Lola Carly's Bibingka Recipe
Lola Carly's breakfast pastries are famous throughout the Kirinal Concordance Zone and across the world. They purportedly have magical healing and restorative properties. Legend says that the young Carlinda learned the recipe from a mysterious source in the jungles or on the side of a volcano in her homeland. Regardless, I've enjoyed them when I've had them, but I never noticed anything magical about them.
The Instructor is great at facts, but lousy with stories! She learned how to make her enchanted bibingka in the Banana Gem Grove! On the side of the Magma Spider's Volcano! From the Duwende Datu! So that she could find love! Settle down Pit Meat! Boy, do I have a story for you!
Lola Carly Magos Pamplona works at the ident-a-hedron office in Gold Arrow Station and is also the namesake of Lola's Comfy Kitchen. Not so secretly, she's a powerful babaylan who's well respected in a Zone full of powerful people. She's on a first-name basis with everyone in the Zone and is best known for her wicked sense of humor and her delicious cooking.
Those who meet her at the Station, in the Kitchen, or even out on the streets are likely to receive three things: some good advice, a dirty joke, and a bibingka from her seemingly bottomless handbag. Her enchanted bibingkas have been known to heal the sick, remove diseases, and even save people falling out of the sky from skyships!
Carlinda Learns to Make Bibingka
Portrait of a Girl in Black
Long ago, on the Island of the Moon, when the shark-men ruled the ocean, young Carlinda Magos wasn't like the other gnome girls. She never smiled, she kept to herself, and she hated to cook. She dressed in black and was an excellent student at the school underneath the balete tree.
When the village babaylan held the trials to choose her apprentice, Carlinda won without even trying. During her decade of training, the student focused only on her studies. Despite the old woman's advice, the young gnome never returned home and spoke only to her teacher.
Her mind was full of magic, but her heart was lonely.
A Young Babaylan Abroad
One day her teacher said, "I've taught you all that I can. Now I send you to someone who can help you become what you were meant to become. But Carlinda, you will never truly learn if you don't open up your heart."
The young babaylan nodded politely and followed her former teacher's directions.
He told her, "The way is difficult and hard to find. Go to the Volcano of the Tambanakua on the Island of the Sun. Go to the Banana Gem Grove and call for the Duwende Datu, the Mushroom Chief."
In that long ago time, a journey of a day by skyship took her weeks. She traveled by dugout canoe, by slashing through dense jungle, and making the steep ascent up the Volcano.
She finally arrived at the mystical Grove of the Banana Gem and announced herself. "I am Carlinda Magos. Babaylan of the Island of the Moon. I seek an audience with the so-called Mushroom Chief."
An old man's voice whispered directly in her ear. "I have been waiting for you young Carly. I have heard your footsteps through the centuries. I am glad to finally meet you."
"Come out and speak to me directly, Spirit! And my name is Carlinda. No one calls me Carly."
"They do not. Not yet. But that will be the name you are known by."
Trials of the Datu
The Duwende Datu appeared, an ancient gnome smaller than Carlinda, who was a small gnome herself. He wore a mushroom cap and smoked a stinky cigar. His eyes glowed in time to the red ember of his stogie. "I will teach you, but you must be willing to learn. Are you?"
When she nodded, the smoky gnome replied, "I will teach you how to bake bibingka, but you must pass three trials that will test your heart, your courage, and your skill."
The Trial of Sticky Rice
He sent her to a village at the foot of the village. "You will live with them for a year. Treat them with kindness and earn their trust.
She spent the year working in the village as their babaylan. She delivered children, she helped with the rice harvest, and she brought comfort to the dying." As she became a part of the community, she felt her heart opening bit by bit.
The Trial of Banana Leaves
When her year of service was done, the Duwende Datu appeared to her again. He sent her to climb the Tambanakua's Volcano to collect the incandescent leaves of the Banana Gem Tree. She found it growing on the edge of the volcano. As she looked down over the edge, she could see the Magma Spider itself peering back at her out of the caldera. She looked into the eyes of fear itself, but she found that she was the master of her own fears.
She harvested the leaves as the Tambanakua watched.
The Duwende's Kitchen
Finally, she brought the molten banana leaves back to the Duwende's kitchen. She ground the sticky rice she had earned into flour, mixed it with milk from a crystal coconut, and poured it into the molten banana leaves. She crafted the perfect bibingka. As she worked she poured her newfound compassion, bravery, and skill into her cooking.
The Bibingka Blessing
The aroma of hot fresh rice cakes filled the grove. The Datu celebrated her success and encouraged her to take the first bite.
She took a bite of the fresh hot rice cake and, for the first time in her life, she felt happy and fulfilled.
"Remember Carly, it isn't the ingredients that will make your bibingka magical. It's your love, your courage, and the skill you put into them.
Lola Carly's Bibingka Recipe
Lola Carly makes her bibingka in the molten leaves of the banana gem tree with coconut milk from a crystal coconut. If you don't have those items, here's a recipe that could work for you!
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice flour
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp room temperature butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup coconut milk (crystal if available)
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup grated coconut
- Cut banana leaf (magma if available)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F/191C
- Combine dry ingredients: rice flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a mixer on a slow setting, cream butter by gradually incorporating sugar into it.
- Whisk the eggs into the creamed butter.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients while continuing to slowly mix.
- Pour in coconut and regular milk. Continue mixing for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Put banana leaves into a cupcake tin. (The leaves replace the cupcake liners.)
- Pour the mixture into the holes of the tin.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and let them cool.
- Brush with butter and top with grated coconut.
- Enjoy and allow the magic to overwhelm you!
Traditional toppings include a slice of salted egg, cheese, and young candied coconut.
Original bibingka recipe adapted from here.
Great article! The only thing I might critique it on is the title did lead me to believe there would be a recipe somewhere, perhaps you could sneak a basic recipe into the sidebar for those curious to give cooking Bibingka a try? It is always awesome learning more about Lola, as Lola's Comfy Kitchen is still one of my favorite articles on WA.
That is my super obvious omission! I'll fix it in the morning!
Learn about the World of Wizard's Peak and check out my award winning article about the Ghost Boy of Kirinal!
I've added the actual recipe!
Learn about the World of Wizard's Peak and check out my award winning article about the Ghost Boy of Kirinal!