Ube Biko is sweet, chewy, and made extra yummy with purple yam and latik topping. Perfect for holiday parties and sure to be a crowd favorite!
Guys, it's going to be a hectic next three weeks here at Kawaling Pinoy! Like the previous year, I will be doing a holiday series of recipes to give you some ideas for Noche Buena and Media Noche.
I have brand new recipes I will be posting on the blog in the coming days, such as mini special sapin sapin, ube flan, everlasting, taisan, fruitcake, and many more! Make sure to check the blog daily and find something delicious to make for the holidays.
To kick off this year's series is the creamy and delicious buko salad from yesterday. There's no better dish to start our list, right? Because what is a Filipino Christmas without this Filipino fruit salad?
And next is this ube biko! Because what could be a better Filipino dessert than a creamy and chewy rice cake with purple yam flavor and latik topping?
Procedure
Like our sinukmani recipe, this biko with ube involves a three-step process. It's pretty straightforward to make, but it does require a bit of time and elbow grease to cook to the right consistency, which is thick and chewy.
- Making the Latik- prepare the golden coconut curds beforehand as the extracted oil will be used to grease the pan and rice cake for added flavor and aroma
- Steaming the glutinous rice- cook the malagkit until partially cooked as it will finish in the sweetened coconut mixture. Add a knotted pandan leaf for fragrance, if you like.
- Cooking the biko- this is the bulk of the work and will take about an hour or so. The mixture must be stirred and cooked until very thick, sticky, and pulls away from the sides of the pan. To make the process more manageable and to minimize sticking, use a wide non-stick pan as well as silicone or wooden spoon.
Cooking tips
- As with regular rice, the water to rice ratio for different brands of glutinous rice may vary and you might have to adjust the amount used to steam the rice.
- Drain the rice well after rinsing as the excess liquid will affect the texture.
- I used store-bought ube halaya which is already sweetened. If using cooked mashed ube, adjust the amount of sugar to one cup.
- The recipe will fit a 9 x 13 x 1 pan; cut it into desired sizes to serve your party!
How to serve and store
- Serve with latik topping for a midday snack or after-meal dessert.
- To store leftovers, wrap tightly with plastic film and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
- To reheat, warm in the microwave at 1 to 2-minute intervals until slightly softened.
More ube favorites
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut cream
- 4 cups glutinous rice
- 3 cups water
- 3 cans (13.5 ounces each) coconut milk
- 1 cup ube halaya
- ยพ cup sugar
- ยฝ teaspoon salt
- 4 drops ube extract
Equipment
- 1 9 x 13 baking dish
Instructions
- In a pan over medium heat, add the coconut cream and bring to a boil. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid starts to thicken.ย
- Lower heat and simmer. As the oil starts to separate and solids begin to form, regularly stir and scrape sides and bottom of theย pan to prevent from burning.
- Continue to cook and stir until curds turn golden brown.ย Using a fine-mesh sieve or colander, drain latik. Reserve oil.
- Grease bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 x 1 baking pan with coconut oil. Set aside.
- Wash the glutinous rice a few times until water runs almost clear. Drain well.
- In a rice cooker, combine rice and water and cook until liquid is absorbed. Allow to cool to touch and fluff with a fork to separate grains.
- Inย a wide non-stick skillet, combine coconut milk, ube halaya, sugar, and salt. Stir until well-blended.
- Over medium heat, bring to a boil. Lower heat and continue to cook until slightly reduced and thickened.
- Add ube extract and stir to distribute.
- Add rice, gently stirring toย evenly distribute.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour or until mixture is very thick, sticky, and pulls away from the sides of the pan.ย
- Spoon the biko into the prepared baking dish and pat down with a lightly greased spatula to even out.
- Lightly brush the top with coconut oil, cut into portions, and top with latik.ย
Notes
Video
Nutrition Information
โThis website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.โ
Theodore Fong says
How do you store the left over ube biko
Lalaine Manalo says
Refrigerate for up to 3 days ๐