Haleya

Back to my hometown and my paternal clan’s province, Cavite, during my younger years and as far as I can remember, whenever it’s time for All Soul’s day (or other holiday or special occasion), my grandmother used to cook Haleya, one of Filipino delicacies which is made of glutinous rice and coconut milk. What makes this different from the others is the presence of sweet tamarind. The combination of sweet and sour from the main ingredients isolates its taste from the other Filipino native delicacies.

 Haleya

Unfortunately, as of this writing, I could not find on the net the recipe of this delicacy so I asked my mother about the recipe and procedures in doing it. She did not give me the exact measurement so I had to estimate them. Good thing, I found the taste I used to eat from my estimated measurement. 

This delicacy is different from Ube Halaya which is common in different provinces. I'm not sure if this delicacy is only found in Cavite because friends of other provinces do not know this either.

Ingredients:

 

- 1 cup glutinous rice flour

- 1 cup water

- 1 cup coconut powder diluted in 1 cup of water

- 1 cup sugar

- 100g sweet tamarind

Procedure

- combine glutinous rice flour and water in a pan

- cook in low heat, stir continuously for 2 minutes

- gradually add coconut milk (coconut powder diluted in water) while stirring, stir continuously for another minute

-  gradually add sugar while stirring, stir continuously for 2 minutes

-  add sweet tamarind, stir continuously until texture becomes thick and hard to stir

-  remove from heat and enjoy

And in time for this All Souls' day, I prepared this recipe as I’m missing one important person in my life who used to cook this for us – our Lola Dioneng.