Bitsu-Bitsu (Glutinous Rice Dessert) Recipe

 Bitsu-Bitsu (Glutinous Rice Dessert) Recipe

By Grace N. Claros

My parents were hard working people. They immigrated to Guam from the Philippines in the early 70s, separately.  They met here, dated, got married, and made a family not knowing that before all of that, they went to the same high school at one point in time. Iloilo High School was the name of their school. My mom always joked that she didn’t know who my dad was because she was surrounded by the nerds. Ha!

My mom and dad circa early 1980s

Given their hardworking nature, my parents didn’t have anyone to watch their children until they got off work at five o’clock in the evening. They would entrust our after-school care onto their friends who made babysitting their job. Our beloved Lola Senyang, the queen and maker of our “Babysitter’s Club,” which consisted of four main families of school aged kids ranging from high school to elementary school (including her own grandchildren), would feed us, keep us busy with tasks, and kept us disciplined. On special occasions, she would have the older kids sit around the table molding oval shapes out of rice flour dough. She would be fancy and make them twisted. She’d cook them up making what we’ve come to know as bitsu-bitsu. In Tagalog, they call it carioca. It was deliciously crispy, sweet, and chewy all in one bite. A traditional Ilonggo dessert from the province of Iloilo, Philippines, she was the only person who made it right. Sadly, we don’t see it on the party tables anymore as she left us years ago, but to pay homage to the queen of the “BSC” I decided to try it out for myself. Surprisingly, it was so simple to make, not as good as Lola Senyang’s, but close enough! Let’s put it back on the party tables. Kaon kita (Let’s eat!)!

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Simple ingredients

Ingredients:

3 c glutinous rice flour 

1 can coconut milk

1/2 c dark brown sugar

2 tbsp water (or more, if needed)

Oil for frying

Instructions:

1. Mix glutinous rice flour and coconut milk together in a bowl. Knead until it reaches the correct doughy consistency (like bread). Add more liquid or flour, if needed.

2. Take a spoonful, or break off about two inches off and roll into a twist. Continue until all the dough is finished.

3. In a frying pan with oil, fry on medium-low heat until the twists are light brown. Place on paper towel or cooling rack to drain excess oil.

4. In a shallow pan, add dark brown sugar and a little bit of water to make a glaze. Once the sugar is dissolved, the glaze should be a thick syrup consistency. Remove from heat. Add the cooked bitsu -bitsu into the pan and toss until they are all coated. 

6. Enjoy!

This recipe is an adaptation of some recipes found on the social media applications TikTok and YouTube and my own personal touch.

Works Cited:

Avendanio, May. “Carioca (Karioka).” YouTube, 26 Dec. 2020, youtube.com/shorts/0XIrkpxgtSo?si=XhOhdCDADO0t0zlZ.

CookWithHanna. “BITSO-BITSO (Ilonggo).” TikTok , 9 Aug. 2023, www.tiktok.com/t/ZT6gwc5gA/.
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