Alternative names | Calamay |
---|---|
Course | Dessert |
Place of origin | Philippines |
Region or state | Visayas, Luzon |
Serving temperature | Hot, room temperature, cold |
Main ingredients | Coconut milk, glutinous rice, brown sugar |
Variations | Biko |
Kalamay (also spelled calamay, literally "sugar") is a sticky sweet delicacy that is popular in many regions of the Philippines. It is made of coconut milk, brown sugar, and ground glutinous rice. It can also be flavored with margarine, peanut butter, or vanilla. Kalamay can be eaten alone, but is usually used as a sweetener for a number of Filipino desserts and beverages. It is related to the Chamorro dessert called kalamai.
Kalamay is made by extracting coconut milk from grated coconuts twice. Glutinous rice is added to the first batch of coconut milk and the mixture is ground into a paste. Brown sugar is added to the second batch of coconut milk and boiled for several hours to make latík . The mixture of ground glutinous rice and coconut milk is then poured into the latík and stirred until the consistency becomes very thick. It can be served hot or at room temperature especially when eaten with other dishes. Viscous kalamay are often served cooled to make it less runny and easier to eat.
Kalamay is a popular pasalubong (the Filipino tradition of a homecoming gift). They are often eaten alone, directly from the packaging. [1] Kalamay is also used in a variety of traditional Filipino dishes as a sweetener, [2] including the suman and the bukayo . It can also be added to beverages like coffee, milk, or hot chocolate.
Biko and sinukmani are similar dishes that use whole glutinous rice grains. The preparation is the same except that the glutinous rice is first cooked whole and not ground into a paste, and then is smothered with the latík. In some regions (particularly in the Northern Philippines), this dish is referred to as the kalamay, with the viscous kind differentiated as the kalamay-hati.
The latík from kalamay by itself can be used with other desserts, particularly with dishes made from cassava (which is then referred to as 'cassava kalamay'). Kalamay is also commonly confused with matamis sa bao , a similar viscous dish. However, the latter does not use rice.
There are many variations and types of kalamay. Kalamay can be divided roughly into two types: the syrupy kind used in conjunction with other dishes (higher latik ratio), and the gummy, chewy kind which is more expensive and usually eaten on its own. [1]
Similar to other traditional kakanin rice cakes, kalamay also has variants based on secondary ingredients. They include: [9]
Kalamay, in many Visayan languages (particularly Hiligaynon), is synonymous with 'sugar' (extracted from sugarcane). [15] The word is usually elided to kamay in modern Cebuano dialects. In the Waray language, kalamay refers to a hardened cake of molasses used as sweeteners for many cooked desserts. Its production has been known since the Spanish colonization of the Philippines.
A cousin of kalamay is dodol , found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and in some parts of the Philippines. It uses similar basic ingredients and preparation. Dodol, however, is a solid candy, unlike the liquid kalamay. Kalamay is visually similar to the Chinese nian gao (also known as tikoy in the Philippines), but they are not related.
Glutinous rice is a type of rice grown mainly in Southeast and East Asia, and the northeastern regions of South Asia, which has opaque grains, very low amylose content, and is especially sticky when cooked. It is widely consumed across Asia.
Coconut jam, also known as kaya jam or simply kaya, is a sweet spread made from a base of coconut milk, eggs, sugar and sometimes pandan leaves as a flavouring. It is popular throughout Southeast Asia.
Filipino cuisine / Philippine Culinary is composed of the cuisines of more than a hundred distinct ethnolinguistic groups found throughout the Philippine archipelago. A majority of mainstream Filipino dishes that compose Filipino cuisine are from the food traditions of various ethnolinguistic groups and tribes of the archipelago, including the Ilocano, Pangasinan, Kapampangan, Tagalog, Bicolano, Visayan, Chavacano, and Maranao ethnolinguistic groups. The dishes associated with these groups evolved over the centuries from a largely indigenous base shared with maritime Southeast Asia with varied influences from Chinese, Spanish, and American cuisines, in line with the major waves of influence that had enriched the cultures of the archipelago, and adapted using indigenous ingredients to meet local preferences.
Bibingka commonly refers to a type of baked rice cake from the Philippines that is traditionally cooked in a terracotta oven lined with banana leaves and is usually eaten for breakfast or as merienda especially during the Christmas season. It is also known as bingka in the Visayas and Mindanao islands.
A rice cake may be any kind of food item made from rice that has been shaped, condensed, or otherwise combined into a single object. A wide variety of rice cakes exist in many different cultures in which rice is eaten. Common variations include cakes made with rice flour, those made from ground rice, and those made from whole grains of rice compressed together or combined with some other binding substance.
Lugaw, also spelled lugao, is a Filipino glutinous rice dish or porridge. Lugaw may refer to various dishes, both savory and sweet. In Visayan regions, savory lugaw are collectively referred to as pospas. Lugaw is widely regarded as a comfort food in the Philippines.
Suman, or budbud, is an elongated rice cake originating in the Philippines. It is made from glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk, often wrapped in banana leaves, coconut leaves, or buli or buri palm (Corypha) leaves for steaming. It is usually eaten sprinkled with sugar or laden with latik. A widespread variant of suman uses cassava instead of glutinous rice.
Puto is a Filipino steamed rice cake, traditionally made from slightly fermented rice dough (galapong). It is eaten as is or as an accompaniment to a number of savoury dishes. Puto is also an umbrella term for various kinds of indigenous steamed cakes, including those made without rice. It is a sub-type of kakanin.
Binignit is a Visayan dessert soup from the central Philippines. The dish is traditionally made with glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk with various slices of sabá bananas, taro, ube, and sweet potato, among other ingredients. It is comparable to various dessert guinataán dishes found in other regions such as bilo-bilo. Among the Visayan people, the dish is traditionally served during Good Friday of Holy Week.
Latík refers to two different coconut-based ingredients in Filipino cuisine. In the Visayan region it refers to a syrupy caramelized coconut cream used as a dessert sauce. In the northern Philippines, it refers to solid byproducts of coconut oil production, used as garnishing for a variety of desserts.
Pichi-pichi, also spelled pitsi-pitsi, is a Filipino dessert made from steamed cassava flour balls mixed with sugar and lye. It is also commonly flavored with pandan leaves. It is served rolled in freshly grated coconut, cheese, or latik before serving.
Ube halaya or halayang ube is a Philippine dessert made from boiled and mashed purple yam. Ube halaya is the main base in ube/purple yam flavored-pastries and ube ice cream. It can also be incorporated in other desserts such as halo-halo. It is also commonly anglicized as ube jam, or called by its original native name, nilupak na ube.
Biko is a sweet rice cake from the Philippines. It is made of coconut milk, brown sugar, and sticky rice. It is usually topped with latik. It is a type of kalamay dish and is prepared similarly, except the rice grains are not ground into a paste. They are also sometimes packaged and sold as suman.
Pinipig is a flattened rice ingredient from the Philippines. It is made of immature grains of glutinous rice pounded until flat before being toasted. It is commonly used as toppings for various desserts in Filipino cuisine, but can also be eaten plain, made into cakes, or mixed with drinks and other dishes.
Dodol is a sweet toffee-like sugar palm-based confection commonly found in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Originating from the culinary traditions of Indonesia, it is also popular in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, Southern India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Burma, where it is called mont kalama. It is made from coconut milk, jaggery, and rice flour, and is sticky, thick, and sweet.
Ginataang mais is a Filipino sweet corn and rice gruel. It is also known as lugaw na mais. It is a type of dessert lugaw and ginataan. It is eaten warm in colder months, but can also be eaten cold during summer. Ginataang mais means "corn in coconut milk" in Filipino.
Sayongsong is a traditional Filipino steamed rice cake from Surigao del Norte and other areas of the Caraga Region of northeastern Mindanao, as well as the southeastern Visayas where it is known as sarungsong or alisuso. It is distinctively served in cone-shaped banana leaves. Sayongsong is a type of puto.
In the Burmese language, the term mont translates to "snack", and refers to a wide variety of prepared foods, ranging from sweet desserts to savory food items that may be cooked by steaming, baking, frying, deep-frying, or boiling. Foods made from wheat or rice flour are generally called mont, but the term may also refer to certain varieties of noodle dishes, such as mohinga. Burmese mont are typically eaten with tea during breakfast or afternoon tea time.
Media related to Kalamay at Wikimedia Commons