Last year, in an inconsolable fit of homesickness and nostalgia I scoured my Filipino cookbooks and came out with this recipe. Naturally, even without the requisite charcoal oven/ steamer, rice mill, Christmas night air and carolers and parol, I tried to make it. It was...edible, as often happens when I make something. Nothing to make anyone go to the ER. My little ambassadress dotir said it's good Mama...maybe she wanted an extra Bratz doll under the tree?? No, she's very diplomatic and she bravely ate more than one even.
I was ecstatic because I'd finally figured out what pirurutong was: the black, sticky "forbidden rice" as it is called in Chinese cooking, I think in ancient times reserved for the Emperor's household only. I used a couple of mini muffin pans, the 6-count size, stacked into large bamboo steamers.
So here I present to my intrepid friends in the blogworld, puto bumbong. It looked pretty,a naturally derived color without additives, and tasted okay but what can we use in place of the puto bumbong tubes? Please help. Desperate.
Puto Bumbong(adapted from "Recipes of the Philippines," Enriqueta David-Perez)
3 Tbsp. pirurutong (black sticky rice)
1 cup white sticky rice (malagkit)
1 cup grated coconut (1/2 of a frozen pack)
2 Tbsp. sugar
Soak both black and sticky rices for a few hours then grind.
Wrap mixture in cheesecloth and place in colander to drain.
Mix in rest of ingredients.
Steam in greased puto bumbong tubes. Serve hot with margarine, grated coconut and sugar.
spiky bright red Malayan fruit, with soft juicy flesh and a stone pit.