Bibingka (; ) is a type of baked rice cake in Filipino cuisine that is cooked in a terracotta oven lined with banana leaves and is usually eaten for breakfast or as merienda (mid-afternoon snack), especially during the Christmas season. It is also known as bingka in the Visayas and Mindanao islands.
Bibingka can also be various other Filipino baked rice cakes, for example, those made with cassava flour ( bibingkang cassava / bibingkang kamoteng kahoy), glutinous rice ( bibingkang malagkit), or plain flour.
Etymology
The origin of the name is unknown. The linguist
Robert Blust hypothesizes that it was originally a
loanword, likely from
Malay language [kue bingka]]. However, the consistent partial
reduplication of the word (
bibingka) in most Philippine languages, is unexplained.
In
Macau and
Portuguese Goa, there exist also a cake called
Bebinca.
Bibingka is the name used for the dish in most languages of the Philippines, including Tagalog language, Ilocano language, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Bikol language, Maranao language, and Mansaka language. It is also known as bingka in Cebuano language and Hiligaynon, bingka or bingkah in Aklanon language, and vivingka in Ivatan language.
Description
Bibingka is a traditional Christmas food in Philippine cuisine. It is usually eaten along with
puto bumbóng as a snack after attending the nine-day
Simbang Gabi ('Night mass', the Filipino version of
Misa de Gallo).
In 2007 the town of Dingras, Ilocos Norte in the Philippines sought Guinness World Records certification after baking a kilometer-long cassava bibingka made from 1,000 kilos of cassava and eaten by 1,000 residents.
The 82-year-old "Ferino’s Bibingka" is Philippines heritage rice cake founded by Ceferino and Cristina Francisco in October 1938 at their rented apartment in Juan Luna Street, Pritil, Tondo, Manila. From its 3 , the couple opened a Manila Hotel complex restaurant in 1957. In 1970, J. Amado Araneta invited Francisco to open a branch at the old Araneta City. 1938 Francisco Food Specialties, Inc.'s President, Sonny Emmanuel V. Francisco and wife Anne, one of the seven children, revealed his father, Alfredo, who died in 2001, revived Ferino’s Bibingka in 1981, in front of the Baclaran Church after Ferino's 1975 death. Using the traditional ‘Palayok,’ the company sells frozen Convenience food bibingka, minibibingka, extra super, super, special, bibingcute variants and toasted bibingka at its biggest Kalayaan Avenue store.
Preparation
In the traditional recipe for
bibingka glutinous rice is soaked in water overnight in
tapayan jars to ferment with wild yeast called
tapai or
tuba palm wine, then ground with a
millstone or
gilingang bato into a batter called
galapong. The fermentation provide a faint aftertaste to the product. To save time, modern versions sometimes use regular
rice flour or Japanese
mochiko flour in place of
galapong. Other ingredients can also vary greatly, but the most common secondary ingredients are eggs and milk.
Bibingka is cooked over coals in a shallow banana leaf-lined terra cotta bowl into which the rice flour mixture is poured.
It is topped with sliced duck egg and cheese, covered with more banana leaf, and then with a metal sheet holding more coals. The result is a soft and spongy large flat cake that is slightly charred on both surfaces and infused with the aroma of toasted banana leaves. Additional toppings are then added, such as butter, sugar, cheese, or grated coconut.
More modern preparation of the dessert makes use of metal cake pans and purpose-built multi-tiered standing electric ovens. Mass-produced bibingka in Philippine bakeries are also made using tin molds that give them a crenulated edge similar to large puto or puto mamon (cupcakes).
Variants
Bibingka is also used as a general term for desserts made with
flour and baked in the same manner. The term can be loosely translated to "rice cake". It originally referred primarily to
bibingka galapong, the most common type of
bibingka made with rice flour. Other native Philippine cakes have also sometimes been called
bibingka. These may use other kinds of flour, such as
Cornmeal,
cassava flour, or
plain flour, and are usually considered separate dishes altogether.
Some variations of
bibingka differ only from the type of toppings they use. The common types of
bibingka are listed below:
-
Bibingka galapóng is the traditional form of bibingka made from ground soaked glutinous rice ( galapóng), water, and coconut milk.
-
Bibingkang malagkít is a moist version of bibingka, typically served sliced into square blocks.
-
Bibingkang Mandaue (Mandaue-style Bibingka) are bibingka from Mandaue, Cebu. It is traditionally made with Palm wine (palm wine) which gives it a slightly tart aftertaste. Nowadays, tubâ is often substituted with yeast.
-
Bibingkoy - a unique variant from Cavite which has a filling of sweetened and served with a sauce of coconut cream, jackfruit, and sago.
-
Buko bibingka - Bibingka baked with slivers of young coconut flesh ( buko).
-
Cassava cake is made from grated cassava (instead of rice), coconut milk, and condensed milk. It is the most similar to pudding in appearance. Also known as cassava bibingka or bibingkang kamoteng kahoy.
- * Cassava buko bibingka - a variant of cassava cake that adds young coconut ( buko) to the recipe.
- * Pineapple cassava bibingka - a variant of cassava cake that adds crushed pineapple chunks.
- * Royal bibingka - a variant of cassava cake from Vigan, Ilocos Sur shaped like cupcakes with a cheese and margarine topping.
-
Durian bibingka - Bibingka baked with durian flesh. A specialty of the Davao Region in Mindanao.
-
Salukara, a pancake-like variant of bibingka from Eastern Samar. It also uses Palm wine and is traditionally cooked in pans greased with pork lard.
-
Sinukat a type of bibingka baked in half of a coconut shell.
File:Bibingka with its usual toppings.jpg|"Bibingka" with a complete set of toppings
File:Bibingka, Manila - 7th day- Trip to Tagaytay.jpg| Bibingka from Tagaytay, Cavite
File:Philippine Dessert Bibingka.jpg| Bibingkang malagkit, a moist version of bibingka
File:02545jfPlaza Publika de Baliuag Bulacanfvf 03.jpg| Bibingka from Baliwag topped with salted duck eggs and grated coconut
File:Bibingka (Philippines).jpg| Bibingka from Mindanao
File:Cassava cake (Philippines) - Bibingkang kamoteng kahoy 01.jpg| Bibingkang kamoteng kahoy, better known as cassava cake, a variant made from cassava
File:Bibingka with cheese (Philippines).jpg| Bibingka with cheese toppings
File:Bibingkoy in Cavite City Public Market.jpg| Bibingkoy in Cavite City
File:Ferinos Bibingka1.jpg|Ferino's Bibingka (since 1938)
File:Royal Bibingka.jpg|Royal Bibingka from Vigan City, Ilocos Sur
In Eastern Indonesia
Bibingka or
bingka is also popular in
Indonesia, particularly among Christian-majority areas in northern
Sulawesi and the
Maluku Islands, both of which were former colonies of the Portuguese Empire and are geographically close to the southern Philippines. It is prepared almost identically to Philippine
bibingka. In the provinces of
North Sulawesi and
Gorontalo,
bibingka is usually made with rice or cassava flour and coconut milk with shredded coconut baked inside. In the
Maluku Islands,
bibingka is spiced and sweetened with
brown sugar or sweet
meat floss. It is also traditionally cooked in clay pots lined with banana,
pandanus, or
nipa palm leaves. As in the Philippines, it is also usually eaten during the Christmas season.
A pancake-like variant of bibingka was introduced to the Chinese Indonesian communities of East Java during the Dutch colonial period. Known as wingko, wiwingka, or bibika, it became popular throughout the island of Java.
Variants
-
Bibingka kelapa or bibingka santan, Indonesian bibingka made from rice flour and coconut milk, topped with jackfruit or coconut
-
Bibingka kelapa, Indonesian bibingka made from rice flour and coconut milk, topped with jackfruit or coconut
-
Bibingka abon, made from rice flour and coconut milk, topped with meat floss
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Bibingka ubi telo, made from Dioscorea alata or cassava flour and coconut milk
-
Bibingka nanas or wingko nanas, made from Dioscorea alata or cassava flour and coconut milk with pineapple
See also
External links
