It's tikoy time!

Chinese New Year is fast approaching and tikoys are starting to flood along the shelves of our local supermarkets.

Tikoy is that sticky Filipino-Chinese delicacy made from glutinous rice flour, corn flour, and sugar. To prepare, just cover it with beaten egg and fry. Another way to enjoy tikoy is to slice it into long and thin pieces, wrap with lumpia, and fry.

Tikoy is the best-selling giveaway during the Chinese New Year in the Philippines. I remember we used to have only one kind of tikoy. That was the white one. These days, we can find brown tikoy, ube tikoy, pandan tikoy, strawberry tikoy, corn tikoy, sesame tikoy, peanut tikoy, and even tikoy lite.

Tikoy reminds me of mooncakes. I got my first mooncake in Hong Kong year 2001. Mooncakes are popular giveaways in Mooncake Festival or Lantern Festival; also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival in China and other Chinese communities in the world.

Tikoy don't look exactly like mooncakes because mooncakes are comparable to "hopia", but they are just as valued during the two most important events in a Lunar calendar; the Chinese or Lunar New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Mooncakes come in a fancy tin box, but tikoys are humbly packed in plastic and covered in a cheap carton box. Tikoys are sticky and made from flour and rice. Mooncakes come with a thick lotus seed paste, sweet bean paste or sometimes yolks from salted duck eggs filling. Tikoys are oily, but yummy. On the other hand, mooncakes are kinda salty, sweet, and smelling funny.