Hi Hive foodies! I hope you are well today as you read my new foodie blog. I will be sharing one of my favorite Filipino delicacies, the biko, or the chewy and sweet sticky rice cake.
Last January 16, 2025, I went to my home of origin, the city of Danao. I was informed that the dead body of my uncle will arrive from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He died on December 12, 2024, due to cardiac arrest during their basketball championship game. We were saddened by this news, and it was really shocking and difficult to accept. He was my closest uncle and the only person I am confident to ask for help.
I went home to pay respect to his remains and help his family members in preparing some of the important things for the funeral. When I arrived, my Nanay Belen told me that his body was still at the St. Peter's Funeral Homes since it was frozen, and possibly it will arrive home the next day. We just talked about what happened and how they knew the sad news. His wife was teary-eyed when we talked to each other.
The next day, he arrived home, but in a casket. His remains were laid at his basketball court beside his residence. We scheduled a wake mass on the next day, which was January 18, 2025. My brother and his wife asked me to cook biko that we will give to the priest and the choir members. I then asked them to buy the other ingredients since they have 2 kilograms of glutinous rice, the one they used in their prosperity bowl last New Year.
Here are the ingredients of my biko recipe.
2 kilograms of glutinous rice
1 1/2 kilograms of coconut (6 cups of coconut milk)
1 1/2 kilograms of brown sugar
Procedure:
1st step
Cook the glutinous rice.
2nd step
Prepare 6 cups of coconut milk from the 1 1/2 kilograms of coconut. It will depend on your mixture and whether you achieve your finished product.
3rd step
Put the coconut milk in a pot and wait until it boils. You can add the sugar and stir it until you achieve a thickened texture of the latik. I used brown sugar and not muscovado sugar. Others used the latter to achieve a dark brown outcome of the biko.
4th step
Add the cooked glutinous rice and mix well.
Optional
You can make latik curds or the coconut curds and add them as toppings.
After cooking the biko, I transferred it to a food container so that it would be easy for us to cut and serve to the guests. I got tired preparing it, so I asked some of our relatives to pack the remaining biko. My aunts tried the biko, and they liked it. They can't believe I was the one who prepared it since I'm already living far from them, and they did not know that I could prepare food.
It was heartbreaking for all of us, but somehow it's a way for us relatives to know more about each other. We have met our relatives from other provinces and cities for the first time. They were even inviting us to visit their places soon. I just simply responded, in God's perfect time. My uncle dreamed of having a reunion to be held in his basketball court. It happened, but not in the way we wanted it to.
Thank you for taking the time reading my blog. Till next time, foodies.
Lead image was edited using Canva. Other images used in this post are all mine, unless stated otherwise.
