The best espasol - where to buy , how to cook

Many popular food blogs have raved that the best espasol can be bought in Los Baños. Well, not quite. Although taste is a matter of individual preference, believe me, the best espasol are those made in Alaminos, Nagcarlan or Pagsanjan in Laguna. This is what long-time residents in Los Baños will tell you and I should know because I spent the years 2004 to 2006 in Los Baños.

The best espasol that I have ever tasted is the one made by Luchie in Nagcarlan (phone: 049-563-2408, cell phone: 0919 4407076). It is truly special and made with toasted glutinous rice flour, pinipig, coconut milk, refined sugar and macapuno strips. It can be ordered by phone and you can arrange to meet her brother or nephew or whoever she can send somewhere for pick-up. I ordered 150 pieces last year and the year before that because it was what my sisters in the U.S. craved for, along with muron, binagol, sagmani, bibingka, and puto bumbong, but that's another story. Each piece costs around ten pesos which is a bit more expensive than those sold in buko pie and pasalubong shops along the national highway from Los Baños to Pansol but Luchie's espasol is always well worth it.

However, if you live overseas or even in the Philippines but far away from Laguna, you can still have good espasol by cooking it yourself. I started experimenting with the espasol recipe in my kitchen in Kauai, Hawaii many, many years ago. I must have had a gradual learning curve because it took me 20 long years of intermittent kitchen testing before I was able to perfect my recipe. I used to keep this recipe a secret from my friends and co-workers but since I have not parlayed espasol-making into big business, I decided that it's about time to share it with others. Marketman's food blog (www.marketmanila.com) has been an inspiration.

One of the key ingredients to a finely textured espasol is finely ground toasted glutinous or sticky rice flour or mochiko. If you live in Hawaii, you can easily buy a pack of glutinous rice flour or mochiko in the supermarket. I recently tried making espasol using sticky rice flour that I bought in Vietnam but it was a disaster. The sticky rice flour was very sticky and the flour was just too fine. It was difficult to dissolve the flour in coconut milk that I had to sieve it. Still, the resulting consistency was like a mix of tikoy and pitsi-pitsi. So I wouldn't recommend using the Vietnamese sticky rice flour in espasol.

The best option remains making your own flour by toasting glutinous rice in a wok until it turns golden brown. Then take the toasted malagkit to a food miller and have it ground into fine flour. It takes about three passes through the mill before a fine texture is achieved. In wet markets, this milling service is usually provided by stalls selling and grating coconuts. They have a small mill on the side for grinding soaked rice grains to make into galapong for puto and bilo-bilo.

To make espasol, toast 6 cups mochiko (glutinous rice flour) until light brown. From the 6 cups toasted mochiko, set aside 1/2 cup for dusting later. Bring 5 cups coconut milk (extracted from 2 extra large coconuts) to boil. Add finely chopped calamansi peel from 4 pieces calamansi, 2 3/4 cups white sugar and stir continuously for 15 minutes. Stir in 5 1/2 cups toasted mochiko and 3-4 cups scraped and chopped buko, 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix thoroughly. Cook over low fire, stirring constantly for 1 to 1.5 hours until mixture is thick. When done, let cool for a while. Dust a platter with the reserved toasted mochiko. Spread mixture on tray and flatten to about 1 inch thick with a rolling pin. Cut into small diamond-shaped bars or roll 2 1/2 inch cylindrical pieces and dust with toasted mochiko (see picture).

Instead of cakes, I usually give away espasol or ube jam for presents at Christmas or New Year. I pack it nicely by putting it in a medium-sized aluminum foil lasagna pans with a transparent lid or I cover it with plastic or Saran wrap or in transparent plastic containers that I buy in bulk in Divisoria. Try this recipe and you will be glad you did.