Kulinarya Cooking Club October 2010 : Suman (Cassava with Latik)

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and it's colourful cuisine.

Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes.  By sharing these recipes we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino food as we do.

This week's theme is Suman.

Suman is a Filipino snack usually made of sticky rice wrapped and steamed in banana leaves.  There are many varieties of suman.  You can read about them here.

I am lucky with this month's theme.  I would have been really stressed out about making my own suman because it's not a dish you would normally make unless its for a special occasion.  Growing up, we had suman every Christmas and New year's eve.  My mum would make them in huge quantities and share with family and friends.  Lately, she's been making them more often so who better to ask for her help than my mum?

We decided to make cassava with latik (fried coconut milk solids).  She usually makes the sticky rice ones but we wanted to do something different.

1 fresh coconut, grated

2 x 454g frozen grated cassava, thawed

1 tbs vanilla

1 cup raw sugar

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix

Make latik.  You can get the recipe here.  It is best to make this the day before as it can take up to an hour to make.

1.  Trim banana leaves into about 20cm in length.  Trim the same quantities of banana leaves to 10cm.
2.  Place the small leaf on the bottom half of the large leaf.  Place about 2 tablespoons of the cassava mixture in the middle of the small leaf,  Place 1 heaped teaspoon of the latik on top.
3.  Roll loosely.  With the seam on top, fold the sides under
4.  Place in a steamer cover with foil and lid
5.  Steam for 1 hour until the cassava is cooked through.

This is best eaten freshly cooked.  If you find you cannot eat all of your suman in one sitting, you can freeze them.  To reheat, you can re-steam or simply place in the microwave.

Other fellow Kulinarya Cooking Club Members can be seen here.