Cannot Escape Breakfast

After breaking the 21-day habit on Day 3 (ha!), I needed a fresh start last Saturday morning. But I had to rush to a songleading rehearsal for Mother's Day Worship Services the next day.  So what does my ulirang asawa (exemplary spouse) do?  He brews me coffee and packs some papaya, and kakanin (rice cakes) like palitaw (sprinkled with muscovado instead of white sugar), biko and putong puti.  I wanted to skip coffee as I needed to have an itch-free throat, and the ability to nap and make up for lost sleep. But surely, I can't have the sweet stuff without my morning black coffee! (Cutting-down-on-sugar Tip: If you're eating something sweet with coffee or tea, skip the cream and sugar in your drink. You'll have a new appreciation of both the raw but powerful taste of coffee, and the originally-intended sweetness of your dessert.)




Are these rice cakes vegan?  Let's see what is in them to find out.

Palitaw (my favorite) or Rice Dumplings is sticky rice, grated coconut, sugar and sesame seeds.  To make it less evil, sprinkle some brown sugar or muscovado (molasses) instead of white sugar.

Biko (my husband's fave) is sticky rice, coconut milk and a lot of brown sugar.

Putong Puti (described by my 18yo son as mochi kakanin) has basically again, sticky rice, some salt, baking powder and white sugar in there. Substituting white sugar with brown will however make it Putong Kayumanggi.

I'm no fan of kakanin, but I'm a fan of the fan of kakanin. My sweet-toothed hubby has introduced me to a whole new world of sweets including native cakes, thank God, most of which are vegan. Eggs are frequently used as toppings you can scrape off if you're strict. And often, the milk used in native cakes is gata or coconut milk. And that's not just healthy but yummy. Don't want to escape that.