SINUKMANI or Biko

Sinukmani is also known as biko. It is a native rice cake that is a favorite snack of many pinoys. I love this snack which is usually cooked and served during social gatherings, like birthdays, fiestas, reunions,or simply whenever a group gathers. In the provinces, like in the Bicol and Southern Luzon Regions, this is served as a snack to people during and after a bayanihan. A bayanihan is a labor exchange activity done to move a house to a new location, to plant rice, clean up a field, etc.

What to do

To make this dish, you will need malagkit or glutinous rice, gata or coconut cream and sugar, brown sugar is traditionally used.

Cook the 2 cups malagkit and 1 cup ordinary rice as you would any regular rice.

Cook the coconut cream and brown sugar together into a creamy santan (How to make Santan). Do this in a frying pan big enough to accommodate the malagkit as well.

Slowly mix in the cooked malagkit. Mix the malagkit and santan thoroughly. This is a tough job, so the men in the provinces usually get delegated to this strenous job.

But small quantities of sinukmani can very well be managed by women, like this biko vendor in the market cooking her kakanin for the day.

Transfer the sinukmani or biko in a serving dish. Banana leaves are used for transfering it. Banana leaves have a smooth surface that makes transfering the sticky sinukmani into the serving dish a littler easier.

You can serve this as it is or top with latik.

Try this!

Kapeng barako,or brewed coffee, if not salabat, brewed ginger, will complete the snack.

One option is topping it with ground roasted peanuts.