Espasol

Espasol is a Filipino sweet that is sold on the streets and is a local favourite.  It is a sweet made of rice flour cooked in coconut milk.  As with most sweets there are several ways of making Espasol.  I added pinipig for extra rice flavour.  I also added grated young coconut meat to give it another texture.

My Mum and I have dedicated Fridays to our cooking and baking adventures.  I love cooking with my mum as she has the same love for cooking as I do.  I supposed that’s who I get my passion from.  But most of all, I love to learn from her.  

We have been wanting to make Espasol for a long time.  It’s one of my all time favourite Filipino sweets.  We have been given some while holidaying in Philippines and I devour them very quickly.  We are, therefore, so happy to find out that this sweet is so easy to make.  We plan on making this again very soon.

3 cups of ground rice flour, toasted in a dry pan. Set aside and cool

Rice Flakes (Pinipig)

Toast the pinipig in dry pan then ground finely

In a bowl, mix together the rice flour and the pinipig.  Dust a clean surface (bench or baking sheet) with 1/2 cup of the mixture and reserve another 1/2 cup for rolling out the espasol.

Fresh young coconut

Young coconut split in half.  Reserve the juice.

Grate the coconut meat

In large pan mix together, 800ml coconut milk, coconut juice, 11/4cup sugar and 1/2tsp salt.  Bring to the boil then lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Stir in 1 tbls vanilla extract.  

Add the rice flour and pinipig mixture and stir continuously until it is very thick and fairly dry for about 5 minutes

Spread out the mixture over the prepared surface.  Flatten and smooth with a flat spatula and let cool.

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When cooled you can now shape the mixture into whatever shape you like.  You can shape them into balls, triangles or logs, like I do.  Dust your hands with the flour mixture as the batter is quite sticky.   Dust the espasol with the remaining flour mixture to keep them from sticking together.

Serve Immediately or can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.