

Creamy Deremen: The Heavenly Snack From Pangasinan
Creamy Deremen is a dish made from young glutinous rice that is roasted, soaked in coconut milk and sweetened. It’s delish!
Pangasinan’s Deremen [Duhruhmon] are young, usually still green, glutinous rice. The English name of this is rice puff.
My mother and father, who are both raised in Pangasinan, claimed deremen from their province is different from others. They said they never had a more tasting deremen treats aside from those made in their native land.
My mother said she grew up enjoying different dessert featuring deremen claiming that the grains processed using the traditional pounding method are tastier than those processed using modern technology. She said modern rice mills deteriorated the flavor. She even expressed sadness that we, the younger generations, are not able to experience the flavorful treats.
Childhood Dessert
Even before I started schooling, my mother used to make us the “no-cooked inlubi,” a creamy deremen dessert with strips of coconut flesh. However, since we are residing in Quezon City, we can only taste it once or twice a year when my mom goes home to visit the tomb of my grandparents. So, just imagine how much we crave for it.
How It’s Made?
To make this dessert, the deremen are washed properly to remove unwanted objects like dust, small pieces of wood, and many more. Then, they are soaked into the water until they are soft. Coconut milk, coconut juice, coconut flesh, and sugar are added.
Read: Nilatikang Bibingka from Pangasinan
The taste? Well, it’s creamy, fruity, with right enough sweetness The coconut juice and flesh complemented the juvenile rice. The texture is unexplainable — you can’t compare to cereal or rice puff soaked in milk. That’s way better than that.
Me, I want it cold and oozing with sauce. I also love it with evaporated milk.
My mother used to say that we should eat creamy deremen immediately because the rice is quick in absorbing the coconut milk and juice, which will result in the consistency of a biko.
This dessert made my childhood happy. How about you? Do you have any experience with deremen?
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