Ale Ube (Halayang Ube)

Rosalina Ocampo Tañedo

Ingredients

• 2 kilos ube yam root (4.5 lbs)
• 2 cans (28 ounces) condensed milk
• 2 cups butter or margarine
• 2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 5 cups of fresh coconut milk
• 3 cups of brown sugar
• 2 cups of fresh grated coconut meat (separate preparation, see below)

Instructions

Wash the Ube thoroughly to remove the dirt.  Submerge them in water in a deep pot.  Boil until soft.  Drain and let it cool.  Peel the boiled ube yam.  Grate finely and mashed them.  Heat a deep pan and melt butter or margarine.  Add grated Ube .   Keep mixing to prevent the Ube from sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Add condense milk and coconut milk.  Keep stirring.  Add vanilla extract. Keep stirring.  Remove from heat and set it in a deep dish.  Smooth the top with a spatula.  Sprinkle the top with the brown coconut meat (see below how to prepare this).  Cut into squares and serve.

How to prepare coconut sprinkles

Heat pan in high heat.  Add fresh, grated coconut meat.  Let it simmer until it turns brown while occasionally stirring to keep it from burning.  The white, grated coconut milk when it turns deep drown will shrivel to tiny clumps while releasing oil.  This means, it is done.  Drain the oil.  Sprinkle the brown coconut on top of the Ube pudding.


Filipinos are known for a lot of things.  But one thing that they are very famous for is their long celebration of Christmas which Pilipinos call Pasko.  Even as early as September, Christmas Carols can be heard on the radio and Christmas decors such as Parol, (Christmas Lanterns) in all shapes and sizes (mostly in the shape of a star), the Nativity, Christmas Lights.  Fireworks are also widely used during this festive season where they can be heard in every street corner.

December sixteen is the start of Simbang Gabi or Misa de Gallo (Mass of the cock).  People get up at four o'clock to hear the mass where it is delivered in Tagalog (the National language), Pampangueño (the dialect of my province), and sometimes in Latin.  This culminates on Christmas Eve when the mass starts at eleven o'clock.  After mass, Pilipino families gather together for a big feast called Noche Buena that they have prepared all day. This include tradional Pilipino cuisines such as  Queso de Bola, Castañas, Nilaga, Pancit, Lumpia, Kalamay (Rice Cake) and of course Ube.  After meal, they join the street festivities of lighting up fireworks.

Christmas day, Children visit their God parents and their neighbors.  They will do a ritual called Mano (hand).  It is a ritual unique only to the Pilipino people where they hold their their elders' hand, bow, and put it in their forehead.  This in turn, they will be given gifts in the form of money mostly.  However, this ritual is done not only on Christmas day, but also after mass or when they see their older relatives especially their parents, aunts and uncles, and grandparents.

More food is then cooked for the visiting friends and relatives.  Christmas celebration usually ends on January six, the feast of the Epiphany or Three Kings.


Parol Festival in the Province of Pampanga

Traditional Parol (Christmas Lantern)

Ube (Purple Yam) (Dioscorea alata)

Purple Yam is a species of yam. In botany, this species is also known by the names "water yam" and "winged yam." It contains pigments that gives its bright lavender color. It is sometimes confused with taro and the Okinawa sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas cv. Ayamurasaki).

In Hawaiʻi it is known as uhi, in India as ratalu or violet yam, in Marathi as KondFal (कोंदफळ), in the Philippines as ube, in Tamil as "Rasa Valli Kilangu", in Tonga, Samoa and Tahiti as ʻufi" , and in Vietnam as khoai mỡ.   see more...