Rice cake

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A birthday cake of tteok (Korean rice cake) Pink seolgitteok cake.jpg
A birthday cake of tteok (Korean rice cake)
Puffed rice cakes, sold commercially in North America and Europe Quaker-Popped-Rice-Snacks.jpg
Puffed rice cakes, sold commercially in North America and Europe

A rice cake may be any kind of food item made from rice that has been shaped, condensed, or otherwise combined into a single object. A wide variety of rice cakes exist in many different cultures in which rice is eaten. Common variations include cakes made with rice flour, those made from ground rice, and those made from whole grains of rice compressed together or combined with some other binding substance.

Contents

Types of rice cakes by region

Types of rice cake include:

Burmese

Burmese cuisine has a variety of snacks and desserts called mont made with various types of rice, rice flour and glutinous rice flour. Sweet Burmese mont are generally less sweet than counterparts in other parts of Southeast Asia, instead deriving their natural sweetness from constituent ingredients (e.g., grated coconut, coconut milk, glutinous rice, fruit, etc.). [1] [2]

Cambodian

Num Plae Ai (phlaeqaay) Khmer sticky rice balls with coconut topping Num Plae Ai.jpg
Num Plae Ai (ផ្លែអាយ) Khmer sticky rice balls with coconut topping

Chinese

Ciba cake with Brown Sugar and roasted soybean flour Ciba cake 2.jpg
Ciba cake with Brown Sugar and roasted soybean flour
Osmanthus cake Sweet Tea Olive Cake.jpg
Osmanthus cake
Pumpkin Tangyuan with red bean paste and black sesame fillings Pumpkin tangyuan (Tang Yuan ) with red bean baste and black sesame fillings.jpg
Pumpkin Tangyuan with red bean paste and black sesame fillings

Filipino

Various traditional Filipino kakanin (rice cakes) "Kakaning Pinoy" (The Filipino Rice Cakes).jpg
Various traditional Filipino kakanin (rice cakes)
Puto, a traditional Filipino steamed rice cake Puto in banana leaf.jpg
Puto , a traditional Filipino steamed rice cake
Bibingka, a traditional Filipino rice cake baked in a clay pot 7032Poblacion Baliuag Bulacan 28.jpg
Bibingka , a traditional Filipino rice cake baked in a clay pot
Filipino puso rice cakes, made from glutinous rice cooked in woven pouches of various designs, are eaten with savory dishes Puso and BBQ Feast - Chicken Skin, Pork Belly, Chicken Liver and Intestines.jpg
Filipino puso rice cakes, made from glutinous rice cooked in woven pouches of various designs, are eaten with savory dishes

Rice cakes are a common snack in the Philippines and Filipinos have created many different kinds. In Filipino, these rice-based desserts are also known as kakanin, which means "prepared rice." It is derived from the word kanin which is the Filipino word for rice. Rice cakes were also formerly known by the general term tinapay (lit.'fermented with tapay '), but that term is now restricted to mean "bread" in modern Filipino. [17] Nevertheless, two general categories of rice cakes remain: puto for steamed rice cakes, and bibingka for baked rice cakes. Both are usually prepared using galapong , a viscous rice paste derived from grinding uncooked glutinous rice that has been soaked overnight. Galapong is usually fermented, as the old term tinapay implies. [18]

Some examples of traditional Filipino dessert rice cakes include:

Some of these rice cakes can be considered savory. Putong bigas, the most common type of puto, for instance, is traditionally paired with the savory pig's blood stew dinuguan . Bibingka galapong can also be topped with meat or eggs. Aside from these, non-dessert rice cakes eaten as accompaniment to savory meals also exist, the most widespread being the puso.

Indian

Idli, a south Indian savory cake Idli Sambar.JPG
Idli, a south Indian savory cake

Indonesian

Lontong, popular in Indonesia and Malaysia, made of compressed rice rolled into a banana leaf Lontong.jpg
Lontong, popular in Indonesia and Malaysia, made of compressed rice rolled into a banana leaf

As a food staple

In Indonesia rice cakes can be plain and bland tasting, and are often treated as a food staple, as an alternative to steamed rice.

  • Burasa, a type of rice dumpling cooked with coconut milk packed inside a banana leaf pouch. It is a delicacy of the Bugis and Makassar people of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and often consumed as a staple to replace steamed rice or ketupat. It is similar to lontong, but with richer flavour acquired from coconut milk.
  • Ketupat, or packed rice is a type of rice dumpling of Indonesia. Also can be found in Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore. It is made from rice that has been wrapped in a Rhombus or kite shaped woven palm leaf pouch and boiled. As the rice cooks, the grains expand to fill the pouch and the rice becomes compressed. This method of cooking gives the ketupat its characteristic form and texture of a rice dumpling. Ketupat is usually eaten with rendang or served as an accompaniment to satay or gado-gado. Ketupat is also traditionally served by Malays at open houses on festive occasions such as Idul Fitri (Hari Raya Aidilfitri). During Idul Fitri in Indonesia, ketupat is often served with opor ayam (chicken in coconut milk), accompanied with spicy soy powder.
  • Lontong, popular in Indonesia and also can be found in Malaysia, is made of compressed rice that is then cut into small cakes. It is traditionally made by boiling the rice until it is partially cooked and packing it tightly into a rolled-up banana leaf. The leaf is secured and cooked in boiling water for about 90 minutes. Once the compacted rice has cooled, it can be cut up into bite-sized pieces. The dish is usually served cold or at room temperature with sauce-based dishes such as gado-gado and salads, although it can be eaten as an accompaniment to other dishes such as Satay and curries.
  • Nasi himpit, can be found in Indonesia and Malaysia. Unlike ketupat or lontong, nasi himpit is not cooked in a wrapping. Instead, the already boiled or steamed rice is pounded in a mortar into paste which is then molded and cut into a cube before eating. It is often eaten with Sayur lodeh or Soto.

As a snack

Kue lapis, multi-layered colorful sweet glutinous rice cake Kue Lapis.jpg
Kue lapis, multi-layered colorful sweet glutinous rice cake

Numerous types of Indonesian kue (traditional cake) are made using glutinous rice or rice flour. They can be sweet or savoury. Varieties include:

  • Arem-arem, a smaller lontong filled with vegetables and meat.
  • Klepon, balls of glutinous rice flour filled with gula jawa (red palm sugar) and boiled or steamed. Afterwards the balls are rolled in grated coconut. In Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, they are called "onde-onde".
  • Kue lapis, a layered colorful cake made of glutinous rice flour, coconut and sugar.
  • Lemper, a savoury snack made of glutinous rice filled with chicken, fish or abon (meat floss). The meat filling is rolled inside the rice in a fashion very similar to Chinese zongzi. A variant of lemper which instead of being wrapped with a banana leaf is wrapped inside of a thin egg omelette is called semar mendem.
  • Lepet, a sticky rice dumpling mixed with peanuts cooked with coconut milk and packed inside janur (young coconut leaf or palm leaf). It is a delicacy commonly found in Javanese and Sundanese cuisine and often consumed as snack.
  • Lupis, compressed glutinous rice served with grated coconut and coconut sugar syrup.
  • Nagasari or kue pisang, a traditional steamed cake made from rice flour, coconut milk and sugar and filled with slices of banana. [21]
  • Putu, green pandan-colored rice flour filled with coconut sugar and steamed in bamboo cylinder.
  • Serabi, a type of pancake made from rice flour with coconut milk or just plain shredded coconut as an emulsifier.

Japanese

Dango, a Japanese dumpling made from rice-flour Mitarashi dango by denver935.jpg
Dango, a Japanese dumpling made from rice-flour

Korean

Tteok, Korean rice cakes Korean culture-Doljanchi-01.jpg
Tteok, Korean rice cakes

Steamed rice cake in an earthenware steamer was the oldest principal food for Koreans before sticky rice took over upon the invention of the iron pot. [22] Now, there are hundreds of different kinds of Korean rice cake or "tteok" eaten year round. In Korea, it is customary to eat tteok guk (tteok soup) on New Year's Day and sweet tteok at weddings and on birthdays. It is often considered a celebratory food and can range from rather elaborate versions or down to the plain-flavored tteok. Rice cakes are chosen for particular occasions depending on their color and the role they play in Korea's traditional yin-yang cosmology. [23]

Sri Lankan

Taiwanese

Vietnamese

Steamed Banh bo, a sweet, chewy Vietnamese sponge cake made from rice flour Banh bo hap.jpg
Steamed Bánh bò, a sweet, chewy Vietnamese sponge cake made from rice flour

In other cuisines

Bangladeshi style rice cake, originally known as Bhapa Pitha, eaten with molasses as a sweetener Bhapa Pitha Bangladeshi Style, 3 February, 2013.jpg
Bangladeshi style rice cake, originally known as Bhapa Pitha , eaten with molasses as a sweetener
Tahchin or Persian baked Saffron rice cake. Decorated with Barberries, Almond and Pistachio slices Tachin.jpg
Tahchin or Persian baked Saffron rice cake. Decorated with Barberries, Almond and Pistachio slices

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glutinous rice</span> Type of rice

Glutinous rice is a type of rice grown mainly in Southeast and East Asia, and the northeastern regions of South Asia, which has opaque grains, very low amylose content, and is especially sticky when cooked. It is widely consumed across Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malay cuisine</span> Cuisine of Malay people

Malay cuisine is the traditional food of the ethnic Malays of Southeast Asia, residing in modern-day Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand and the Philippines as well as Cocos Islands, Christmas Island, Sri Lanka and South Africa.

<i>Kuih</i> Southeast Asian snack or dessert foods

Kuih are bite-sized snack or dessert foods commonly found in Southeast Asia and China. It is a fairly broad term which may include items that would be called cakes, cookies, dumplings, pudding, biscuits, or pastries in English and are usually made from rice or glutinous rice. In China, where the term originates from, kueh or koé (粿) in the Min Nan languages refers to snacks which are typically made from rice but can occasionally be made from other grains such as wheat. The term kuih is widely used in Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore, kueh is used in Singapore and Indonesia, kue is used in Indonesia only, all three refer to sweet or savoury desserts.

<i>Nian gao</i> Chinese food

Nian gao, sometimes translated as year cake or New Year cake or Chinese New Year's cake, is a food prepared from glutinous rice flour and consumed in Chinese cuisine. It is also simply known as "rice cake". While it can be eaten all year round, traditionally it is most popular during the Chinese New Year. It is considered good luck to eat nian gao during this time of the year because nian gao (年糕) is a homonym for "higher year" or "grow every year" (年高), which means "a more prosperous year". The character 年 is literally translated as "year", and the character 糕 (gāo) is literally translated as "cake" and is identical in sound to the character 高, meaning "tall" or "high". In Mandarin, Nian gao (年糕) also is an exact homonym of "sticky cake" (黏糕/粘糕), the character 黏/粘 (nián) meaning "sticky".

<i>Bibingka</i> Filipino baked rice cake

Bibingka commonly refers to a type of baked rice cake from the Philippines that is traditionally cooked in a terracotta oven lined with banana leaves and is usually eaten for breakfast or as merienda especially during the Christmas season. It is also known as bingka in the Visayas and Mindanao islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tangyuan (food)</span> Traditional Chinese dessert

Tangyuan are a traditional Chinese dessert made of glutinous rice shaped into balls that are served in a hot broth or syrup. They come in varying sizes, anything between a marble to a ping pong ball, and are sometimes stuffed with filling. Tangyuan are traditionally eaten during the Lantern Festival, but because the name is a homophone for union and symbolizes togetherness and completeness, this dish is also served at weddings, family reunions, Chinese New Year, and the Dōngzhì festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kue</span> Indonesian bite-sized snack or dessert

Kue is an Indonesian bite-sized snack or dessert food. Kue is a fairly broad term in Indonesian to describe a wide variety of snacks including cakes, cookies, fritters, pies, scones, and patisserie. Kue are made from a variety of ingredients in various forms; some are steamed, fried or baked. They are popular snacks in Indonesia, which has the largest variety of kue. Because of the countries' historical colonial ties, Koeé (kue) is also popular in the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rice flour</span> Flours made from finely milled rice

Rice flour is a form of flour made from finely milled rice. It is distinct from rice starch, which is usually produced by steeping rice in lye. Rice flour is a common substitute for wheat flour. It is also used as a thickening agent in recipes that are refrigerated or frozen since it inhibits liquid separation.

<i>Bánh</i> Traditional Vietnamese confectionary

In Vietnamese, the term bánh translates loosely as "cake" or "bread", but refers to a wide variety of prepared foods that can easily be eaten by hands or chopsticks. With the addition of qualifying adjectives, bánh refers to a wide variety of sweet or savory, distinct cakes, buns, pastries, sandwiches, and other food items, which may be cooked by steaming, baking, frying, deep-frying, or boiling. Foods made from wheat flour or rice flour are generally called bánh, but the term may also refer to certain varieties of noodle and fish cake dishes, such as bánh canh and bánh hỏi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puto (food)</span> Type of steamed rice cake

Puto is a Filipino steamed rice cake, traditionally made from slightly fermented rice dough (galapong). It is eaten as is or as an accompaniment to a number of savoury dishes. Puto is also an umbrella term for various kinds of indigenous steamed cakes, including those made without rice. It is a sub-type of kakanin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Javanese cuisine</span> Cuisine of the Javanese people, Indonesia

Javanese cuisine is the cuisine of Javanese people, a major ethnic group in Indonesia, more precisely the province of Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Padang cuisine</span> Cuisine of the Minangkabau people of Indonesia

Padang dish or Minangkabau dish is the cuisine of the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is among the most popular cuisines in Maritime Southeast Asia. It is known across Indonesia as Masakan Padang after Padang, the capital city of Western Sumatra province. It is served in restaurants mostly owned by perantauan (migrating) Minangkabau people in Indonesian cities. Padang food is ubiquitous in Indonesian cities and is popular in neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Habichuelas con dulce</span> Sweet bean liquid dessert from the Dominican Republic

Habichuelas con dulce is a sweet bean liquid dessert from the Dominican Republic that is especially popular around the Easter holiday. The dessert is part of the cuisine of the Dominican Republic and is traditionally garnished with milk cookies or with casabe, "a flatbread made of yuca flour."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sundanese cuisine</span> Cuisine of the Sundanese people, Indonesia

Sundanese cuisine is the cuisine of the Sundanese people of Western Java, and Banten, Indonesia. It is one of the most popular foods in Indonesia. Sundanese food is characterised by its freshness; the famous lalab eaten with sambal and also karedok demonstrate the Sundanese fondness for fresh raw vegetables. Unlike the rich and spicy taste, infused with coconut milk and curry of Minangkabau cuisine, the Sundanese cuisine displays the simple and clear taste; ranged from savoury salty, fresh sourness, mild sweetness, to hot and spicy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betawi cuisine</span> Cuisine of the Betawi people of Jakarta, Indonesia

Betawi cuisine is rich, diverse and eclectic, in part because the Betawi people that create them were composed from numbers of regional immigrants that came from various places in the Indonesian archipelago, as well as Chinese, Indian, Arab, and European traders, visitors and immigrants that were attracted to the port city of Batavia since centuries ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bua loi</span> Thai dessert

Bua loi or bua loy is a Thai dessert. It consists of rice flour rolled into small balls, and cooked in coconut milk and sugar. Some Bua loi also adds sweet egg into the recipe. It was inspired by Tangyuan, a Chinese dessert that is traditionally eaten around the Lantern festival. Bua Loi also traditionally eats at the Dongzhi Festival in Thailand, which is festival for the Chinese-Thai bloodline. There are a variety of versions of Bua loi such as using food coloring instead of natural color, using soy milk instead of Coconut cream, sliced Pumpkin to add inside rice balls, et cetera. There's other type of Bua loi in other country from China, Japan, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Southern Vietnam and Malaysia. 1 cup of Bua Loy has total calories of 295.5 kilocalories, protein of 10.4 grams, carbohydrate of 6.3 grams, and fat of 25 grams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mango sticky rice</span> South and Southeast Asian dessert

Mango sticky rice is a traditional Southeast Asian and South Asian dessert made with glutinous rice, fresh mango and coconut milk, and eaten with a spoon or the hands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red bean paste</span> Paste made from adzuki beans

Red bean paste or red bean jam, also called adzuki bean paste or anko, is a paste made of red beans, used in East Asian cuisine. The paste is prepared by boiling the beans, then mashing or grinding them. At this stage, the paste can be sweetened or left as it is. The color of the paste is usually dark red, which comes from the husk of the beans. In Korean cuisine, the adzuki beans can also be husked prior to cooking, resulting in a white paste. It is also possible to remove the husk by sieving after cooking, but before sweetening, resulting in a red paste that is smoother and more homogeneous.

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