DUMAGUETE: PUTO AND TSOKOLATE

hot tsokolate

All the stalls in the Painitan had the same menu,  at least those I have managed to read.  They all served Budbod, puto, pandesal, tsokolate (chocolate drink), and coffee (though we didn’t find any brewed or native coffee)… maybe there were a few more that I forgot or not noticed.  But all the stalls also seemed to look the same.  I was looking for stall #24 … having read somewhere that this served the best Budbod.  Unfortunately, stall #24 which was the last among the rows of these small breakfast nooks in Katada Street was closed for that day.  The old lady was packing several bags of Budbod which were special orders.  Stall #23, have ran out of Budbod Kabog as well so the woman told me to go to count five stalls back…

The tsokolate which was made from tablea tablets had stronger and darker flavor rather than sweet.    The tsokolate served in stall #19 was watery.  I prefer to have it in a thicker consistency like the one served in stall #23 though it somehow tasted the same.

Whenever I go to the Painitan I would have Budbod and douse it with tskolate (chocolate drink).  Most locals dip their Budbod in the tsokolate or pour the drink over a serving of hot steaming rice.  I was looking for puto among the food displayed but I didn’t find any.  The stall owner told me that puto was actually puto maya.  Malagkit (glutinous) rice cooked in coconut milk with sugar and salt… though unlike Bubod, it was not wrapped in banana leaves.   The rice had to be soaked in water for fifteen minutes before cooking.  Curious as I was at this rice and chocolate concoction, I was already too full after four pieces of Budbod… and didn’t get to try this one.  Neither did I take photos of the man heartily eating puto a few seats from me, he seemed to be enjoying his meal too well to be disturbed.  I seemed that the stalls in the Painitan continuosly made puto maya… and the customers keep coming and ordering them.

May mom used to make puto maya when we were kids but nothing like the one they have in the Painitan.  Mom’s version (as best as I can recall) was cooked magkit rice topped with grated coconut and white sugar or muscovado.  I’m from Negros Occidental… hence my inclination for sweets.