Puto Bumbong (steamed cake in a bamboo cylinder)

This is one of the favorite native delicacies in the Philippines especially on Christmas season. This has been in Filipino tradition for a very long time. It is time consuming yet worthy of wait. It is a mixture of 3 different kinds of rice; ordinary, glutinous and purple rice (pirurutong as they call it). It is soaked overnight, grounded the next day and then let set to dry. It is cooked on a special kind of kettle like steamer with 2 holes for the bamboo cylinders. Puto bumbong is the most sought delicacy (aside from bibingka) after Simbang gabi or the Christmas Eve mass, people would line up to their favorite stalls/vendors just to have a taste of this delicacy.

I was not able to take a good picture of the puto itself (silly me). I did not use any food color. That is the actual color, purple. I was actually shock when I was grinding it because the color was pale but when I took it out from the bamboo cylinder, it was a deep purple. I'm glad I did not use any food color to add on. As for the steamer and the bamboo cylinders, my mom sticks it in her luggage when she took a vacation here.


Utensils
cheese cloth
measuring cups
food processor or rice grinder
strainer

Ingredients
2 c glutinous rice
1 c purple rice
1/2 ordinary rice
2 tbsp melted butter

Toppings
grated coconut
margarine
brown sugar



Directions
Combine all the rice together and rinse in cold water. Drain carefully. Then add water, about 1 inch to the top of rice, soak it overnight. Since I don't have a rice grinder, I used my food processor to grind it. After grinding, put it in a cheese cloth and in the strainer to drain excess water. Hold the ends of the cheese cloth and tie it, then hang to drain some more of the water or you can tie it and then place something heavy on top to drain it. After draining, set it aside but don't forget about it or else it's going to spoil. I just put mine on a big stainless bowl and let it set, damping toilet paper for the excess water.

Put some water on the kettle but be careful not to over fill it, fill it half way and watch it as you take the bamboo out because you don't want the kettle to run out. Let the water boil. Meanwhile, tying a cloth on each cylinders is the best way to support it, so it won't wiggle and for the steam to come out on the cylinders itself and not on the sides.

If your rice is dry already, you can now begin the process of cooking it. If the rice got harden, use a cheese shredder and shred it until every grain is loose. Put 1/2 tsp of butter in each cylinders so the grain won't stick. Put some grain in the cylinders, don't pack it, you want it loose, and then place it on the kettle with the small hole at the bottom. Wait until the steam comes out on each cylinder and then it's done. If you cannot take the cooked grain out, take a bamboo skewer and slowly poke the sides, making a circle inside as you take it out. Topped with margarine, sugar and grated coconut.

Next time I make it, I'll post a video for easy explanation(",)