Cooking rice

We've had our share of exploratory adventures where we rough it up and cook with a wood fire and camped out in a tent. One of our more memorable ones was an Easter weekend in Munting Buhangin long before it became just another over built and over populated resort along Nasugbu beach. Time was there were only tents available and building a bonfire was still a herculean effort of gathering wood among the environs.

On this trip, one of our companions, a lovely, petite girl had offered to be on rice cooking duty. In as much as not all of us were at the time, aware of what and how this is done without a rice cooker we relented. Over the next few days, we had to rummage through burnt kernels and uncooked rice for all our meals. Turns out - this lady had dutifully followed someone's instruction to allow the water in the rice to get up to the first digit of the index finger. Being a petite girl, of course her hands were much much smaller than most, resulting in each rice cooking exercise lacking the requisite quantity of water to cook through.

Now we know better.

Rice is an interesting staple, as unlike wheat that needs to be milled in order to make any kind of reasonable libation, you simply separate the individual kernels from the chaff in the course of threshing and you have a simple white (or brown depending on the type of rice) ready for cooking.

There are different types of rice and generally long grain is favored for its ability to retain the starches within and prevent sticking resulting in a fluffly cooked rice with the individual grains clearly delineated. California, Basmati and most premium rice are this type. Another is the small grain rice such as Milagrosa, the Japanese Honishiki variety Konishiki and Musenmai (washed) which release much more starch during cooking and require quite a bit of soaking in water prior to cooking. Finally ,the medium grain variety, such as the Japonica and most other lower priced rice varieties. Is there any one single standard way to cook rice? I ask my students how they do it and it comes out consistently 1. Measure out the rice 2. Wash - rinse - drain - repeat until the wash water is barely clear enough - still milky but almost clear 3. Add water and this is where it gets touchy - 1.5 times the amount of water as rice OR stick your index finger until barely touching the top of the rice and add water until it reaches the first digit 4. Return to the rice cooker OR set to boil uncovered 5. ONce boiling wet flame to the lowest possible and cover the pot 6. wait at least 8 minutes and resist the urge to look 7. when time is up, check the rice - there should be no bubbles or residual water and there should be dimples and dots on the top 8. it may need another minute or two to get there and only then turn off the fire 9. DO NOT SERVE YET! wait 5 minutes with the flame off. This will give the starches released into the pot to retreat back into the rice grains 10. Now you can eat, fluff it if you want, scoop it into a bowl, or whichever way you like thats simple

A Very Orange broth

Someone asked me about Sotanghon. My brothers and friends used to call it Sotengwan hahaha. The secret to any soup is the stock and I get mine each time I buy a whole chicken Take away the backs and ass and What do you do with the chicken backs and ass? These parts yield very little meat and a lot more fat and skin resides in these parts. You'd be lucky if you get it down to 50 / 50, meat and fat (including skin). But a frugal cook makes use of everything. I even use the trimmings from the chicken breast because you just can take all that meat out. ONce its cooked and you're happy with the flavor just take the chicken out, let it cool, and pick the meat from your bones i small onion half a small carrot and a stalk of celery in a stock pot where all the chicken parts are and top up with water about two inches from the top of the pot under a low flame (this keeps the stock clear) and afte 1 couple of hours you can salt and pepper to taste. Sotanghon is a mung bean based noodle that is translucent and holds up very well despite intense cooking It manages to keep a texture with some amount of bite not to mention the ability to retain heat. You dont need a lot and for 4 just a fist size quantity will go a long way 6 cups of stock The trimmed chicken meat from the stock 100 gms dry vermicelli (sotanghon) 1 tbsp onion leeks chopped fine 1 tbsp minced garlic chips 1 med onion 2 cloves garlic 1 tsp annato seeds (atsuete) 1/4 cup oil A medium soup pot This blog title tells it all. Take your pot and set over a medium flame. Drop the annato seeds in and allow to simmer in the oil until it releases color to almost a bright deep red then fish out the seeds. Sautee onions and garlic in the same oil until fragrant and translucent. Follow that wit the shredded chicken meat until heated through. As the sizzle becomes consistent pour 3/4 of the stock in and allow to boil then turn the flame down. You can drop the vermicelli in and let it cook for about 5-8 minutes Test it if you like the texture, it's ready to serve.

In a small bowl garnish with chopped sprint onion and garlic chips. It couldn't be easier. As it cools the noodles will absorb some liquid so just add on broth as you like.

When it rains, it's Rendang

I don't cook this often enough.

I would accept training assignments in Indonesia on and off from 2012-2014 and there was always time for Beef Rendang. It's not the national dish but it sure is true comfort food. Nothing beats the slow, simmer of this stew with the aroma of coconut and spices wafting throughout the house.

it's not labor intensive but it does demand some labor. First you make a spice paste. You can use a food processor but I favor a mortar and pestle to get that texture of paste that's not totally smooth but gritty. Pretty much like a choice between a longganisa or a hotdog.

Then you brown the meat all dutifully to allow it to caramelize and stick to the pot you'll be cooking in.

AFter that, it's pretty much a gentle, occassional stir to keep all the meats submerged in the liquid.


1 kg. boneless shank or brisket (I get mine at Kitayama)
2 stalks of lemon grass
2 whole Keffir Lime Leaves
half a block (about 2 tbsp) Palm Sugar. You can substitute with Brown sugar
2 cups of coconut milk (two packs of powdered coconut milk reconstituted in 2 cups of water)
3-4 cups of water as needed


For the paste:

1 tsp coriander seed
1/2 half whole nutmeg
1 tsp ground turmeric (powder is fine)
two thumb size pieces of ginger
2 whole Keffir Lime leaves
4 cloves garlic
1 medium spanish onion
2 thai chilis for the heat
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black peper

TO make the paste:
Chop the onions and garlic
Peel and slice the ginger
Chop the keffir lime leaves chiffonade
Chop the chilis and include the seeds.
Put all the dry ingredients in the
mortar and pestle and pound away
to get them as fine as possible
then add the salt and pepper
add in the onions a little at a time,
keeping up the pounding
add the garlic, still pounding it all out
add the ginger and chili and
keep the pounding going
until you get something like this

Time to brown the meat. Take your time. Do two rounds if you must but be sure that the meat is browned on all sides until you get an evenly browned concoction.

Remove the meat from the pot and set aside. Now fry the paste in the same pot, no need to clean it. Sautee over a medium flame, savor the aroma, and wait for most of the liquid to evaporate. Now add the browned meat. Once the spice paste and meats are well combined stir in your coconut milk and allow to simmer. Pound the lemon grass stalks to bruise them and tie them into a knot. Drop it in the stew. Drop in the Whole Keffir lime leaves as well. You should break up the palm sugar and add it to this mixture and turn the flame down to the lowest.

Now you wait. Keep it covered anbd as it simmers, the liquid starts to change color. First it's white, half an hour later a pastel green, another half hour and it turns a strange greenish brown. The oil starts to separate and that's a nice green color. Stir the stew avery 10-15 minutes and don't allow it to dry out yet. Add 1/4 cup of water at a time to keep the meats submerged.

2-3 hours later you should have a deep, dark greenish brown stew and as the meats get fork stab soft, stop adding water.

Reduce the liquid until you get just enough moisture so the sauce coats each individual piece of meat. You should turn the flame up to medium and stir constantly and vigorously to prevent scorching and burning.

A proper Rendang doesn't swim in sauce but instead the gravy coats each individual piece. It really tastes better the day after, with a very very cold Sauvignon Blanc.