Suman sa Lihiya

Definitely, this is the best Suman sa Lihiya we have ever tasted! It was so good that we forgot to photograph all eight pieces before they were gone!

This particular small, square, approximately 3 x 3 inches rice cake is made from glutinous rice (malagkit), lye water (lihiya), coconut and coco sugar. We met the owner at the recently concluded 3rd Philippine International Eco-Show at the World Trade Center two weeks ago and ordered a box for an upcoming Pinoy Organics event. The box should be in Manila by end of this month.

For now, maybe we can try this recipe inspired from “The Filipino Cookbook”:

Suman sa Lihiya

Ingredients

2 1/2 glutinous rice or malagkit

2 tsp lihiya or lye water

Sauce

3 cups coconut milk

1/2 cup galapong

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 1/2 cups coco sugar

Optional: Budbud

grated coconut

coco sugar

Procedure

Wash rice three times, soak in water for 20 minutes then drain. Add lihiya then stir to blend. Wrap in wilted banana leaves. Tie singly or in pairs. In a big pot, put some bananaleaves at the bottom then arrange suman over it. Top it with more banana leaves. Try to weigh down the suman then add enough water to cover. Cook for about 45 minutes to an hour.

To prepare the sauce, put 3 cups of coconut milk in a saucepan then boil for 10 minutes while stirring continuously. Dissolve galapong in remaining milk then add to the boiling coconut milk. Add sugar and cook until thick.

To prepare the budbud, cook coconut and sugar in medium heat until brown.

To serve, top each suman with some sauce and budbud.

It is a fact that Filipinos love rice cakes. What is your favorite one and why?