Tupig
This homemade tupig recipe will let you enjoy Pangasinan’s native delicacy at home! Sweet, chewy rice cakes with coconut strips wrapped in charred banana leaves. It’s the perfect snack or dessert.
We usually make it a point to go to Manaoag, Pangasinan to visit its beautiful church every time we go home to the Philippines. The three-ish hour drive from Pampanga to Manaoag is a pleasant journey of green scenery and local culinary specialties. Once in Pangasinan, tupig is one sweet treat that will immediately catch your eyes. Street vendors lining busy roads and intersections grilling tupig over hot charcoal is a sign that we arrived.
I usually buy a few bundles to eat while on the road and the rest is for pasalubong. It’s like suman but with a charred banana wrapper and smoky flavor. You have the chewy, sweet, rice cake wrapped in almost burnt banana leaves. It’s one of the things I miss when in the Philippines. Luckily, I have this homemade recipe that I use to make a batch when craving or to bring something for a Filipino potluck.
What Is Tupig?
Locally called as intemtem or kangkanen, the word tupig or tinupig translates to “flattened” which is the shape it takes after grilling. Mixing glutinous rice flour, young coconut strips, gata, butter or margarine and brown sugar together makes the rice cake batter. The mixture is then wrapped in banana leaves and grilled over charcoal until charred.
In the old days, this popular native delicacy is only served during Christmas and New Year like bibingka. Carollers will sometime receive this instead of monetary gift after some sing-song soirée. Nowadays, buying tupig any time of the year is possible with variations like adding jackfruit, ube or purple yam, strawberry, sesame seed and so on.
Notes On Some Ingredients
How To Cook
Grilling on hot charcoal is the usual way to cook tupig. Cooking tupig in a pan is another way do it especially if you don’t have a charcoal grill or the weather doesn’t permit. To do this, heat a pan or skillet over medium heat then fry tupig on each side for 10 minutes. You can also bake tupig in an oven by arranging the wrapped mixture on baking sheets. Cook for ten minutes in a pre-heated oven at 200°C/400°F or until the leaves are browning in several spots.
Cooking Tips
How To Serve And Store
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Tupig
Ingredients
- 2 cups glutinous rice flour
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/3 cups coconut milk
- 1 1/2 tbsp butter (melted)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 cup young coconut (shredded)
- 10 banana leaves (cut into 6 inches by 12 inches rectangles)
Instructions
- Prepare banana leaves but cutting into 6 in. by 12 in. rectangles. Wash thoroughly and wipe with clean cloth or paper towels.10 banana leaves
- Pass leaves through fire in a stove top for a few seconds until wilted and pliable. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, tip in glutinous rice flour, brown sugar and coconut milk. Mix until no trace of flour is left.2 cups glutinous rice flour, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 1/3 cups coconut milk
- Add the melted butter and salt then stir until fully combined. Add shredded young coconut and fold into the batter until incorporated.1 1/2 tbsp butter, 1/8 tsp salt, 1 cup young coconut
- Place a banana leaf on a clean flat surface and brush with melted butter. Place 1 1/2 to 2 tbsp of the tupig mixture on the banana leaf.
- Roll the banana leaf carefully into a cylinder to wrap. Fold both ends inwards to secure. Repeat process with the remaining batter.
- Over medium heat, arrange tupig in a frying pan and cook each side for 10 minutes while occasionally turning or until leaves are charred.
- Remove from heat and place in a serving dish. Serve and enjoy. Bon appetit.
