The recent events surrounding the Covid19-induced lockdown in Metro Manila has lead us to see everybody’s best and worst. And thankfully, we are all blessed with the man of the hour, Pasig City’s Mayor Vico Sotto, From actively rallying for support to his constituents to allowing tricycles to transport the city’s frontliners (much to the President’s chagrin, augh).
We’ve seen him repurpose a popular mot-mot (that’s motel for you all) into a quarantine facility:
He also provided sanitation tents at the city hall–which reminded us of the tents in the Steven Soderbergh film Contagion (which you guys should watch again).
And straight out of a sci-fi film, disinfectant drones!
Since it’s too early to push for Vico to run for the Presidential elections (he’s too young and maybe inexperienced), we can only wish for more public servants in the country to be like him: young, passionate, and puts the welfare of his people first.
For now, we can only satisfy our desire for more Vico with something we can make in the kitchen: the kakanin Biko!
A sweet rice cake in the kakanin category, the biko is made of coconut milk, brown sugar and glutinous rice.
It is usually topped with a latik (two coconut-based ingredients in Filipino cuisine: either the solid version or the syrupy caramelized coconut cream used as a dessert sauce).
In Bikol (or Southern Luzon), it is called sinukmani or sinukmaneng. It’s also called wadjit in Tausug, wadit in Maranao, and wagit in Maguindanao. There’s a Cebuano variant called puto maya.
Perfect with coffee or hot chocolate, one of the biko’s most important feature is its caramelized crust. Toasted lightly, it resembles that of the paella’s socarrar (the one that sticks at the bottom of the pan).
The classic biko is rustic yet elegant, and gives one the much-needed fill. Very much like our Mayor of the Hour, Vico!
