Bibingka Galapong

Bibingka is often comapred to pancakes because of its round shape, golden brown color and the pudgy softness. Despite similarities in appearance, the tastes are worlds apart. I always associate the taste of the sweet and savoury pancakes with with more industrial cooking processes: eggs, flour, butter whisked together and fried in a pan—and the industrial feel of it is just right to allow you to get through a lazy Sunday brunch or a fast-paced weekday breakfast. The Bibingka is more rustic: it is made of galapong or glutinous rice soaked in water and ground with coconut milk to form a dough before being put on a banana leaf and baked in a special clay pot heated by coals from the top and from below. It is topped with butter or margarine, kesong puti (white cheese), itlog na maalat (salted duck eggs), sometimes sugar and even grated coconut. It is savory, sweet and salty. It is more rustic as the banana leaves help in giving a balmy taste to the bibingka. It reminds me of Christmas, of going to the Church for Simbang Gabi the road lit and the cold December nights warmed by coal ovens cooking an assortment of sweet treats like bibingka.


Cooking traditional bibingka is challenging. But it is worth it especially if you have the equipment and the time for it. You will need:

2 cups of galapong, ground and left to soak for at least two hours (or overnight) in 3/4 cup water
2 cups of coconut milk
½ cup clarified butter
6 eggs
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
4 oz. cheddar cheese, cut into strips

Pound the galapong that has been left to soak in water until the mixture is fine. Put in a bowl and mix in coconut milk, and about ¾ of the clarified butter. Whisk in the six eggs and the baking powder. Mix until you have a thick batter. Let rest for about an hour.

If you have one, prepare the bibingka oven. It’s a special clay oven that can be bought in any market in the Philippines. It’s composed of two layers where you can put coals on each layer sandwiching the batter. If not, a salamander will do the trick and can produce almost the same results. An oven can also be used. Don’t fret too much about the temperature or the cooking time, or if you should put it on the topmost layers or on the bottom of the oven, since the cooking time and temperature for the traditional clay ovens are also inconsistent. Just make sure you put your oven on the highest setting.

Line the bottom of the clay oven with a round-cut banana leaf and place some of the batter there for cooking. It usually takes anywhere between 5-10 minutes depending on how thick the batter is, how cool the weather is, and how hot your coals are. Before it cooks completely, brush some butter, add some sugar, add a slice of cheese on top. It would be heavenly if can use white cheese and salted eggs. Take it out when it’s cooked. You can use the stick-the-toothpick-in-the-middle-of-the-cake trick to test if the bibingka is cooked.