Suman

Description
Ibos (Visayan) or suman (Tagalog) is basically malagkit (sticky rice) wrapped in either banana leaves or coconut leaves.



Ingredients

 * 2 cups of malagkit (sticky or sweet) rice
 * a can of coconut milk
 * fresh ginger or maybe anise seeds or anise extract
 * sugar

Directions

 * 1) Cook malagkit just like you cook rice in your rice cooker but instead of using water, use coconut milk - about two-thirds of the can, when cooking malagkit, you have to use a little bit less of liquid than cooking regular rice.
 * 2) Pound ginger and add this to your rice.
 * 3) If you don't have ginger, add a tablespoon or two of anise extract or if you have the seeds, a sprinkle will do.
 * 4) Once the rice is cooked, you can wrap them in the banana leaves (or foil) like you wrap lumpia.
 * 5) Take about two tablespoonsful of the rice, put them on top of your banana leaf sheet that you have cut into square pieces about 6 inches by 6 inches or so, then roll to make a log, then twist both ends and tuck under the log.
 * 6) Note: in order for your banana leaf not to tear, you have to run the leaf over a flame.
 * 7) You also need to wipe the leaf with a piece of damp cloth.
 * 8) Place the rice on top of the darker side of the leaf (this side doesn't have that whitish powdery stuff that covers the underside of the banana leaf).
 * 9) Now, after you finished wrapping your rice, put them in a casserole or a large sauce pan, then boil the hell out of it, covered, again using coconut milk just enough to cover your pile (use the remaining coconut milk diluted with water).
 * 10) I remember my mother used to cook the wrapped malagkit overnight but i suppose you can finish this in one hour just how i did the batch above - or until the liquid evaporates.
 * 11) Serve rolled in sugar or as a side dish for ripe manila mangoes.