I thought I was making good progress on a lower carbohydrate, better protein and a higher fruit/ vegetable intake regimen that I started last week to help get rid of 10 pounds of fat I put on since January 1 of this year. This is no super food denial diet, just trying to eat better. Though I have to admit that the skim milk, whey, oatmeal and strawberry shakes that I have for “snacks†sounded a bit bizarre and preachy, they actually taste good. I have also exercised every day for the last week, from working out to walking “briskly†and even taking a half hour spin on my ancient racer bike last night. Then the doorbell rings after dinner and in waltzes a couple of enormous boxes and a mini-bayong bearing generous food gifts from friends who really know how to eat…
The boxes contained the most amazing cuchinta, some puto binan, and a bounty of puffed rice/pinipig. 
First up are the cuchinta. As a kid, they were among my top 3 kakanins…along with sapin-sapin and puto. I used to eat cuchinta by the dozen (of the smaller sizes). So I was truly amazed by these massive versions that really had tremendous depth of flavor and a nice consistency. I think it must be rice harvest season or something and the malagkit used was extremely fresh AND the brown sugar must have been something really special which together with the coconut milk yielded a deeper or more complex cuchinta than you usually get these days. Delicious and wickedly bad for anyone watching their caloric intake…
Next up was a box of puto Binan, which frankly, I have NEVER tasted before. Deprived, I know. It is like a flat puto (think large pizza dough but made of rice flour) with
a lot of salty grated cheese and possibly egg? on top. This was a somewhat new taste sensation for me, the salty right on top of the sweet…but on second thought, not really…that’s what a good cassava cake is like or bibingka for that matter. I think the saltiness in turn accentuates the sweetness…it was good but the cuchinta was still tops on my list for the evening… The cuchinta and puto Binan are from D’Original Juling’s of Binan. I am told that the food cognoscenti from those parts frequent this incredible maker of cuchinta and other goodies. My source tells me even the Mayor of Binan is a frequent customer…
Also in the goody bags last night were several bags of puffed 
rice and smashed rice or pinipig, already fried up. What a terrific treat to get this delivered to you right in the heart of the city…these are things I associate with the probinsya… The next challenge is how to use up all of this bounty… there is enough for 200 cups of chocolate eh or 100 halo-halo’s and so I must find a recipe or two that uses these terrific ingredients…To the folks that sent this over, many thanks!!!
39 Responses
Ah! Pinipig!! Love it in chilled guinatan (fresh coconut milk, boiled saba, sweet kamote, sago and langka)Yum! Yum!
I can still recall how we always have an abundant supply of freshly made pinipig when harvest season arrives in Pampanga. Well, that was years ago when we still have Lolo around.
cuchinta!!! wow… i’m drooling all over rigght now just looking at those pictures! have you by any chance have tried doing this? any recommended recipe?
MM, with friends like that, you’ll have to work double-time on your weight-loss effort. anyone has a recipe for puto binan? i’ve been looking all over for a recipe for that. i think the cheese is a later addition, certainly not with the earlier versions. these days, pinoys are wont to put cheese on everything, resulting in some hits, and many misses. in puto bumbong (miss), inside turon saging right next to the langka (hit..yum!) in pinoy fruit salad (hit!), and many more…i think it’s all a matter of personal taste and all about not overdoing it. a whole article could be devoted to this realtively new “phenomenon”… again, anyone out there with a recipe for the genuine puto binan? it’s unlike any other puto.
never had puto binan… now am envious green so of envy
i wished my doorbell will ring right now and a fellow kababayan with a bayong is here bearing me kakainin.
shall wait for recipe of that puto binan then….
am off for my exercise to ward off the calorific sins of food blogging hahha
what are puto biñan? are they the same as cassava cake? or like cutchinta like the one in your first pix?
great looking cuchintas! ah, this is making me homesick :(
How lucky you are MM, you seems know alot of people who give you lots of goodies. Like you,I’m also trying to lose a bit of weight. My family and I will be visiting Pinas soon and you know what that is, relatives will be feeding us so much foods that when we return we be on diets for months.
One thing I,m looking forward to is to taste my favorite cuchinta. Looking at you photo make my tongue hang out like a dog.
I also thank you for those places that you mentioned in your blogs that now I have a lists of places we can go while we there. Keep writing marketman, you help lots of filipina like me more than you ever know.
aww..my daughter just love our rice cakes!
is puto binan the brown, kinda off-white puto? was just dreaming of sapin-sapin the other day and now i see this luscious looking cuchinta. i miss puto polo and their cuchinta from marilao too…the small versions you pop into your mouth whole…ouch, makes my mouth water and my head spin…
Where can I buy decent sapin-sapin? I all of a sudden got a craving for the red, purple and white stuff w/that toasted coconut. Good thing to bring to a potluck thing (an alternative to that boring coffee crunch cake always present at our reunions).
I can really recommend the sapin-sapin of Dolor’s Kakanin. In fact this is their specialty and at their area what used to be a hole in the wall store is now found in the main thoroughfare and has a bigger/brighter space. I thought that it was just a hit among those people residing within the Malabon/Caloocan area, when in one of the company ‘merienda’, one cropped up. It is found in Malabon, along Gov Pascual street if I am not mistaken, though I recently heard that they have another branch in Banawe. Though I don’t have the exact addresses of both. Tell you later if I do find out. =)
Dolor’s Kakanin is really the one as far as sapin-sapin is concerned. They even put it in pizza-like boxes if you want to hand carry it to the States. I can’t even recall the no. of sapin-sapin I’ve sent to friends in L.A. along with Tita Paring’s suman latik. I get my supply of Dolor’s sapin-sapin at Mommy’s Malabon Pride (they also serve delicious pancit malabon)located at #1 Congressional Ave. Ext., Proj. 6, Q.C. (tel. no. 9274453). The sapin-sapin is delivered every morning but it would be best to call up and reserve since they run out fast.
Here, I have the address for the Banawe branch…..its 575-B Banawe St, St Peter, Quezon City. 7437947. Btw, I am in no way related to them, do not even remotely know them, so you can be assurred that my opinion is solely based on the food itself. =)
aleth, I have never made cuchinta. The addition of lye or lihiya is a bit daunting to me… see an earlier discussion on cuchinta/puto in my archives where everyone freaks out about lye… but that is what gives it that characteristic chewiness… millet I have never made or tasted puto binan before so I am hoping another reader has a recipe. The puto binan is the white one in the seond photo above with cheese shavings on it. Lei and Olive, thanks for answering Frayed’s question…I too have been wondering where to get good sapin-sapin becuase my suki of old has disappeared…a good sapin sapin should have the different sections made SEPARATELY and with the right flavorings, and not just colored and smushed together!
MM, what I can say is that Dolor’s sapin-sapin’s trademark is that in the inner ring, you have biko and a red colored stuff that is for me a cross breed between cutchinta and sapin sapin. They also have a separate section of ube like sapin sapin. But my favorite is the outermost section, wherein you have three layers, the base being the ube sapin sapin, then there is the yellow, also of different taste and texture and the white on top. But I think that you should be able to try it yourself to be able to judge if this is the sapin-sapin that is to your liking =) Whew, I hope I was able to describe the sapin sapin in a clear way heehee.
well, what about cuchinta then? i’ve always loved cuchinta. where can i buy great cuchinta without having to make the trek to binan?
there’s puto binan that’s more yellow, and there’s some that’s kinda brown (not sure if the brown ones are “officially” binan though). puto kutsinta isn’t that hard to make either, just takes PATIENCE (all the individual little molds to fill!). actually if you look at the puto recipes in some filipino cookbooks here in the US they’re for kutsinta! i found out when i tried two recipes and while mixing the batter i was already thinking, no way these could be puto — and whaddaya know, when they were cooked they were more like sapin-sapin or kutsinta than puto. talk about frustrating.
The pinipig can be turned into Guinataang Sariwa. The raw pinipig is soaked in thin coconut milk and mixed with chopped boiled kamote, gabi, saba banana, ube, grated buko meat, chopped chico and sugar (some even add native cucumber strings). A bowl of the puffed pinipig can be passed around along with the thick coconut milk for pouring into the guinatan. This concoction is often served during the “Pasalamat” in the different towns of Bulacan. The Pasalamat is a mini-fiesta and its main purpose is to give thanks for a bountiful harvest.
Maricel that sounds really intriguing. Is the raw coconut milk just mixed in with cooked fruits? You don’t cook the coconut milk or the raw pinipig? Otherwise, it sounds good to me! stefoodie, I find MANY filipino cookbooks are incomplete in their descriptions or recipes, not to mention downright misleading or misinformed. I have come across way too many recipes that were poorly written or tested. gonzo, readers are going to have to help you with that question on cuchinta…Lei, that sapin-sapin sounds like the “real thing”!
Must try Juling’s next time, I’ve only tasted Neneng’s. But then again, I’m not sure now. Come to think of it, practically all the puto binan manufacturers there have the same packaging– red-striped border, script-type names ending with “..ng’s” claiming to be D’Original. He,he. Be sure to check the names you prefer! This must be big business out there.
There’s a Dolor’s branch along the West Service Road in Parañaque (near Severina 18). Don’t know their number but if you live this part South you can get sapin-sapin here (along with Pancit Malabon). They’re delivered each from malabon each morning.
For cuchinta, best I tried came from Cavite. Can’t recall the anme right now but it was really good.
i’ve found an awesome brown puto that comes from the sunday market in makati. (i hear they’ve moved to the park near greenbelt)
it’s called Puto con Queso (0917)5391402.
another thing to add to the cheese phenomena.
Thanks Lei, Olive and Kulasa. Never heard of Dolor before but I guess that’s the brand to get. I was still a kid the last time I had sapin-sapin.
Yes MM. The coconut milk and the pinipig are not cooked. The pinipig as you have read from Karen’s post on duman has actually undergone a cooking process. Guinataang Sariwa served ice cold is a very refreshing summer merienda fare.
I love Guinataang Sariwa, but I’ve never had it with the type of pinipig shown here (because I think this is the one made from mature grain). I think its best made with the green pinipig made from young grain (hence the color), which is naturally sweet. If you happen to visit Baguio, they sell this in the public market by the glass (or takal).
I miss old fashioned cuchinta with the runny top made by the and usually made in a bilao. The ones sold commercially in individual cups tend to have a uniform texture, and are brown rather than brick in color. We call these “cupchinta”.
But the ones MM had have marvelous color, I bet they tasted great. The edges didn’t hold their shape, so I’m betting it had great texture as well. (Bet na lang ako ng bet, walang taste eh!)
The pioneers and the experts of puto binan are the REYES FAMILY (TEDLONG REYES) of San Antonio, Binan Laguna. The present puto makers now are nothing compared with the REYES’ PUTO. PUTO BINAN has always been synanymous with REYES FAMILY.They have perfected the art of making Puto Binan, the taste/flavor and softness of the Puto was savored and loved by local and Manila people even celebrities in the past. Due to some problems faced by the family puto production has suffered until the business closed few years back.
GOOD NEWS is the family has revived the business starting late last year and has embraced innovations in puto making without compromising the taste and quality of the RICE CAKES that everyone loved.
The family is also looking for interested business people to distribute REYES PUTO BINAN within BINAN and nearby areas and MANILA. Interested parties can send email at rodrey437@yahoo.com. 0r contact (049) 411-3419
hey if you like cutsinta and puto you should try the puto con queso at the legaspi market!!! wow!!! to die for!!!! its the becky’s kitchen stall that sells it…yummmmmmmmmmmm!!!!
HI !
DROPPED BY JULING’S. CHATTED WITH HER, TASTED IT . IN A SENTENCE – I WOULD RETURN.
IT DOES REMIND ME OF THE OLD STYLE PUTO BINAN. SHREDDED CHEESE, SHREDDED COOKED EGG AND CONDENSED MILK IS WHAT THEY PUT ON TOP.
SURPRISINGLY, THEY DO NOT USE MALAGKIT. RATHER YEAR OLD LAONG LAON RICE. THEY ARE OPEN 24 HOURS. FRIENDLY PEOPLE.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE PUTO’S (BIBINGKA-MANDAUE STYLE) IS AT MER’S IN DIGOS, DAVAO DEL SUR. YOU CAN FREEZE IT AND JUST MICRO WAVE IT.THAT IS GOOD STUFF, EXCELLENT HOT CHOCOLATE ALSO.
yummy yummy yummy cuchinta.
i am looking for a recipe for puto binan because my sister in law used to bring bilaos of these delicacy when she visits us from cabuyao. she is in canada now and i miss the texture and flavor. i don’t bother with the ones being sold in the market right now, nothing compares to original binan puto, they’re the best. maybe i should go to binan and look for someone to teach me. i envy those who live there!!! anyone who wants to learn baking, there’s a nice blog on baking at bakingbreads.blogspot.com
cecil, sorry, I have never made puto binan. I suspect the best bet is to simply buy it at the source if you live within a reasonable distance from Binan… of course, if there are any readers willing to share a recipe, I hope they will oblige!
Dolor’s Kakanin is distributed by Mommy’s Malabon Pride (same price in all branches):
Malabon: 2812739/2829710/09178299667
Congressional, QC: 927-4453/9291550
Sucat, P’que: 8230806
SM Mega B: 09228773367
SM Makati: 09228299667
HI!
I LOVE TO COOK. IM IN UK ROGHT NOW..IF YOU COULD SEND ME PINOY RECIPE ESP. DESSERTS.
BEST REAGARDS TO ALL. THANKS
hi
i love cooking sweets. if you could send me recipes for maja blanca, sapi-sapin and cutsinta i would appreciate it very much.
ps. yema as well pls
tes, I think there are recipes for maja blanca and yema in the archives. I don’t have a recipe for cucinta or sapinsapin. Just search archives.
to all concern;
I think puto Binan is just a well known puto maker but In quality and refinement,every layer of the puto i can say my home town maker in Maragondon,Cavite is the best..the whiteness,softnes and the way puto making is performed, simula sa pagbabad ng malagkit ,patiently grind in stone grinder at hangang bagbake sa bilao at pagcut ng puto in diamond shape with the aid of string it really an art and likewise culture of Filipinos that we can be proud of.
Hello Filipinos,
Does anyone knows where I can order Filipino desserst online? I’m craving for kutsinta!! I probably could make them, but it won’t be as good as anyone else making the kutsinta. I appreciate any feedbacks from anyone. Thanks in advance.
Melony
Hi, i love kakanin very much.If possible please share to me of your delicious cuchinta, siopao and maja blanca RECIPE …it would be a great pleasure if you can send it to me…thanks and more power to you….
maria_kbysh@yahoo.com
hi! i recently came across this topic.. if i may, for everybody’s information, the original DOLOR’S KAKANIN is distributed in the following branches:
Malabon Branch: 19 Gov. Pascual Ave., Concepcion Malabon CIty (283-5782)
Sapin-sapin sa Banawe: 575 Banawe cor. NS Amoranto QC (743-7947)
BF Branch: 200 Aguirre Ave., BF Homes Paranaque (994-4717)
On friday&weekends: SM Hypermart: MOA, North Edsa, Pasig, Sucat & Marilao
i’m from malabon as well that’s why im concerned that people might be misled by the info that it’s being distributed by other stores, when in fact, these are the stores which really carry the famous sapin-sapin’s name. Dolor’s is indeed the best in its field. .. now im hungry, too bad they’re not open 24hrs! grrr!