Cascaron, deep fried bread dough, is a popular merienda (snack) option in the Philippines. Filipinos love fried food. I love anything fried!
Cascaron or “Bitsu-Bitsu”, deep fried bread dough; crunchy outside; soft and sticky inside. It’s made from mochiko flour, a kind of sweet rice flour. Cascaron is a sweet crunchy snack that should not be confused with the other bread dish called bitso-bitso or bicho-bicho which uses all purpose flour instead of mochiko flour.
Place grated coconut in hot water. Squeeze until the water turns opaque or milky.
Place a dish towel or fine cheese cloth over a bowl and pour coconut and water into the cloth.
Drain coconut milk into bowl, then squeeze remaining coconut in the towel until all the liquid is squeezed out.
Mix drained coconut in flour and add milky coconut water until dough is soft but not too sticky.
Shape dough in balls of 1 inch diameter and fry in 2-3″ of oil until golden brown.
Drain dough balls on paper towel then put them in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
Boil cold water and brown sugar in a small sauce pan until it reaches the soft boil stage this is done by placing a drop of syrup in a bowl of cold water. If it retains it shape and is soft, it is ready.
Pour over dough balls. Toss fried dough balls in the syrup until all are completely covered.
Remove from bowl and place them in a platter to cool. You can skewer them on to bamboo sticks for a nice presentation.
Place grated coconut in hot water and squeeze until the water turns opaque or milky.
Place a dish towel or fine cheese cloth over a bowl and pour coconut and water into the cloth.
Let the water drain, then squeeze remaining coconut in the towel until all the liquid is squeezed out.
Mix drained coconut in flour and add milky coconut water until dough is soft but not too sticky.
Shape dough in balls of 1 inch diameter and fry in 2-3" of oil until golden brown.
Drain dough balls on paper towel then put them in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
Boil cold water and brown sugar in a small sauce pan until it reaches the soft boil stage this is done by placing a drop of syrup in a bowl of cold water. If it retains it shape and is soft, it is ready.
Pour over dough balls. Toss fried dough balls in the syrup until all are completely covered.
Remove from bowl and place them in a platter to cool. You can skewer them on to bamboo sticks for a nice presentation.
Recipe Notes
Put just enough vegetable oil in a large frying pan to cover the dough balls. Make sure that when you fry them, the oil is hot. Put a piece of dough in the pan to test and if the dough sizzled and rises to the top, then it’s ready. Place dough balls in the pan, but don’t overcrowd.
Kutsinta or Cuchinta is a popular Filipino Merienda (Snack) and Panghimagas (Dessert). Kutsinta is a reddish-brown sticky rice cake made with rice flour and topped with shredded coconut.
Kutsinta or Cuchinta is a type of Kakanin (Sticky Rice/Glutinous Rice) that uses food grade lye water as an ingredient. The lye water is what makes the Kutsinta somewhat sticky and chewy.
This kutsinta recipe requires both rice flour and glutinous rice flour. Rice flour is ground long or medium grain rice. Glutinous or sweet rice flour is ground short grain rice. It requires minimum effort and the procedures are so easy to follow. If you’re thinking of making something for merienda, this would be a recipe worth trying.
Palitaw means “to surface or to float”. It is also the name of a popular Filipino snack, flat oval-shaped pieces of rice dough cooked in boiling water until they float to the surface.
Palitaw is one of the best meriendas (snack) and panghimagas (dessert) in Philippines. It’s a chewy sweet rice cake made from malagkit (sticky rice).
Making this yummy snack is pretty easy, we make this once or twice a week. You’ll enjoy it paired with, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or milk, with cold drinks like Lemon Grass Ginger Ice Cold Tea.
