Filipino love to eat desserts and snacks like rice cakes, slices of bread, and, most especially, the Nilupak dish. They love to eat it with coffee or tea and their family and friends during snack or after a meal.
Nilupak is a traditional food made from different root crops like cassava, sweet potato, and many more, even bananas like saba banana as the main ingredient. They cooked it in several ways and put additional ingredients to elevate the old and classic dish that Filipino children love to eat.
The traditional way of making this authentic dessert is the simplest and most recommended way of cooking. They used Lusong or large mortar and pestle made of wood to mix the ingredients perfectly. It helps the dish to incorporate the ideal softness and texture of it.
Usually, they molded it in different shapes of shapes, making it delicious and beautiful, so the children would love to eat the dish. It is the perfect dish to recreate to introduce modern youth who don't know this dessert.
What is Nilupak?

Nilupak is a classic Filipino traditional delicacy made from a pounded or mashed starchy food mixed with sugar and coconut milk. You could also use butter and milk in this kind of dish.
It is also known as Linusak, Nilusak, Linupak, Niyubak, or Lubi-Lubi. Its name depends on the languages used in the Philippines.
The term Nilupak which means pounded or mashed is from the Tagalog verb Lupak which means to pound with mortar and pestle. In the Visayas region, they call it Nilusak, which has the same meaning as the Tagalog word.
They pounded the ingredients in a wood mortar or pestle or a large stone. It is generally a variant made with mashed saba banana or kamoteng kahoy.
This dessert and comfort dish is a Filipino delicacy made from boiled mashed or pounded cassava, butter or margarine, and condensed milk and sugar.
When the cooked cassava is already and perfectly mashed using a mortar, it lumps or free and then combines with butter and condensed or coconut milk to form a creamy and smooth mixture. Usually, the smooth mixture molds into varieties of shapes and then served on banana leaves with toppings such as shredded coconut and cheese or grated coconut meat.
It is a very common dish served as a snack or dessert during midday or after a meal. It is also perfect to serve on any occasions like fiestas, birthday parties, weddings, baptismal, Christmas or new year.
Ways to cook for this recipe

This dish has two particular ways of cooking in the crockpot and the instant pot ways of cooking. It would give you the idea of which technique is the perfect to use for the featured recipe.
Crockpot
A crockpot is a cooking technique in which you have to use a slow cooker for cooking the featured dish. Making it is the same as the original cooking method, and even the ingredients are all the same. The difference is that you don't cook it above the burner but in a slow cooker to ensure that the dish is smooth and perfectly cooked.
This method is slower to cook since you use a slow cooker to make the dish.
Instant pot
On the other hand, instant pot cooking is another method of cooking. The ingredients and process of creating the dish are all the same. But in this case, the dish is much easier to cook since you use a multi-cooker. You have to put the ingredients inside the pot then stir it. You have to set the cooking time. Then afterward, you could serve the dish.
It is a faster cooking process than a crockpot since you have to check from time to time if the dish is perfect and already cooked.
Other Delicious Variants of Nilupak Recipes

Cooking a dish in a variety of ways is another superb idea. Elevating it through adding different kinds of ingredients that would result in a new outstanding dessert.
Nilupak na Kamoteng Kahoy Recipes
The first variation of the featured dish on the list is Nilupak na Kamoteng Kahoy. Instead of using cassava, you could use kamoteng kahoy in this version. You have to mash the kamoteng kahoy first and then add butter, sugar, and coconut milk to develop more taste.
Like the traditional version, the cooking style, techniques, and ways of cooking it, even the other ingredients. The main protein is cassava, replaced by kamoteng kahoy.
Na Saging Recipes
Like the first version of the dish, the main protein gets replaced by the saging na saba. Instead of grated cassava, you could use mashed banana to it. The same process in the dish, mashed the banana first. Then add the butter, coconut milk, and sugar to add more taste and creaminess to the dish.
You could use a large mortar to mash the bananas. Some called it Linuyang or Linupak na saging. You may use a potato masher to pound the ingredient if you don't have a mortar and pestle.
The same as the first version, you have to make sure that there are no lumps and the cook in the dish is perfect and smooth.
With cheese
Another variation of our menu elevated the dish to an authentic and restaurant-quality dish. The simple and humble mashed cassava recipe turned into a great dish with grated cheese as the toppings.
The ingredients used in this version are all the same as the original version. But you have to add cheese whether in the mixture of the dish when you cook it or make it as the topping in your dish. Either way would honor this dessert. It makes the dish balance because it has salt and sweet flavors.
With ube
Another way to elevate this dish is by adding ube, whether a jam or purple yam, in the featured dish. First, it would give a purple color to the dish, making it more delicious and elevated its appearance than the standard yellow color.
It would make this version outstanding, especially for those ube lovers. You could also use the ube as the main protein, or the dish filling, giving more taste and flavor to the featured dish. This version is closely similar to the ube Halaya recipe.
With peanut butter
This dessert with peanut butter is another variation of the traditional dish. It is another great dish that adds peanut butter to the dessert. It could serve as filling the dessert dish that would incorporate a nutty, creamy flavor to its version.
The saltiness of the peanut butter would complement the sweetness of the featured dish. Therefore this version is incredible and perfect for serving those who love peanut butter and Nilupak recipes.
Mashed Cassava Ice Cream Recipes
Another restaurant quality version of the featured dish wherein instead of just this dish, it is Mashed Cassava Ice cream. You could elevate it using the main ingredient mashed cassava as the ice cream's main protein and flavor. You could make it as the ice cream base or serve it with ice cream.
This variation is the most elegant and amazing version of the featured recipe. If it is served with ice cream above, it complements very well with the smoothness and creamy side of it. On the other hand, when you serve it as ice cream, you completely elevate the recipe to a restaurant-quality dish.
Trivia about Nilupak Recipe
In the Spanish Philippine era, Nilupak is also well-known as Jalea or "jam," which became spelled as Halea, Haleya, or Halaya in the Philippine native languages. There are also many types of Nilupak recipes in the Philippines: the saba banana, taro corms, ube, sweet potato, Calabaza, and cassava.
Did you know that cassava has a Caribbean name as manioc or yuca? In the Caribbean, they use this root vegetable to make savory dishes, including soup or oil down, boil, and even fry it. But in the Philippines, they used it to create sweet delicacies.
Cassava crop is one of the very common food crops in many countries, such as India, West Africa, Indonesia, and South America. It has a great carbohydrates source but a poor source of essential nutrients and proteins that our body needs.
It is a dietary food for those who have diabetes because it is cellulose-rich in insoluble fiber. It also helps constipation and promotes the growth of probiotic bacteria in our intestines.
It is some of the benefits of eating the cassava crop. But you should be careful because although it has benefits, it also has negative side effects if you did not properly prepare, cleanse and cook it.
Tips for cooking Nilupak Recipes
To keep creating an amazing dish to serve, make sure that you follow some of the listed tips below:
- Peel the kamoteng kahoy first and slice it in uniform size to ensure that the cook on it is even.
- Boil the tubers in water and salt to boost the flavor of it.
- Use butter or margarine if you want to add a yellow color to it.
- You could also add one cup of matured grated coconut meat to add texture
- You could shape the dessert using a mold such as Ilaneras or ramekins.
- You could use a piping bag with a round tip to create other shapes for the featured dish.
- When cooking it, you could either steam or boil it.
- Use an electric grinder or grater mixer to save your time and effort.
Troubleshooting when cooking these recipes
Saving your dish is always your priority when you encounter errors. Hence, we listed some ideas on how you could save your dish.
- If you make your kamoteng kahoy soggy after boiling it, you could add a cup of grated mature coconut meat to add in the texture.
- If you are not satisfied with the sweet taste, you could add condensed milk to the cooked dish before shaping it.
- Kindly put it on banana leaves to incorporate more flavors. Ensure that you heated the banana leaves before using it.
Best Serve With
Our menu could not stand alone and was not fair to serve alone. So, here are the dishes that you could pair with the featured dish.
Pancit Bihon or Pancit Guisado - is a dish perfect for serving with our menu. It is a famous duo on every occasion.
Pancit Palabok - is another dish that is perfectly and commonly served with our dessert.
Spaghetti - is a pasta dish perfect to serve with our menu. The dish complimented very well with the sweet and creamy taste of the featured dish.
Pancit Lomi- is a dish like the other pancit dishes. It is the perfect partner for the featured dish.
Molo Soup- is a soup dish perfect to serve with our menu.
Sotanghon Soup - is another soup dish that is one of the most popular cuisines paired up with the featured dessert dish.
Macaroni Sopas - is a dish good with our menu and commonly served on any occasion.
Chicken Noodle Soup - is another dish that is commonly and perfectly matches the flavor palette of the featured dish.
Coffee - is a drink perfect with our dessert during snack or after a meal.
Conclusion
Cooking a Filipino delicacy like our menu is not easy when you are a first-time cooker. Or when you are not familiar with this kind of food.
We want to help you to pull out this kind of dish so, here are the ideas and ways on how you would cook the featured dish to incorporate the right taste of it.
It is a portion of comfort food you could offer and teach the younger generation. This food is easy, simple, and quick to make and could serve on any occasion.
Do it with your children, family, and friends! It is a fun and exciting dish to explore and experiment with your loved ones.
For more delicious recipe, visit Eat Like Pinoy!
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb Cassava grated
- ½ cup Margarine
- 2 cups Condensed or sweetened milk
- ½ cup Sugar
- 2 cups Coconut meat grated
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 6 cups Water
Instructions
- In a casserole, boil grated cassava with water for 40 minutes.
- Once the cassava is tender, transfer it into a large bowl.
- Put-in vanilla, margarine, grated coconut meat and sugar in the bowl.
- Then add the sweetened milk and mix very well for 20 minutes.
- Place the mixture in a flat tray. Then mold into 1-inch thick.
- Slice the molded mixture according to your desired size.
- Share and enjoy!