Merienda, Kakanin and Bibingka Cassava Especial.

Tea time. I feel that this is the most unique of meals and more so, I doubt whether it could be considered a meal for it is more of a tie in between lunch and dinner. In the Philippines, we even have a morning snack that ties in between breakfast and lunch. The funny thing about it is that I found out from some BBC documentary I saw that originally there were just two main meals in a day: Breakfast and dinner. And the times they were served were about a little late in the morning and about late afternoon just before the sun sets.

Bibingka Cassava Especial.

As people learned to keep themselves warm and lighted in their house, dinner began to move later in the day as such could be deferred by convenience. Likewise, breakfast (which literally is a meal to "break" the "fasting" that occurred during the night) could be eaten earlier by convenience as well. The two meals becoming much more apart from each other demanded a tie in to lessen the sensation of starving stomachs and this became the "nuncheon" which later became the "luncheon" or simply, "lunch". The concept of lunch was even so recent that its appearance was approximately the 17th century when dinner became much later even approaching or even at night thanks to the convenience of the home light. A demonstration of this evolution as seen in language is the translation of breakfast, lunch and dinner in French: dejuner is lunch. Petit dejuner (a small dejuner) is breakfast. While diner is dinner.

But the point is this: meals have become more spaced throughout the period immediately before and after the time that there is available daylight. And since eating was traditionally a communal activity; having more meals to tie in the earlier to the later one with small servings became a welcome improvement in the way we eat. It is only but natural that there became morning and afternoon snacks and sometimes even more eating in between snacks as food became readily available through a trip to the supermarket or the restaurant.

And so it was born - merienda. This is somewhat like "tea time" for the English only the English have it mid afternoons while we Filipinos have it not just in the afternoons but also between breakfast and lunch – about 9 to 10 in the morning. What to serve? Almost anything really – from a sandwich or a Chinese dimsum treat like shupao (call it "Siopao" in the Philippines) or even plain savory chips. This usually with coffee or sweetened cold drinks, juice or soda.

But traditionally, before the Americanized influences of the 20th century, these foods in the merienda vein are termed as "kakanin". I am not so sure at this point but it seems that the reason for the name is simply derived from the root word "kanin" which is Tagalog for "cooked rice". Note that I qualify that as "cooked" for the Filipinos have different words for rice in its different presentations and stages of edibility. This is also true for the Chinese whose food staple is likewise based on rice.

So – for Filipino, how does one say rice? Let us count the ways. Raw with the husk - "palay". The husk with the rice already milled - "ipa".  Raw milled rice - "bigas". Cooked steamed rice - "kanin". Cooked then toasted rice - "pinipig". Raw rice flour (simply raw rice milled further to a flour) - "biko". Rice flour turned to steamed cakes - "puto". Rice flour turned into steam glutinous cakes - "kutsinta". When the cakes are baked usually using a special oven which the heat is above and below the batter as it cooks, - "bibingka".

The last term is what we are most interested in. But before that as I did digress, is that kakanin is usually sweet and made of rice from and into its many forms and preparations. Usually baked, coconut milk and its meat may be used as flavorings  along with the essences of anise (which I think is of Indian origin) or later, through western influence, vanilla. But think of cooked rice with coconut milk just as the gooey cooked rice incorporated in milk – the American rice pudding. Somewhat similar.

But kakanin is not always made with "kanin" but other starchy root crops of mostly Asian or South American origin – and one of these is the cassava. Available in supermarkets in the root crops section along with the many potatoes, sweet potatoes, jicama, colored potatoes and the rest, one can choose to be traditional about it – peeling the thin and thick covering, grating the starchy root then throwing away the central cord like structure found in the middle. Or keeping in line with conveniences of modern living, this could be bought as ready to use grated form in the frozen section of your Asian supermarket.

Enter the Manila Chronicle 1959 cookbook. In this volume of kitchen tested recipes, my mother used to make Bibingka Cassava Especial for the Christmas holidays and since the recipe called for seven cups of grated raw cassava, I would peel the roots and grate them almost the whole afternoon for the root was tough and starchy. And because it was dense to begin with, grating them using the fine grater would take forever and therefore I used the coarser grind. While it arrived very much at the same product, one can still feel the grated cassava at the tongue and somewhat with a bite.  I am sure that grating the cassava using the grate attachment of the food processor would arrive at a finer product.

The Treasured Manila Chronicle 1959 Cookbook.

The nice thing about using the ready grated cassava is that it is already fine with a smoother and somewhat more pleasant feel. With anise essences blended in a silky coconut milk and condensed milk pudding like topping, the taste is simply heavenly.

And here it is, modified to use a package of ready grated cassava, from my mother's 1959 Manila Chronicle cookbook, the recipe.

Bibingka Cassava Especial

Cassava Pudding layer:
1 package ready grated cassava, thawed (16 oz. by volume and therefore equivalent to 2 cups)
1 cup coconut milk (prefer Philippine coconut milk which could be bought in the frozen aisle of the Asian food store)
1 egg
1/3 cup evaporated milk
2/3 cup white sugar
¼ cup melted butter

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and pour into a banana leaf lined pan.  Bake for about 30 minutes in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven until when tested with a toothpick, the cake is done and dry.
2. As the pudding is cooking, make the topping.

Topping:
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1/3 can condensed milk (or 1 small can) (a good substitute if you want to use the remaining evaporated milk is to mix in equal volume evaporated milk and white sugar and cook on top of a double boiler or very gentle heat until totally dissolved and somewhat thick)
1/3 cup of coconut cream
1 egg yolk (or 1 egg but passed through a sieve)

1. Using a wire whisk, combine all four on top of a double boiler. As the mixture is gradually heated, stir slowly until thick.
2. Pour this on top of the baked cassava pudding.
3. Increasing the oven temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, bake further until the topping is brown. 
4. Cool to room temperature and serve.