A scientist in the kitchen

I have cooked palitaw during New Year’s Eve since I was 11 years old. My aunt taught me how to cook this rice cake for New Year, saying that it is good luck gesture for the New Year. Not only because it is round, but because the manner of cooking this type rice cake. It is simple to make. Glutinous rice which has been soaked in water overnight is ground and passed through cheese cloth to remove excess water. It is then shaped into balls and cooked in boiling water. The balls would sink to the bottom and as it cooks, it starts to rise. If it is floating in the boiling water, it is now cooked. It is rolled in freshly grated coconut and topped with a mixture of sugar and ground roasted sesame seeds. The rice cake is called palitaw, litaw being a Tagalog rootword meaning to “appear”, “rise” or in the vernacular “litaw na litaw” means “to stand out”. Now, isn’t that what you would wish for the New Year? To rise in your chosen endeavor, to do your best to stand out?

Since New Year is a time for making rice cakes in my hometown, there is a long line for the machine that grounds it. Usually, the family soaks rice overnight and brings it to a neighbor who has the machine for grounding rice. There are usually long lines as people usually bring several kilos for grounding. A short cut? Try rice flour. I usually soak it in water for several hours then drain.

Palitaw (traditional recipe)

1 cup rice flour
1 1/2 cup water
freshly grated coconut
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup sesame seeds

Soak rice flour in water overnight. Drain in cheesecloth, squeezing cheese cloth to remove as much moisture as you can. Refrigerate for two hours to harden the mixture. Shape into balls. Bring water to a boil. Make sure that pot is 3/4 full with water. When water is oiling, drop the rice balls a few at a time (depending on size of the pot). When the balls have risen on top, boil for two minutes more. Get one ball and drop directly into grated coconut meat. Flatten to desired thickness. Do the same thing for the rest of the rice balls.

Top with sugar-sesame seeds mixture

To make the sugar-sesame seeds mixture, roast sesame seeds in a pot till dark brown. Make sure they don’t burn. Ground the sesame seeds and mix with sugar.

Just prepare the same thing with the traditional palitaw mix. Add 50 grams of ube powder and refrigerate for an hour or two. Cook in the same way as the traditional palitaw.

PS - The ube palitaw is not a tradition, though. We got some ube powder this Christmas and I thought of mixing it up with the glutinous rice.

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