Last Updated on July 11, 2024 by Chef Mireille
Putong Ube – Gluten Free Purple Yam Steamed Rice Cakes are steamed rice cakes commonly eaten in the Philippines for breakfast. They come in many flavors and purple yam is one of the best!
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I have a few favorite ingredients that I utilize every chance I get. My favorite foods include plantains, mango, pumpkin, halloumi…and my most recent discovery is Purple Yam. These delicious Filipino sweet yams flavor many of their sweet dishes.
Puto are popular steamed muffins served in the Phillipines. While I have already done the basic coconut version here and the pandan version here, puto come in a variety of flavors like muscovado, cheese and of course the ubiquitous purple yam..
Any of my regular readers should know by now my love of the Filipino purple yam, known as ube. I’ve done Ube Donuts, Helayang Ube & Ube Ice Cream. Here I have done the ube variety of puto.
As it’s rare to find fresh purple yam here in the United States, I usually utilize frozen purple yam. However, you can also utilize purple yam powder.
Filipinos like sweet things for breakfast like Champorado and this is another popular breakfast item in the Phillipines, although it works just as well for dessert.
Whereas American sweets mostly use vanilla extract for flavoring, in Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Phillipines and even Sri Lanka, pandanus is used. These are the leaves of the screwpine tree. You can find pandan/pandanus/bai toey leaves in the frozen section of Asian supermarkets. It’s usually right near the purple yam.
In the Philippines, they sell puto molds. I have looked far and wide, but these are unavailable here in the US. The first time I made these I used silicone muffin molds, but then I traveled to Southeast Asia and went on a search for puto molds.
Although they have different names, there are similar cakes made in Indonesia and Malaysia. I found Kue Pukis molds in Malaysia on Penang Island. That is how I got these cuter shapes the second time making these! I still had to use some of the silicone muffin molds as I ran out of kue molds.
IN THE MAKING – MAKING PUTO
Putong Ube – Gluten Free Purple Yam Steamed Rice Cakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups rice flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups coconut milk
- 2/3 cup frozen ube defrosted
- 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1/8 teaspoon pandanus extract screwpine tree leaf
- violet food coloring optional
- 4-5 pandan leaves
Instructions
- Sift rice flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk the coconut milk and butter. Add ube and whisk well. The color will be a light gray with a slight purplish tinge. So that people will definitely know you used ube, add some violet food coloring, if desired.
- Add this to the sifted dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add pandanus extract and mix again.
- Add water to a wok and bring to the boil. Add metal rack and bamboo steamer. Add just enough water to touch the bottom of the steamer. Place pandan leaves in the water.
- Spray silicone muffin cups with non stick spray. Add puto batter and fill cups 3/4 full. Add to steamer.
- Reduce heat to a high simmer, cover and cook for 25-30 minutes.
Notes
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Best Ube Recipes: How to Cook with Purple Yam
Purple Yam Jam – Ube Halaya
Ube Ice Cream – Purple Yam Ice Cream – Ube Jam Method
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You always have such unique recipes! These look delicious!
thanks – glad you like them and they are so good – really addictive!
Love the beauties and the beautiful colour. I think I can try this in our Idli mould. Would need to keep a watch for purple yam. Love reading your post.
you can usually find it in the frozen section of Asian markets now! or sometimes they have purple yam powder but you will have to adjust the recipe accordingly. Use the basic Coconut Puto Recipe and just add the purple yam powder.
Love these beauties.. wish I could get purple yam to try out the recipe.
Until purple yam makes it to you, you can try the basic coconut version here.
Such cute beauties! I will be sorry to eat them. Looks so delicious. Wish I can source purple yam.
Even if you can’t find the purple yam, you can still try the basic coconut version here
These purple beauties look so tempting. I have not seen purple yam but would love to try it someday. Steamed, with pandan flavor and coconut too, what’s there not to like about these muffins.
yes all the flavors in them are awesome. You can also try the basic coconut version if you cannot source the purple yam!
Looks so tempting to try.. steamed rice cakes with purple yam sounds very interesting!!
they are – I am sure you would love them!
wow some thing different and I love the color….don’t know if we get purple yams here..
If not, you can definitely still try the basic coconut version.
Looks so tempting..purple colour of steamed cake looks so beautiful and inviting, i’ld love to try if I get this beautiful colour of yam ?
Here I get it in the frozen section of the Asian market. Look out for it next time you go to the Asian market.
Mir – such a vibrant coloured snack is so inviting to make for the kids and myself … I can probably sub it with the coloured sweet potato I can find here (Ube is out of question , surely!)
Ube is very unique in color and texture. Other colored sweet potatoes will not sub. These really are dessert sweet potatoes. Not the kind of sweet potatoes you can ever make something savory with. Look out for the powder or the paste. That will at least give you the gorgeous color and then just add to basic coconut version of the recipe!
I have an instant pot pressure cooker. You wouldn’t happen to know how long I should team in that would you?
While I don’t use an Instant Pot, I consulted some friends that do and they all suggested to use the steamer rack in vent open position for the same amount of time. Good luck!
I have managed to find frozen purple yam at my local asian supermarket, but it is sliced and hard. I see that when you added It, it looked like a paste. Should I cook it first? And then mash it?
I have never used the sliced ones. I always buy the ones that are already precooked and mashed, so I don’t know for sure. However, I would suggest cooking it and then mashing it if it is hard.
Hi I cannot seem to find the gluten free purple yam Puto recipe here. Can you email it if ever?
it was a glitch and recipe is visible now but I will also email you. thanks