Bibingka
Pampanga, Philippines (Portuguese bingka tradition adapted to Philippine ingredients)
Bibingka is the Philippines' iconic Christmas rice cake — a soft, slightly chewy coconut milk and rice flour cake cooked in a clay pot lined with banana leaf, traditionally in a clay oven with charcoal heat both above and below, producing a slightly charred top and bottom that contrast the soft, custardy interior. The banana leaf lining imparts its characteristic green, slightly astringent fragrance to the cake during cooking. Bibingka is eaten fresh and hot, topped with salted duck egg (itlog na maalat) and grated mature coconut while still warm from the clay pot. It is the food most associated with Simbang Gabi — the nine-dawn masses of the Philippine Christmas season — sold by vendors outside churches at 4am.