Bilao in Tagalog, bigao in Ilocano, is called a winnowing basket in English.
This basket is very versatile. Its usefulness was first used in ancient times by agricultural folks to separate the grains from the chaffs at harvest or milling time.
This process is called agtaep in Ilocano which means to winnow. To winnow is tossing the grains using the bilao. The tossing blows a current of air through the grains, thereby removing the chaffs.
When I got home to the Philippines, I was so pleasantly surprised to note that during my long absence a balcony overlooking the street has been added to the front of our house.
It was absolutely fantastic. I can see street life in microcosm from where I stand in our balcony. I can survey children playing merrily, neighbours going about their business, most of all I can spy any walking vendor of food, who passes by.
I love hearing the taho vendor shouting what he was selling, he was a favourite one as my sister, also a balikbayan (country returnee) and I have missed taho (sweetened tofu dish) so much; I can hear the ice-cream man ringing his bell, I can hear the coming of carts selling all kinds of fruits and I can hear the seller selling tinapa and daing.
There was even a mobile jewelry seller, an Igorot woman from Baguio, who comes every Saturday. I bought a lovely Chanel earring for P100 (100 pesos = £1.20), which I love. Actually I spent P1,000, I would have spent more but I did not have enough time to go through her many cases of jewelries hanging from her arms, her back and chest. I wish now I made more time. 🙂
I caught the suman man at the very last day of our stay. He was a young man carrying a bilao, a rattan woven circular tray, full of suman, kutsinta and puto. For fun I asked him if I could take his photo. He giggled but politely declined, which was fair enough. He did allow me to take photos of the delicious rice-based desserts.
The suman was lovely and the kutsinta was moist and delicious, just how it should be.
Yes, from the balcony, I can choose my dessert and what to have for dinner. In this intance, there is more fun in the Philippines.
I must admit that our Filipino dessert are on the heavy side, they are not the fluffy, light as cloud loveliness of gateaus, sponges and souffles. What we have are good food which are very earthy and delicious. You would think that we Filipinos would be fat with all the amount of main meals and meriendas we partake day in and day out! The secret, I supposed, is the weather, we just sweat all this calories out by doing a lot of walking, talking, laughing – in other words action.
Cassava cake is really delicious. You will not be eating a small portion, I am afraid, you’ll have at least a couple of portions.
The last time I was back in the Philippines, my dearest mother topped me up with lots of kakanen, cakes made from rice and root crops, for breakfast she buys from vendors carrying their cakes on bilao, a flat wicker/rattan baskets atop their heads first thing in the morning.
Bilao
Anyway I was partial to cassava cakes and here is a simple recipe for a sumptuous dessert.
