We Filipinos love our Christmas foods, with combination of puto bumbong and bibingka!
On December 16, the Christmas season formally starts in the Philippines with the ushering of the nine-day dawn masses that are held as early as 3 a.m. in the many Filipino Catholic churches. Simbang Gabi in Filipino or Misa de Gallo in Spanish.The eagerness for Christmas day among Filipinos builds up on those nine days when they troop to their local churches to show devotion to and seek graces from God.
After attending the dawn masses, many people take pleasure in eating puto bumbong and bibingka. I love both with grated coconut, cheese, butter and sugar.
Bibingka is traditionally prepared with rice flour and coconut milk and made tasty with salted eggs and butter. It is round-shaped, soft and spongy rice cake and yellowish in color.
Puto Bumbong is a Filipino dessert that usually comes in purple color and eaten with grated coconuts and sugar cane sweets. Puto Bumbong is made from sticky rice and prepared in cannon-shaped steamers.
