Kalamay-Hati/Kalamay Recipe

Since All Saint's Day (November 1) is approaching, I might just post a recipe of Kalamay-hati (or also known as Kalamay in Bohol and Cebu). All Saint's Day or Araw ng mga Patay is a big deal in the Philippines - my country. It is the day where everybody go to the cemetery and light candles for their dead realtives, say a novena and attend mass in there. It is this time of the year, aside from Holy Friday (Viernes Santo) that native foods like Baye2x, Kalamay-Hati/Kalamay, Binignit, Suman, Valenciana, etc. are prepared. Some bring portions of this foods and put it in the tomb of the dead ones. Others just put them in their mini-altars at home or just a small table in the corner with a lighted candle. It is a belief that souls of the dead ones go back to earth and smell the scents of the foods that are being offered to them. There is also a belief that if you put flour or salt in your doorstep, you will observe that there will be footsteps on it, which means that you had some unlikely visitors. It's creepy, right? hehehe... Well, if US celebrates Halloween on the night of October 31st - the day before All Saint's Day - then I think November 1 is our Halloween.

(Sorry. I forgot to take pictures.)

Ingredients:

2 cups glutinous rice flour
2 cups dark brown sugar (you can adjust the amount according to your taste)
4 cups coconut milk (combine two cans of coconut milk and add 1 cup water)

Note 1: If cooking for more people - just always have this ratio - 1:1:2.
Note 2: Light brown sugar is fine too. I prefer to use dark brown sugar because it is closest to muscovado, which is used by my lola (native kalamay-hati recipe from Negros).

Prep time: 10 min
Cooking time: approx. 2-3 hours (kapoy jud ni pero worth it man sad… labi na igkaon nimo igka-next day unya gamay na lang nabilin… nagkalami… hahaha…)
Good for 4-6 servings.

Procedure:

1. In a large saucepan/wok, combine coconut milk and rice flour. Stir until there’s minimum lumping in the mixture.
2. Cook in medium heat. Stir while cooking to prevent mixture from sticking at the bottom of the pan.
Note 3: Stir in one direction only to minimize lumping.
3. Keep on stirring for 30 minutes. (At this point, you will notice that the mixture is going to lump like jell-o but it’s normal. The lumping will just go away later.)
4. Add dark brown sugar and keep on stirring until mixture thickens to desired consistency.
5. If you want your kalamay to be very thick and sticky, cook it in low heat when it is already thick enough that it’s a little heavy for you to stir it. (sabta na lang ninyo… di ko kibalo mo-iningles…) Keep on stirring to avoid burnt mixture at the bottom of the pan.
6. Take off from heat and cool.

Serve plain or sprinkle sesame seeds on top or serve as “palaman” (condiment) for Pandesal.