Philippine Food: Palitaw

Palitaw is a small, flat, sweet rice cake or kakanin native to the Philippines. It is well-known in the Philippines food delicacy eaten as a snack or dessert. It was derived from the Filipino word “litaw”, which means “to float or to surface” in English.

Palitaw is originally made washed, soaked, ground sticky rice or “kaning malagkit” – however, some uses glutinous rice flour or any packaged rice flour to minimize the time in grinding and soaking the sticky rice and because it is more efficient. It is made by simply mixing the rice flour and water until a dough is formed. The dough is divided into small pieces then manually molded into a ball-shape figure and flattened. The flattened dough is cooked in boiling water until they float – an indication that they’re done. Once cooked, it will be dipped in grated young coconut, toasted sesame seeds and sugar.

Rising of the dough in boiling water is the phenomenon that we would like to discuss. We chose this phenomenon because it is interesting to know how and why the dough floats when it is cooked. As well as knowing the fundamental concepts and principles behind the said phenomenon. And since, it is a native kakanin and a well-known delicacy of our country, it is good to know how it is made and also the mechanisms of it.

http://lutongpinoyrecipe.info/pinoy-palitaw/ http://tagaloglang.com/Filipino-Food/Desserts/recipe-for-palitaw.html http://www.tastemycooking.com/palitaw-video http://putopinoy.blogspot.com/2007/05/palitaw.html http://panlasangpinoy.com/2010/01/24/flat-rice-cake-palitaw-recipe/