- This article is about the Filipino food. For the profane Spanish word, see Spanish profanity.
Puto is a steamed rice cake popular in the Southeast Asian country of the Philippines. Steaming, a popular cooking method in this country along with boiling and roasting, was incorporated into Filipino cuisine and cooking by other Asian countries. Rice, the main ingredient in this dish, is an important staple for the Philippines. Rice is typically eaten in most meals and has been known to be featured in all types of sweet and savory Filipino dishes. Puto is usually eaten as a dessert, but can also be eaten for breakfast dipped into or paired with a cup of hot coffee or hot chocolate. There are many variations to the recipe ranging from the type of rice used to the method in which the rice is prepared. In its traditional form, puto is of a plain white color. Adding certain common Filipino ingredients like ube and pandan (made from pandan leaves or Pandanus amaryllifolius slightly changes the flavor and completely changes the color of the finished product. Likewise, food coloring can be added to change the puto’s color but still keep its original flavor.
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Taste and texture
Although there are three common ways to cook puto, the taste and texture of each product should remain the same. Puto is not a rich, decadent dish. It tastes mostly like rice but slightly sweeter. Recipes that call for vanilla will produce an even sweeter puto, but traditionally it tastes similar to the almost bland southern cornbread. Puto’s has a spongy and slightly fluffy texture. It is light and airy and biting into one feels like biting into a firmer piece of Angel cake.
Variations of Puto
Puto Bumbong - A puto mixture of sticky or glutinous rice and regular rice soaked in salted water and dried overnight and then poured into “bumbong” or bamboo sticks and then steamed until done or steam rises out of the bamboo sticks. . Puto Maya - A puto mixture of glutinous rice soaked in water, drained and then poured into a steamer to steam for 30 minutes. This rice mixture is then combined with coconut milk, salt, sugar and ginger juice and placed back into the steamer for another 25 to 30 minutes. Puto Mamon - A puto mixture that does not include rice but combines egg yolk, salt and sugar. One mixture of milk and water and another of flour are alternately mixed into the yolk mixture. Egg whites are beaten and folded in before the mixture is poured into muffin cups and steamed for 15-20 min.
