Puto

     Puto is Philippine steamed rice cake prepared practically all over the country and eaten alone, with butter or butter substitute and/or grated fresh coconut or as accompaniment to a number of savory dishes for breakfast (most notably, with dinuguan).

     Properly prepared puto is fluffy, light, soft, chewy, moist, has fine uniform grain and imparts the slightly yeasty aroma of fermented rice batter overladen with a light whiff of anise seeds. It should be neither sticky nor dry and crumbly. The essential flavor should be of freshly cooked rice, sweetened a bit more if being eaten as stand-alone snack instead of as accompaniment to certain savory dishes. Since most puto as cooked in the Tagalog speaking regions of the Philippines may contain a tiny quantity of wood ash lye and from time to time may be steamed and served on sheets of banana fronds, it is not rare at all for puto aficionados to seek also the subtle flavors of these two last elements in well-made traditional puto.

Photos by SDeluz

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

2 cups white refined sugar

3 tbsp. baking powder

3 cups water

2 medium sized egg

cheese /salted eggs

Procedure:

1. Prepare steamer til water boils.

2. Combine all dry ingredients and sift three times (3x).

3. Add water and eggs. Mix on medium speed.

4. Put on mini cups for steaming. Add sliced cheese and salted egg on top.

5. Steam for 10-15 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean..