Biko
Even if I am not on the fields of my ninunu (ancestors), my kaladuâ (soul) is still there, waiting for me to come home. On those fields, the land gives me the knowledge, the intuition to farm, cultivate, and enjoy the bounties that it produces.
O Ápû, O ninunu ku, ibiye ku ngan keko.
Biko is a traditional Filipino rice cake dish made from glutinous rice and rich coconut milk simmered with other aromatics like Pandan, Kalamansi, Ginger and many more. It is topped with Latik, toasted coconut curds and is served atop banana leaves to lend the banana’s herbaceous aroma. Biko is part of a collection of rice sweets known as kakanin, each having different textures and sweetness but ultimately made from kanin (rice). It is traditionally served during special occasions both joyous and grim, as the process for making biko takes time and care.
Ingredients
For the biko:
2 cups of glutinous/sticky rice
2 cups of water
2-3 pieces of pandan leaves (optional)
2 cans of coconut milk
1 cup of brown sugar
Coconut or vegetable oil (to grease the pan)
2 - 3 Banana leaves
For the latik:
1 can of Coconut cream
Equipment:
Square baking pan 20cm x 20cm
Wok (or large saucepan)
Medium sized pot
Metal sieve
Spatula
Instructions
1. Grease a square baking pan with coconut or vegetable oil. Gently heat banana leaves on a stove until they become malleable. Line the baking pan with the banana leaves and add extra coconut oil to the inside of the banana leaves. Set aside.
Rice fields stretched across the landscape, lined with coconut and banana trees. The seats of the ancestors (ninunu) soar high in the horizon, bunduk samat and bunduk natib. My ápû (grandmother) used to call them the leftover mountains of the almighty, left for the lesser anitu, the ancestral spirits that roam the earth.
2. Prepare the latik by decanting 1 can of coconut cream in a wok on a high flame. As colour starts to develop, reduce the heat to medium high and stir constantly to evaporate the liquid, scraping the sides of the wok where clumps of latik form. Once only curds and coconut oil remain, continue stirring to fry the curds until they appear golden brown. Let the latik cool and separate it from the coconut oil using a sieve and set aside for later. Roughly 50 mins.
My ápû would make tinctures with the coconut oil that we’d get from making latik. She’d cook it up with medicinal herbs that grew around the house and used it for hilot, spiritual massaging, and pagtatawas, a form of divination. She’d soak the bunót (coconut husks) with the kákanggatâ (coconut oil) and then burn it for cleansing. I still remember the smell of the coconut-soaked incense burning as I walked up to her casket and laid a biko for her.
3. Wash glutinous rice until the water runs semi-translucent. Drain the liquid, place on the stove, and add 2 cups of water or about half the distance between your fingertip and first knuckle into a medium-sized pot. Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer for 15 minutes or until the rice is about three-quarters of the way cooked. Remove from the heat and set aside.
To the people north of us, it is thought that Dumangan gave us grains so we could have food and have our feet soaked in the water of the fields. We’d plant the palay and we’d harvest the bigas. After we saing (cook rice), kanin (cooked rice) is left atop a bed of tutong (toasted rice). Ápû and tatay would make fun of me for mixing the words up, but there's too many to keep up with.
4. In a wok, simmer coconut milk with brown sugar and pandan leaves. If unable to source pandan leaves, vanilla bean pods or whole Kalamansi rinds can be substituted for a different flavour. Stir to combine and boil the mixture. Once boiled, reduce the heat and add the par-cooked glutinous rice.
Having different herbs with so many flavours was truly the gift ápû got for her patronage. Together with Dumangan, his wife Idianali was known for good deeds and good labour. I’d pray to her before my exams and she provided for me even when I’m so far away. The biko that ápû liked to make had luya (ginger) in it. She said it was to keep me healthy, even when I’m stuffing my face with bundles of kakanin sweets.
5. Stir the rice into the mixture until they have fully combined, and continue to cook on heat while stirring regularly. Within 15 to 20 minutes the mixture will thicken significantly. Continue until the biko is difficult to stir and then turn off the heat.
Even with my other grandparents, they showed me passion and care through bayanihan. Lola would care for all the kids in the baranggáy, giving them money for food, school and other things they needed. Lolo would sometimes help them with their homework or he’d take me to the forests and show me the chemistry that existed around us. Ápû showed me how to care for others through hilot and albulahiya — our traditional herbology.
6. Remove pandan leaves and transfer the warm biko to the banana leaf-lined square pan. Use a spatula to even out the layer and allow the biko to cool.
“The food is there to heal you,” she would say. Maybe it’s true in a way. When making kakanins, the different herbs and plants she used to flavour the rice were also used in her healing ointments. Maybe the ninunu needed these herbs and plants because taking a bottle of multivitamins isn’t really plausible in the afterlife. Ápû’s healing plants heal more of the soul than the body, so I truly felt better after having a bite of her kakanin.
7. Once cooled completely, grab the ends of the banana leaves and place the biko onto a plate or pan. Slice into diamond-shaped pieces, top each piece with latik and enjoy.
As you pass from this world to the next, tátay tells me to prepare the table for the alay (offering). Candles are lit, coconut husks and incense sticks are burnt. The room is filled with cries and songs, some of sadness, others of joy. Your altar is adorned with flowers and herbs that you used to heal those in the community and I. The smell of atis (custard apple) leaves arranged with tanglad (lemongrass) ward off all malicious energy. In the middle of it all, on the dark yet shiny banana leaf, kakanins of different flavours and colours are offered to you for your safe passage on the river to the beyond.
Prayer
O Ápû, O ninunu ku, ibiye ku ngan keko
Akit da ko king banua kayabe ring ninunu.
Kayabe ye i Ápûng Maliari, Bantayan yu ku.
Dakal a salamat kekayu, miss da kayu.
ᜂ ᜀᜉᜓ᜵ ᜂ ᜈᜒᜈᜓᜈᜓᜃᜓ᜵ ᜁᜊᜒᜌᜒ ᜃᜓ ᜅᜈ᜔ ᜃᜁᜃᜓ᜶
ᜀᜃᜒᜆ᜔ ᜇ ᜃᜂ ᜃᜒᜅ᜔ ᜊᜈᜓᜀ ᜃᜌᜊᜁ ᜇᜒᜅ᜔ ᜈᜒᜈᜓᜈᜓ᜶
ᜃᜌᜊᜁ ᜌᜒ ᜁ ᜀᜉᜓᜅ᜔ ᜋᜎᜒᜌᜇᜒ᜵ ᜊᜈ᜔ᜆᜌᜈ᜔ ᜌᜓ ᜃᜓ᜶
ᜇᜃᜎ᜔ ᜀ ᜐᜎᜋᜆ᜔ ᜃᜁᜃᜌᜓ᜵ ᜋᜓᜐ᜔ ᜇ ᜃᜌᜓ᜶