That unmistakable flavor of Christmas, Pinoy-style
PUTO bumbong and bibingka are two native holiday treats that are bound to the pre-drawn Misa de Aguinaldo, which starts December 16 and is held everyday for nine days until Christmas Day.
In the city, even well-dressed matrons buy them dripping with melted butter and sprinkled with niyog to get them going for the nine dawn Masses. The number of street stalls serving these delicacies has dwindled through the years, as has the number of church-goers during the Simbang Gabi. But there are still a few restaurants in town that serve the faithful who attend the dawn Mass.
Where to go if you'd rather have a sit-down breakfast of puto bumbong and bibingka?
Bibingka - is a rice cake similar to the Western pancake in appearance. In taste, texture and way of cooking, however, they are very much different from each other. Bibingka is made from galapong, baked in a special clay pot, lined with a piece of banana leaf, with live coals on top and underneath. It is topped with slices of kesong puti (white cheese) and itlog na maalat (salted duck eggs). The newly-cooked bibingka is spread with butter and sometimes sprinkled with sugar then served with niyog (grated coconut). Galapong is glutinous rice soaked in water then ground with the water to form either a batter or a dough, depending on what the cooked dish is supposed to be.
