Sapin sapin is one of the popular kakanin in the Philippines. Kakanin are native delicacies that are uniquely Filipino.
These are sweet snacks or sometimes desserts made from rice, glutinous rice or root vegetables that are slow cooked and usually made with coconut or coconut milk. Like cotton candies, you can see sapin sapin being sold at wet markets, near schools, or outside the church on a Sunday morning along with other kakanin like cassava cake or budin, pichi pichi, kutsinta, kalamay, biko, and palitaw. A street vendor says it is hard work to make sapin sapin. I don’t know how they do it but it turns out this sapin sapin recipe is easy– as easy as making cotton candy with a family cotton candy machine!
Sapin means “layer” and sapin-sapin means “layared”. Hence the name because it is arranged in a layered manner with different colors. Traditionally each layer contains different flavor depicted by its color. These different colors make the sapin sapin looks festive and eye catching making it perfect for celebrations and festival.
Sapin sapin is made of glutinous rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, water, flavoring, and coloring and topped with latik or toasted desiccated coconut flakes. The purple layer contains ube halaya or purple yam, the yellow or sometimes orange layer contains jack fruit, and the white layer has no flavor. These ingredients give bursting flavor as it melts in your mouth and the crunchy latik compliments its chewy and sticky texture.
Try this recipe and let us know what you think. 🙂
PrintSapin sapin Recipe
Sapin sapin is made of glutinous rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, water, flavoring, and coloring and topped with latik or toasted desiccated coconut flakes.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Steam
- Cuisine: Filipino
Ingredients
- 2 cups glutinous rice flour
- 1/2 cup rice flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups of coconut milk
- 1 1/2 cup condensed milk
- 3/4 cup ube purple yam
- 1/2 cup ripe jack fruit; shredded, finely minced
- 1/2 young coconut meat, finely chopped
- Food coloring (violet and yellow)
- Coconut flakes or
- another 2 cups of coconut milk (if using latik)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine glutinous rice flour, rice flour, and sugar. Mix well
- Add the condensed milk, coconut milk, and vanilla extract. Mix until the texture becomes smooth.
- Pour each mixture in 3 separate bowls.
- Add and mix jack fruit and yellow food coloring in the first bowl. You can use a food processor to shred it finely. Add and mix young coconut meat in the second bowl. Add and mix violet food coloring and ube purple yam in the third bowl. Stir each bowl thoroughly.
- Arrange the steamer on a stove top and pour-in about 1 quart of water. Turn on the heat and let the water boil.
- Grease baking pan with cooking oil or coconut oil. Pour the purple mixture to the baking pan, cover with cheesecloth, and steam for 15 minutes. When firm, pour the yellow mixture on top of the fist layer (purple mixture), remove excess water from the cheesecloth, cover, and steam for 15 minutes. Do the same process with the white mixture until it is firm. If you think that the mixture is still a bit runny, try to steam for 5 minutes more.
- When completely firm, set aside your sapin sapin.
- Toast the coconut flakes.
- Arrange a clean banana leaf over a wide serving plate. Turn the baking pan over the banana leaf and let the cooked sapin-sapin fall. Gently run on the side of the baking pan to prevent the mixture from sticking.
- Brush oil on top of the sapin-sapin . Sprinkle with latik or coconut flakes.
- Serve.
For Latik:
- In a heated saucepan, bring the coconut milk to a boil. Stir for about 15 minutes until most of the liquid evaporates.
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When the texture turns gelatinous, lower the heat and continue stirring. Oils should be separating from the milk at this stage.
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Continue stirring. When brownish residue are formed, turn off the heat and remove it from the sauce pan. You can use this right away to top your favorite rice cake or place it in the fridge for a week or so.
Notes
See this video for another recipe of sapin sapin.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 57g
- Calories: 153.66
- Sugar: 10.1 g
- Sodium: 51 mg
- Fat: 8.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 6.6 g
- Trans Fat: 0.0 g
- Carbohydrates: 18.1 g
- Fiber: 0.2 g
- Protein: 3.1 g
- Cholesterol: 8 mg
I’ve never tried this type of dessert but I’m curious what it’s like
It’s sweet and sticky. 🙂
[…] you are a fan of glutinous rice desserts you may also like sapin sapin, kutsinta, kalamay ube, and suman malagkit. Other popular Filipino desserts include bibingkang […]