Burnt Lumpia: Filipino Food | Filipino Recipes | Culinary Hijinks

Giveaway: Philippine Heirloom Rice

When we think of rice, we may think of only a few specific varieties.

Italian Arborio, Thai Jasmine, and Indian Basmati, for example.

But what if I told you there are rice varieties from the Philippines whose aromas, textures, and flavors are on equal footing with the world's other gourmet grains?

Considering all the rice we Filipinos eat for breakfast, stir into porridge, and wrap for dessert (not to mention our everyday steamed rice or fried rice), it may seem commonsense that of course the Philippines must grow fantastic rice. And they do.

But because of certain economic and agricultural hardships in the Philippines, it imports much more rice than it exports--which is why quality gourmet Philippine-grown rice is unknown here in the States. In fact, upon closer inspection of my own pantry, I've only got rice from Thailand (Jasmine and Glutinous), California (Calrose), and Italy (Arborio).

But thanks to Eighth Wonder, a U.S. company based in Montana, heirloom rice from the Philippines is now available to us all.

Lugaw is for the Children

Generally speaking, babies (of the human variety) can begin to eat semi-solid food between 4 and 6 months of age. So when my kid hit the four-month mark, and our pediatrician gave us the green light to shove spoonfuls of rice cereal into his mouth (the baby's mouth, not the pediatrician's), I was rather excited. As soon as my kid got used to the idea of rice cereal in his maw, I would begin gifting his palate with little tastes, here and there, of Filipino food.

Here in the U.S., the introductory food of choice for toothless lil' babies seems to be rice cereal because it is easy to digest and relatively bland in flavor. In the Philippines though, a rice porridge called "Lugaw" is often the first semi-solid food given to babies.

Like rice cereal, Lugaw (looh-gow) makes for a wonderful first food because it too is relatively easy for babies to digest. But unlike rice cereal, Lugaw is anything but bland as this Filipino porridge contains the essence and soul of a chicken (mwahahaha!).

Champorado: Breakfast of Champions

Filipinos have been enjoying chocolate cereal long before the likes of Cocoa Puffs, Cocoa Pebbles, Cocoa Crisp, Count Chocula, or Chocolate Frosted Frosty Krusty Flakes (Only sugar has more sugar!) ever entered the sweet-toothed maws of hungry children. Although these factory-produced, mass-marketed, sugar-filled cereals are fine and dandy for breakfast (I've enjoyed many of them), they lack the rustic homemade charm, and overall stick-to-yo-ribs-ness, of Filipino Champorado.

Champorado may perhaps be the original chocolate cereal as it is quite literally a "chocolate cereal"--it's made from chocolate tablea and cereal grains in the form of sweet sticky rice. Put more simply though, Champorado can best be described as a sort of chocolate rice porridge. Or perhaps it can be likened to a warm bowl of oatmeal crossed with a chocolate bar--only better. Way better.

Arroz By Any Other Name

When spending Christmas at my parents' house, we adhere to quite a few traditions:

• My brothers and I challenge each other's manhood via video games.  This past year it was Guitar Hero.  I'll admit that my brothers are better than me at virtually rocking.  But I rock literally. So there.

• My dad challenges everyone's religioushood (I just made that word up) by not attending Midnight Mass. While my mother, my brothers, my wife and I attend church late Christmas Eve, my father stays home and practices his finger jabs and throat punches on a wooden dummy in the garage.  He then practices his striking with the business end of his belt, jangling the metal buckle like a jingle bell (he's festive like that).

• My mom challenges my wife's stomach-hood (again, another awesome made-up word) by telling her to eat more and more at the dinner table. Any Pinoy who has ever brought a non-Pinoy home knows what I mean:

Mom: "Why don't you eat?"
Wife: "I am eating."

5 minutes later...

Mom: "Are you OK? Why don't you eat some more?"
Wife with mouth full: "Um, yes. Ok, I'll have more pancit."

2 minutes, 39 seconds later...

Mom: "You're not eating! Have some more rice! Rice! Eat! Eat! Eaaaaaaat!"
Wife with gastrointestinal pain and no other choices: "Ummm. Uh. Yes. Please."

And so it goes at my parents' house on Christmas Eve.

As fun as all of that sounds, and it really is, there is one other tradition that I look the most forward to: Arroz Caldo.  And seeing as the theme for the latest Lasang Pinoy event is rice, I see no better entry than my mother's Arroz Caldo.