Key Points
- Every Chinese New Year in the Philippines, many Filipinos are used to joining in the celebrations especially if you live near Binondo, Manila.
- Preparing Tikoy (Chinese rice cake) has been a tradition for Filipino-Chinese families.
- For Michele Lozada, she grew up knowing that tikoy symbolises the importance of a family sticking together.
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'Tikoy': A Lunar New Year staple in Filipino-Chinese homes
17:38
"My father used to work in a Chinese-owned company. Every New Year, we would receive gifts from his work friends," recalls the mother-of-three from Central Coast.
According to Chinese belief, tikoy or New Year's cake is a must-have on the table because of its important symbolism - its stickiness represents the good relationship of each family.
"We're not Chinese but preparing tikoy on Lunar New Year has become our tradition," says the Industrial Engineering graduate from Manila."
In celebrating Chinese or Lunar New Year, it is believed that tikoy's sticky feature symbolises the sticky or solid relations of the family. Source: Supplied / Supplied by Michele Lozada
Tikoy or niangao in Chinese is made from sticky rice, water and sugar.
Many Filipinos are accustomed to eating tikoy, often quite sweet and often thinly sliced, dipped in beaten egg before frying to make the outside crispy.
For many Filipinos, tikoy (nian gao) is usually thinly sliced then dipped in beaten egg and fried to become crispy in the outside and soft inside. Credit: A. Violata
She also thought that since she has not seen tikoy being sold in Asian shops in her place in Central Coast, so she said, "why not make it."
"I searched to see if it was difficult to make and found out that it was easy to make anyway."
"I also asked my former Chinese workmates. I asked for tips and recipes on how to do it."
Eventually, with the help and advice of her sister-in-law, she was offering the rice cake to close friends.
"Since I don't have a job, I also thought of making it into a small business to somehow help my family here and in the Philippines."
