The second common feature of rice cakes is the basic use of coconut derivatives that give unique flavor to most of these dishes, one that may be absent in other rice cake-making countries. Coconut extracts commonly include the milk, and also the meat. The meat commonly serves as a filling or coating, while the milk undergoes a complex preparation process.
While the coconut milk, in its raw form, is also used as a blended ingredient, it is also reduced and caramelized to separate and extract the roasted curd, known as laro, ladek, or larak in local languages, from the coconut oil. The curds, themselves, are also used as fillings, and toppings, or are mixed with the sweet syrup.
Other common features are the use of peanuts as common ingredients for some types of rice cakes, as well as fermentation of ground rice in the pre-cooking phase of the preparation in order to achieve a certain texture or flavor profile.
Rice cake cuisine is a constantly developing and evolving cultural aspect of the Cagayan Valley. Nevertheless, besides evoking positivity and providing social health and physical nourishment to the people of Region 2, it stands as a heritage that was born out of ancient tradition.
As a heritage, it is something that could solidify one’s identity – be it municipal, provincial, regional, national, or ethnic identities. It is something worth being proud of, and thus, something worth protecting and keeping alive for the future generations.
One such way of promoting this cultural aspect of Cagayan Valley is to document these delicacies in order to help preserve the knowledge behind each of them, hence this list. Nonetheless, we can consider that this article may only be the tip of the iceberg, as potential others await discovery and publication to the wider world. (JKC/PIA Region 2)
