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From the 16th to 24th of December every year, one Filipino city does everything it can to live up to its moniker of being the country's "Christmas capital".
The City of San Fernando celebrates the Giant Lantern Festival in the run-up to Christmas, where various cities/regions from across the Philippines compete against each other by exhibiting 15-feet high "parols" or lanterns, that are a kaleidoscope of light and colour.
A simpler form of the festival has been celebrated in San Fernando since 1904-08. But the event took on its present extravagant form with the introduction of electric power in the city in the 1930s. Today, an entire parol industry has evolved in San Fernando, spurred by the success and popularity of the Giant Lantern Festival.
While the dazzling, towering parols are the undisputed stars of the City of San Fernando's Giant Lantern Festival, that isn't all that's on offer for revellers. Food (especially sweets) are a vital part of the celebrations, especially with the proximity of Christmas. Here's a brief glossary of the traditional Filipino dishes that are typically served and consumed during the festival:
Sapin-Sapin
This layered cake is as delicious to taste as it is lovely to look at. Glutinous rice flour, coconut milk, sugar and water are mixed to form a batter, which is then divided into three portions. (Some recipes also call for condensed milk.) To the first, violet food dye is added along with a generous portion of mashed purple yam (ube). To the second portion, jackfruit (langka) and yellow colouring are added. The third is left as is. The three layers of batter are gently poured one on top of the other and steamed, to make a soft and chewy cake. Toasted coconut flakes or roasted desiccated coconut (latik) is sprinkled over the Sapin-Sapin for the final touch.
Cassava Cake
Grated cassava, coconut milk and condensed milk are combined with egg whites, with an optional addition of butter or margarine, evaporated milk and sugar, to form the cake batter. While it bakes, the top layer is cooked separately: a custard (egg yolk, sugar, condensed milk) made with coconut cream. The custard is poured over the cake, and it is baked for a few minutes more until set.
Bibingkang Malagkit, Bibingka, & Biko
All of these dishes can be described as cakes made of sweet rice, with plenty of coconut. So what sets them apart? The topping (and in the Bibingka's case, the filling). For the Bibingkang Malagkit, sweet rice is cooked with coconut milk and brown sugar on the stove, then transferred to a banana leaf-lined baking tray. A sauce of coconut cream and more brown sugar (latik syrup) is poured over the rice before the tray is transferred into a heated oven. For the Biko, the latik syrup instead takes the form of latik curds (toasted coconut milk curds). And lastly, you have the bibingka, which (at least during the Great Lantern Festival) is found with a hardboiled duck egg baked into its centre.
Pichi-Pichi (or Pitsi-Pitsi)
Cassava is grated and mixed with sugar, lye and water, then steamed, to form this sticky dessert. The final touch is the rolling of the Pichi-Pichi in grated coconut.
Ube Halaya
Often used as a base in other desserts like the Halo-Halo, ube halaya is made of boiled and mashed purple yam. The yam is boiled again with condensed milk and melted butter, then poured into dishes and refrigerated. It is served cold.
Of course, what good would all these sweet treats be if there wasn't the perfect beverage to accompany them? In San Fernando and elsewhere in the Philippines, a cup of salabat (fresh ginger tea) is the perfect chaser for all kinds of sweet treats. Fortified with a drink of this, visitors are ready to tackle the Great Lantern Festival crowds.
