One thing I like about Filipino food is the bountiful breakfast table with its wide selection of viands that go with fried rice. While I’m not a big breakfast person (I’m usually happy with just a mug of taho, a soft soybean curd & tapioca pudding on weekends), I still enjoy the occasional breakfast rice meal. So, for today’s bento, I decided to go breakfast with a Longganisa-centric meal. For LUNCH!

Clockwise from top:
• Suman sa Ibus dusted with orange-colored sugar & Mangoes
• Rice, Longganisa & a fishful of Red Cane Vinegar
• Sliced tomatoes & Salted Duck Eggs, garnished with a mint leaf
• Add-on: Green tea-filled marshmallow

A traditional Filipino dessert, suman is a “rice cake” that’s made with sticky rice. Different provinces make different kinds of suman that you can easily tell apart through the wrapper. This particular one, called Suman sa Ibus is a bland type of rice cake that’s cooked in coconut milk, then wrapped in buri palm leaves, and made to look like a long cylinder. It’s usually served with white sugar and fresh ripe mangoes on the side.

Itlog na Maalat (literally salty egg) is actually duck eggs that’s steeped in a jar of brine. The jar is usually covered, then left for a fortnight. Afterwards, the eggs are hard-boiled and colored with red dye before being sold, hence it’s also called Itlog na Pula (red egg). The most common way to serve it is to peel, dice, then toss with diced fresh tomatoes.

For more info about Longganisa, click this previous entry.

For more info about other types of suman, as well as how to make them, visit: http://www.philrice.gov.ph/prorice/food/suman.htm.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 26th, 2006 at 3:07 am and is filed under bento, food spotlight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.