I've made this a few times from a recipe in a book I have on cooking from the Philippines and Indonesia. I've noticed that there are many different recipes for the biko when I've looked on-line and it seems that most Filipinos think /prefer the one that they have had before/grew up with! The recipe I used has lime juice, ginger and vanilla extract, but some recipes have had none of those or just lime juice with no ginger or vice versa!
There are also various recipes for the topping and some use what is called latik. I followed an online recipe for the latik (mentioned below), but it didn't look the same, so I'll change it and try to perfect it!
Anyway here's the recipe I used and slightly modified (as the original had a little spring onion in!) and I'll add some pics of while I was making it. As the tins of coconut milk were a certain size (400ml), rather than wasting some, I used 1, 2 or 3x 400ml tins then divided or multiplied the other ingredients so the proportions were the same as the original recipe. I have found the larger amount of it you make, the longer it will take to cook! A small amount I did (2/3 rd's) of the original recipe was quite quick-around 1 to 1 1/2 hours but a larger amount 2-3 x the original recipe took twice as long!
225g/8oz/1 cup plus 2 tbsp glutinous rice,
600ml/1 pint/2 1/2 cups coconut milk,
225g/8oz/1 cup palm sugar (jaggery) or muscavado (molasses) sugar,
25g/10z fresh root ginger finely grated,
2-3 drops of Vanilla extract,
Juice of 2 kalamansi or ordinary limes,
30ml/2 tbsp dessicated (dry unsweetened shredded) coconut to decorate.
1.) Put the rice in a sieve and rinse under cold water until the water runs clear.
2.) Put the ice and coconut water in a heavy non-stick, shallow pan (I used my wok as I didn't have anything else big and shallow enough) and bring to the boil, stirring to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom.
3.) After it's got to boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes (again keep stirring to prevent sticking), until the rice begins to stick to the back of the spoon.
4.) Add the sugar to the rice (I used the molasses one, which is why it's so dark coloured).
and stir gently with a wooden spoon until the sugar has dissolved completely.
5.) Add the ginger, vanilla extract and lime juice.
6.) Simmer and keep stirring/turning until all the liquid has been absorbed.
7.) Remove from heat, put in a baking tray etc, and leave to stand & cool.
8.) Meanwhile, put the dessicated coconut in a small frying pan and dry fry until it turns golden brown and gives off a nutty aroma.
9.) Sprinkle the dessicated coconut over the top and leave for several hours, then before cutting, turn it sideways so the loose coconut will fall off. The tray on the right has the latik topping.
Cut and then put into a container and eat within a few days (within 5 days if you can, and it's best within the first 3-it tends to get a bit more solid and not quite as sticky the longer it's kept).
I found if best to keep it in the fridge as if it's kept in a container with a lid on and in warm temperatures it will go mouldy after a few days (as I found out the first time I made it)! Might be ok in an open container outside of a fridge, but I can't guarantee it!
Notes:
Sugar: For the dark brown sugar, I used Billington's natural dark muscavado the time before last and Billington's natural molasses this time which is meant to be the ultimate dark brown sugar and why it's a darker colour.
Coconut Milk: Best to buy this at your local asian shop as the price is much more reasonable! The first time I bought some just over a year ago, it was £1.75 or so in Sainsburys, £1.30 in Morrisons (both of those were Blue dragon brand) and only 69p in my local Asian/Filipino store (that's not gone up to 85p or so, but is still far cheaper than your local big supermarket! I found the Jefi brand to heave the least oil come out whilst cooking, Island sun a little oil and the Blue dragon brand seemed to have quite a of of oil come out!
Latik topping:
The recipe for the latik topping said:
1 can/15oz condensed milk,
3/4 cup rich coconut milk,
2 to 3 tbsp flour for quick thickening.
Stir in saucepan for 15 minutes, then put over the top of the rice-cake in the baking tray, then put in oven for 15 minutes until the top starts to brown.
But, I think it's meant to have some of the soft brown sugar in the mixture and I don't think you should put the flour in or at least not as much as the recipe said.
The latik topping on mine wasn't cooked quite evenly as the tray was just a bit too long for it to turn around in my combi oven/microwave, so wouldn't turn around properly. I'll use the full-size oven the next time
So what was it like?:
I really liked it! I took some pieces to the Filipino owner of my local Asian shop who said it was very nice and I took a lot to the Barrio festival in London on July 18th and everyone there liked it, I guess around 8 people had some (a Filipina friend's English boyfriend had 4 pieces of it!). After that in the evening, another Filipina friend who had some wasn't so keen on the ginger in it, & another wasn't so keen on the lime juice (personally I couldn't really taste it).
I actually added some dessicated coconut in to the mixture when I added the sugar. Next time, I might leave out the lime juice, and add a bit less ginger so it's a little more subtle (it wasn't strong before though).
