Baye baye

Pressed rather than cooked, and it has to be eaten the day it is made.

Not vegetarian — contains meat the source does not name.

Ingredients

• 300 g pinipig, pounded young rice
• 300 g young coconut meat, finely grated
• 150 g muscovado sugar
• 100 ml coconut milk
• 1 pinch salt

Method

1. ALMOST NOTHING IS COOKED HERE. The pinipig is toasted dry and the rest is pressed together, which is why its shelf life is measured in hours.
2. Toast the pinipig in a dry pan over a medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, moving it constantly, until it smells nutty. Let it cool.
3. Mix the grated coconut, muscovado, coconut milk and salt until the sugar has dissolved into the coconut.
4. Work the pinipig in by hand. It should just hold when squeezed in a fist, like damp sand.
5. PRESS IT FIRMLY into a mould or shape it into logs by hand and wrap each in banana leaf. Loosely pressed, it falls apart as soon as it is picked up.
6. Eat the same day. There is no preservative in it and no cooking to speak of, so by tomorrow the coconut has soured.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes