#267_My New Puto Bumbong Steamer

I bought this puto bumbong steamer around Christmas time

so I considered it as a Christmas present to myself.

People always talk about Puto bumbong around Christmas time, even Leah Salonga mentions "puto bumbong" in one of her Christmas songs. I came from Pangasinan which is considered the puto capital of the Philippines, (if there's such a thing), but unfortunately Puto Bumbong is not one of the many Puto varieties people make in that province. I've never sampled it in my whole entire life, so whenever i hear the word "Puto Bumbong", I wonder how it tastes like and how it's made, but never had any desire to learn how to make it until I purchased this odd-looking gadget. Although I didn't have a single clue on how to make it, I knew I can find out through the cyberspace and gosh, was I right! There's plenty of sources floating around out there.

I saw this particular recipe and procedure from YouTube

Soak 1 cup black rice and 2 cups glutinous rice in water with salt overnight then grind in a blender. Drain liquid using a cheesecloth.

this is how it looks after liquid has been extracted from the ground rice, the mixture became a solid mass.

to break them up, pass the mixture, little at a time, through a sieve or a grater.

The result will be this dry, powdery rice mixture called "galapong".
Ready to make the Puto Bumbong.

I followed all the instructions on how to use the steamer, wrapping the bamboo tubes or "bumbong" with some cloth to protect my fingers from getting burned, then I anxiously filled them with the "galapong". The water in the steamer was steaming. I turned the heat down so the water will just be gently boiling, I was ready!!! I then put the bamboo tubes in place.....anxiety, anxiety, yup my anxiety was building up!! Then something went awry: water leaked from around the seams of the steamer!!! water was all over the stove top. But in spite of the water leaking out from the steamer I was so determined to continued to steam the puto, wiping off the water on the stove as water kept coming out. From the instructions I got, the puto is supposed to steam in just a few minutes, but 15 minutes went by, then 30 minutes... only one tube produced a tiny steamed puto. I took this tiny puto onto a waiting piece of banana leaf sitting on the counter, slathered it with some butter as per instruction, and then sprinkled some grated coconuts and turbenado sugar.

I was not impressed by the taste at all. The puto itself was bland. No wonder from the video I watched on YouTube, the makers had to put all of those toppings on them.

At least now,I know how Puto Bumbong is made.