Kalamay is a sweet rice-based delicacy from the Philippines made with glutinous rice, coconut milk, and brown sugar. It can be eaten alone or as a topping for other sticky rice dishes. The dish varies in name and recipe across regions and is believed to have Chinese origins.
Kalamay is a sweet rice-based delicacy from the Philippines. The snack most often comes in the form of a sticky brown paste, although less sticky versions also exist. Although the names and recipes vary between different regions of the country, the basic ingredients are always the same: glutinous rice, coconut milk and brown sugar. Kalamay can be eaten on its own or as a topping for other kakanin or sticky rice dishes.
One major difference between kalamay and other kakanin such as espasol is that the rice used for kalamay is ground finely before cooking. This gives the dish its characteristic paste-like quality. Coconut milk is added to the ground rice and set aside, while a second batch of coconut milk is used to make latik, a sweet sauce usually used for suman, another type of kakanin. Latik is made by cooking coconut milk with brown sugar until it becomes a thick brown syrup; the fresh latik is then mixed with the previously prepared rice paste until all the ingredients are blended into a sticky brown paste.
This most basic form of kalamay can be given a separate identity based on the province in which it was created. Bohol cooks, for example, spell it as “calamay” and serve it sealed inside a hollowed out coconut shell. Kalamay of Tarlac, on the other hand, uses green rice to make his own version of the dish, nilubyan. The sticky texture of the delicacy lends itself to its nickname in Baguio, kulangot, the Tagalog word for “snot.” Kulangot is usually packed in smaller sago shells to further the playful image.
Other regions add flavor to their kalamay, making it distinct from more traditional preparations. In Mindoro, for example, locals add peanut butter to pasta, while others add shredded coconut meat. Some chefs add butter or vanilla to accentuate the different flavors in the dish. In many regions, kalamay is a flavoring itself, used as a flavoring for other snacks and desserts such as sapina-sapina.
Given the wide variety of preparations for kalamay, experts find it difficult to pinpoint the exact origins of the delicacy. While the use of coconuts and rice is a clear indicator of traditional Filipino cuisine, the similarities in preparation lead some food historians to believe that it traces its roots to the Chinese nian gao, a rice dish commonly served during Chinese New Year. . The presentation of the dish can be attributed to later influences; the coconut shells in which the delicacy is contained, for example, are often sealed with red Japanese paper.
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