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Best Mache (food) in New York
“Glutinous rice balls filled with toasted sesame and sugar, rolled until pillowy white or pandan-green.”
What the real thing tastes like
Mache or matse are glutinous rice balls originally plain or flavored with coconut and pandan from the province of Laguna, Philippines. It is made from boiled galapong (ground soaked glutinous rice) usually plain or with pandan flavoring. It is then filled with toasted sesame seeds and sugar and rolled in more glutinous rice flour or powdered sugar for more sweetness. The resulting dish is characteristically white in color or green due to the pandan extracts. Other versions of the dish do not use pandan and are very similar to the Kapampangan moche and Cebuano masi.
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Mache are glutinous rice balls from Laguna that live in that tender space between snack and dessert. Made from boiled galapong—ground soaked glutinous rice—they're filled with toasted sesame and sugar, then rolled in rice flour or powdered sugar until they're pillowy white, or pale green if pandan has been worked through the dough. The result is a ball that's soft, slightly sweet, and distinctly coconut-forward when that flavoring is used.
Order it here when it has
- characteristically white or pale green color
- toasted sesame filling
- plain or flavored options
- similar regional variations
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