Kulinarya Cooking Club October Challenge--Suman!

I have a confession to make, prior to October's KCC challenge, making suman never really appealed to me. I don't have a particular reason, it's just that cakes and pastries have always been easier and more practical to make (at least for me.) And when thinking of desserts, native kakanin or rice cakes don't automatically come to mind. But thanks to our hosts Sheryl www.crispywaffle.com and Divina www.sense-serendipity.com I'm now compelled to flex my kakanin-making skills!

I wanted to make suman that was entirely mine, so I was racking my brain for inspiration as well as perusing through cookbooks and online recipes. Lo and behold, the answer was right inside the cupboard. I remember buying this variety of Ifugao Mountain Rice on the way back from our province last month and when we cooked it for dinner one night, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that it was actually more like malagkit or glutinous rice than ordinary rice. So we forgot all about it and kept it in the back of the cupboard until I found it the other day and decided to use it for making my suman.

I was winging the recipe so my measurements are not so exact...

Ifugao Mountain Rice 1 cup

Coconut Milk 2 1/2 cups

Sugar 1 cup

Calamansi Peel 1 whole

Calamansi Juice 1 tablespoon

Banana Leaves

Combine uncooked rice, 2 cups coconut milk, sugar and calamansi peel and juice in a pan. Stir over medium heat. Cook mixture until rice has absorbed the coconut milk and is almost dry. Cool Mixture.

Pass banana leaves over open fire to make them pliable. Lay the leaf and spoon enough cooked rice to wrap. Carefully fold banana leaves and tie with extra strips of leaf. Put the parcels in a pot and cover with enough water and the remaining coconut milk. Cook until the liquid has almost dried up, about 40 minutes. Take out the parcels and cool them.

LLook at that color--all natural, no food color added!

They say nice things come in wrapped packages


They are right--Ifugao Mountain Rice Suman!

After I cooked this, I brought it with me to work and shared it with my friends who found the color very appealing. It was different from the usual suman because the rice had a nutty texture to it, otherwise it was very delicious. Oh and when I looked it up, I think this type of rice is called Pirurutong.

Kulinarya Cooking Club was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and its colorful cuisine.

Each month we will showcase a new dish with their family recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino food as we do.

If you are interested in joining our Kulinarya Cooking Club, please feel free to drop by our foodblogs and leave a comment--we would love to hear from you!