Recipe Review: Bibingka

As posted before, my friend Kate of Escaping Suburbia received a recipe from her husband's auntie for Bibingka. This weekend I decided to make it since I am feeling better now. Well, my journey of finding everything I needed for this recipe began on Friday night when I took my daughter to the grocery store with me to find everything I needed. I could not believe this grocery store (a major grocery store, mind you) did NOT carry Mochiko Rice Flour. I thought, you guys have an Asian food aisle and NO Mochiko? What is wrong with you?? And they said they might get some in but were not positive. I ended up going home with what I did have and the next day my husband ran to another grocery store in town and found some Mochiko there.

I made the Bibingka last night and thought maybe I had mixed it wrong because it was soupy like and the butter I had added didn't seem to mix well. I went ahead and poured it into my 9x13 pan and baked it for about 45 minutes per the directions of the recipe. The only thing I altered on the recipe was I used light brown sugar instead of white sugar. Normally I like to use dark brown sugar but I grabbed light by mistake. In any case when I pulled it out of the oven the edges were all crunchy and brown looking and the top looked golden and delicious. I let it sit for about 15 minutes and then cut out a slice for myself and my daughter. We tried it and it was like being back in Nana's kitchen, taking a bit of this ooey gooey cake that brought back so many childhood memories. It's delicious! I am still looking for a Puto recipe that is like the one I used to get at Fajilan's, but I haven't tried any of the ones I did find yet. We shall see! That is next on my agenda. Thank you Kate and please give Auntie S. my thanks and tell her I said it was WONDERFUL!
I called my Nana today and she told me something I never knew- she has never baked in her life. Unlike me, the baker in the family, my Nana prefers to cook on the stove and not have to measure things out. I told her about the Bibingka and told her it was similar to a Kangkanin she made in the past. I told her when I come home I'll teach her how to make it in the oven and she said she'll teach me how to make her brown sugar rice Kangkanin. How I miss her...and despite the miles separating us, I feel so fortunate that I can still at least speak with her over the phone and connect with her. She's 85 years young and still going strong.