teaspoon lye water
- 2 cups water
- 1 whole banana leaf cleaned
Instructions
- Put the glutinous rice in a mixing bowl and add water. Stir it up and let it soak for 2 to 3 hours.
- Drain the water and add lye water. Give it a good stir and let it sit for 30 minutes. Just make sure not to use too much lye water!
- Get your banana leaves ready. If you’re using fresh ones, you can heat them up briefly over a fire to release their natural aroma and make them more flexible. If they’re fresh frozen, just wash them in warm water. You’ll need two leaves per serving – a bigger one that’s about 12 by 10 inches and a smaller one that’s 4 by 5 inches.
- Place the bigger leaf on a flat surface, then put the smaller leaf in the center.
- Scoop about 1/4 cup of the rice mixture onto the smaller leaf.
- Fold the leaf to secure the rice mixture (check out a video for help!) and tie it up with kitchen twine.
- Put the folded banana leaves with rice mixture in a pot and add enough water.
- Turn on the heat and let it boil. Then lower the heat and simmer for 80 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and transfer the banana leaf covered rice cake to a serving dish.
- Serve it up with white sugar, brown sugar, or latik.
Toppings for Suman Sa Lihiya
The most common topics for suman, is latik. What is latik? Depending on the area, latik refers to two things in the Philippines. In the Visayan region, latik is a syrupy caramelized coconut cream. Think of it as a type of coconut caramel sauce used as a dessert sauce. Meanwhile, in the northern Philippines, latik refers to coconut curds used as dessert toppings.
When making these two versions of latik, you need coconut milk. The different is that, when making latik sauce, there is brown sugar involved in the process. Both versions of latik take some time to make but they are not overly difficult to make. You also have the option to find premade versions of these toppings at Asian markets.
Similar Dishes
There are several Filipino desserts that incorporates glutinous rice and latik. One dish that is similar to Suman sa Lihiya in terms of featuring coconut and containing lye water in the recipe is Pichi Pichi Cassava. It is a gelatinous dessert made from cassava, sugar and water/coconut juice then topped with coconut shavings or cheese.
If you love coconut, you should try Palitaw. Palitaw is a flat rice cake covered in coconut. It is still rather sweet, but if you want a simple but delicious snack, it is one option to consider. These are just some of the many desserts that feature a glutinous rice and coconut combination.
Other desserts that features glutinous or rice made sweet include Champorado and Carioca. The easiest way to describe these two would be chocolate porridge and sweet sticky rice balls respectively. If you want to try other similar treats, check out Suman Malagkit, Tupig, or Suman Moron.
