Kulambo is a type of rice cake popular in Pangasinan, basically their equivalent to tikoy made with sugar, coconut milk and glutinous rice flour.
Kulambo is a type of netting placed on top and around your bed to ward of mosquitoes at night and have a good night sleep and I don’t know why our rice cake for today is named like such. Kulambo is a type of rice cake popular in Pangasinan, basically their equivalent to tikoy made with sugar, coconut milk and glutinous rice flour. While the main ingredients are similar, the similarity stops there as the cooking process for this one does not include steaming and mainly cooking over stove top while laboriously mixing it until it becomes so sticky and cooked.
Originating in Pangasinan this rice cake is available in most markets where kakanins are sold and it is available all year round. Its sweet, sticky a bit oily, and tastes nearly similar to the Kalamay of Antipolo which I grew up with, I only recently knew this type of kakanin from my wife who on the other hand grew up with this one. In the Philippines this one of the reasons why kids accompany their elders in the wet market as most parents will buy this as a merenda for their little ones.
This may look really simple, the process is laborious but I think it’s all worth the wait. A really nice high energy high carb snack to run you through a hard day.
In a large bowl combine all ingredients together apart from latik, coconut oil and banana leaves. Mix well until even in consistency.
Place mixture in a non-stick pan, place on stove top and cook in medium low heat while continuously mixing.
When the mixture becomes a sticky dough add the coconut oil, continue to cook while mixing for 15 minutes until its dough in consistency.
Prepare a 10-inch diameter flat bottomed bowl or bilao, top it with banana leaf then place the rice cake, flatten to cover the whole surface. Top it with latik then let it cool before serving.
In Malay, it’s kelambu, the mosquito netting. Pretty close, eh? I think they call a blanket by that name too.