Puto!

After finally getting enrolled for my super late summer class, which is still not sure if it won't get dissolved, I bought snacks from our school vendor Manang, puto cheese. It was a rainy 5PM that I bought three bite size puto for Php 10.00.

Puto Cheese, made with all-purpose flour instead of ground rice.

Puto is a steamed rice cake famous in the Philippines. It is made originally of milled white rice. Puto, sold at markets however, are made from flour. I have an aunt who is known locally for her rice puto and some even place orders for occasions. She also taught my aunt, who's living with us, how to make these and every time there's an occasion, she make sure there's original puto on the menu. I'm fascinated though with Puto Cheese, basically they're simply Puto but with cheese on top. Cheese is topped on it during the steaming process.

We'll make Puto, the original Filipino way. The ingredients are,

1. 4 Cups Milled White Rice, you can also make this without going to the millers by soaking white rice on water for several hours and puréeing it until it has the consistency of a batter.

2. 3 Cups Water

3. 6 Teaspoons Baking Powder

4. 3 Cups White Sugar

5. 1 Teaspoon Salt.

6. Shredded Cheese, optional.

7. Butter, for greasing muffin molds.

Procedure,

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl, except cheese and butter.

2. Grease muffin molds with butter so the Puto can be easily removed after steaming.

3. Pour puto mixture on the muffin molds.

4. Then place them on a steamer. You can compromise by using a casserole, putting water on the bottom and placing another smaller casserole over it. You can now put the Puto on the smaller casserole. If you have cheese, put it on top of the puto mixture in the muffin molds.

5. Now steam it for 30-40 minutes. You can test when it is cooked just right by poking the top slightly in the middle, with a toothpick or a fork.  Check the surface of the toothpick, if it is dry and doesn't have crumbs or stickiness, it's done!

6. Remove from muffin molds, and enjoy!