Kulinarya Qatar has ended last December 18, 2016 after a successful 3-day run. And what better way to celebrate its sweet finale than to feature some of the delightful desserts we’ve found during the event. Read Handog Ng Kulinarya Sa Qatar 2016 – Part1 here.
On all occasions, Filipinos are fond of anything sweet… from the main course, to drinks, all the way up to desserts. We have a wide variety of delicacies and most of it contains sugar component. Even those who originally taste sour or bland when rolled in sugar eventually become a popular confectionery (tamarind, mango, kundol or water melon, etc).
Another usual element of most Filipino dessert is the use of glutinous rice. Possibly because glutinous rice is a type that’s grown mainly in Southeast and East Asia, we can only deduce that steaming the glutinous rice is Asia’s counterpart to baking using wheat flour which originated in the Middle East region.
From one booth to another, we saw those colorful sweet rice cakes wrapped in cellophane plastic or transparent containers to preserve its condition and make it convenient for takeout. And while toying around the idea of food photography, I made an attempt to photo shoot those yummy desserts and posted some of it on Instagram for our international friends to see.
TURON
This snack is known throughout the Tagalog-speaking areas as turón. Etymologically, the word is Spanish in origin, although the candy turrón (a nougat confection) bears no resemblance to the Filipino turón. (source: aboutfilipinofood)
CASSAVA CAKE
It is a chewy and savoury Pinoy delicacy that everyone can satisfy in. The aftertaste of coconut sport (macapuno) cream toppings and the creamy texture of cassava is something that every one can enjoy. (source: pinoyhapagkainan)
NILUPAK
Nilupak is a snack dish in the Philippines made out of either mashed cassava, sweet potatoes or cardaba bananas wrapped in banana lead and served with margarine or cheese on top. (source: angsarap)
RICE CAKES
A rice cake may be any kind of food item made from glutinous rice that has been shaped, condensed, or otherwise combined into a single object.
A wide variety of rice cakes exist in the Philippines like this puto-flan which is an ingenious idea of the Filipinos to combine two popular delicacies into one (puto and leche flan) for fun and for economic reasons. We have also other varieties of rice cakes like bibingka and another cross variety of puto and the popular siopao (chinese bun) called puto-pao. The other famous sticky rice cakes like sapin-sapin, kutsinta, biko and suman also falls on this category.
GINATAANG BILO-BILO
Ginataang Bilo-bilo with Langka is a Filipino merienda dish composed of glutinous rice balls – locally known as bilo-bilo, coconut cream, sugar, sago pearls, and ripe jackfruit. This is a simplified version of the Ginataang halo-halo (also known as binignit) which is popular in many areas of Visayas. (source: panlasangpinoy)
BUCHI (Glutinous Rice Balls or Sesame Seed Balls)
Jian dui is a type of fried Chinese pastry made from glutinous rice flour. The pastry is coated with sesame seeds on the outside and is crisp and chewy. Inside the pastry is a large hollow, caused by the expansion of the dough. The hollow of the pastry is filled with a filling usually consisting of lotus paste, or alternatively sweet black bean paste, or less commonly red bean paste. (wikipedia)
FAMILY DAY and YEAR-END BAZAAR
Aside from food, the year-end bazaar also featured several SME’s/home-based businesses like apparels, accessories, personal care products, and other essential services for OFWs like airline ticketing, cable providers, automobile, and remittance center. It’s also worth noting that the “Embassy-On-Wheels” was also present during the event servicing the OFWs for their SSS payments, even Overseas Absentee Voting registrations, and other Embassy-related inquiries.
Many other side events happened – mostly Filipino organizations who have partnered with Kulinarya for their presentations, awarding ceremonies and other announcements. It was indeed a selfless gesture from the organizers to be sharing the platform to the Filipino community organizations in Qatar. Kudos to everyone!
