Bitso-bitso, bichu-bichu, or bitsu-bitsu. However you want to spell that delicious dessert, there’s one thing you can’t deny. That if you’re an Ilonggo, then you know full well how much you can crave this dessert after a siesta. And now, you can learn how to make bitso-bitso all by yourself.
Every afternoon, you’ll find loads of vendors peddling these all around the community, selling them for as low as 5 pesos each. It can get crumbly, but what’s a bitso-bitso dessert without being messy for a bit.
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How to Make Bitso-bitso (Ilonggo)
Image Credit: Pinterest
This native Ilonggo delicacy is made from fried rice flour dough, and then coated with coconut cream and muscovado sugar syrup. According to chefs, it’s like a combination of creating banana cue and palitaw.
The result?
A local delicacy that’s crispy and sweet on the outside, and oh so chewy on the inside.
Time to know how to make bitso-bitso at home. I bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find out that it’s actually a very easy snack dessert to prepare.
And in learning how to make bitso-bitso (the Ilonggo variation, that is), here’s what you’ll need:
2 cups of Glutinous Rice Flour
1/2 cup Young Coconut Meat (shredded)
1/2 tbsp Baking Powder
A pinch of Salt
1/2 cup Water (adjust depending on the quality of flour)
1/2 cup Muscovado Sugar
Canola Oil
What you should do next:
Combine the glutinous rice flour, the pinch of salt, and baking powder in a bowl.
Add the shredded young coconut meat.
Pour in water gradually and mix together.
With your hands, knead the mixture until it’s a dough.
Twist the dough. Just roll a small amount on a flat surface — about 6 inches long. Twist and seal both ends.
Pour a good amount of oil in a pan.
Fry your twisted dough, and when they float, remove them from the pan and use paper towels to get rid of excess oil. Set them aside.
In a different pan, pour in the muscovado sugar and heat it.
Pour out a tablespoon of water.
When the sugar’s caramelized, put in the fried bitso-bitso twists and coat them evenly with sugar.
Once removed from the pan, arrange the bitso-bitso about 1/2 inches apart from each other so they won’t stick together when the sugar dries.
Ready to try cooking your own bitso-bitso?
Of course, there are other varieties of the timeless Ilonggo dessert that you can try. There’s a lighter colored version, where they use white sugar instead of the muscovado. But personally, speaking (while I think those are just as mouth watering), nothing can beat the OG bitso-bitso that I grew up knowing while on my way home from school.
