The kalamay is the Filipino version of the Chinese rice cake called tikoy. Both are made from soaked and ground glutinous rice or malagkit.

The preparation and cooking of kalamay vary per region and province. In San Ildefonso, Ilocos Sur, the local version called sinambong is made while cooking muscovado sugar.

A recent episode of the GMA TV show “I Juander” featured the cooking of sinambong. While men squeeze sugarcane using a traditional grinder to extract the juice, glutinous rice is placed inside brand new leg stockings and is soaked in water overnight to soften the malagkit.

The next day, while the sugarcane juice is cooking in a giant wok, the soaked glutinous rice in the stockings is dropped in the boiling syrup.

After three hours, the sinambong is pulled from the cooked muscovado sugar, drained, and removed from the stockings to be served as a dessert or snack.

Meanwhile, in Candon City, also in Ilocos Sur, locals served their version of kalamay during the Tobacco Festival last week.

While one housewife cooked the sinambong, 100 Candon residents prepared the kalamay to highlight the 25th year of the festival.

An estimated 381 kilos of glutinous rice was used to go with 1,515 young coconuts, 450 mature coconuts, and 360 kilos of brown sugar, Candon City information officer Leoncio Balbin Jr. told GMA News.

Peanuts, pandan and ube were added for flavor and aroma.

After hours of cooking, the giant round kalamay with a diameter of 10 meters and weighing 1,867 kilos was ready to be served, according to GMA News.

There was more than enough kalamay to feed 4,000 to 5,000 people celebrating the fiesta.