This ancient and venerable grain has been cultivated since at least 5000 b.c., and archaeological explorations in China have uncovered sealed pots of rice that are almost 8,000 years old. Today, rice is a staple for almost half the world's population — particularly in parts of China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Southeast Asia. The 7,000-plus varieties of rice are grown in one of two ways. Aquatic rice (paddy-grown) is cultivated in flooded fields. The lower-yielding, lower-quality hill-grown rice can be grown on almost any tropical or subtropical terrain. source : Food Dictionary
When Pim announced that she would be hosting the next Is My Blog Burning? Event and that the topic would be rice, at first I became very excited. (hooray, another IMBB, these events are becoming as addicting as they are fun) I immediately left a comment on Pim's Blog letting her know I would definitely be participating. That turned out to be the easy part. The hard part was deciding on a recipe that would be interesting and challenging to make, yet represent what rice, a grain that up until now I had taken for granted; meant to me. I grew up eating Carolina® brand rice and occasionally some dishes made with Arborio, like risotto, but I never really knew just how many varieties of rice there were out there. I thought Pim's choice of topic was going to be easy, giving me a reason me to finally cook something from my as of yet unused copy of Seductions of Rice by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, but when I opened the book and started flipping through it, nothing really jumped out or inspired me.
I grew up eating rice boiled and buttered, served as a side dish or in soup. There was the occasional risotto, arancini di riso, or fried rice from the local Chinese take-away. When I was sick it took the form of a bowl of Nonna's chicken soup, which I would greedily slurp, hoping to chase away whatever evil germ had seized hold of my body. My very first paella was cooked by one of my mother's closest friends, in our kitchen in Brooklyn and without a paella pan! It was one of the best paellas I've ever had, why, I don't know, but maybe it had a lot to do with the fact that it was cooked with love and that we all crowded around the table to eat it together as a family, unhurried, and with gusto and lots of laughter. When I was in college, it was late nights with friends, all you can eat sushi and (too) many bottles of ice cold Tsingtao. After college, the most fragrant and fluffy biryani I ever had was in an Indian restaurant in Nairobi, dining at a round table with 10 friends and no lights, the power having gone out just as we had been seated. The waiters tried desperately to get the generator working again while we ate by candlelight and drank (too) many bottles of lukewarm Tusker Beer and marveled at how in the world the kitchen staff was managing to keep the food hot, tasty and flowing to our table in the dark. All these dishes were certainly worthy of trying to recreate for IMBB? IV but I felt too close to the memories of the meals and didn't think I could possibly do them any justice...if that makes sense.
So with all the thousands of varieties of the grain and the equally extensive ways in which to cook it, I found myself at a loss for what to make for this event. This was turning out to be a lot harder than expected and so I packed Little Miss Muffet into her carrier and went to my beloved Kalustyan's for inspiration. Their website boasts 136 entries for rice alone and while I don't think they carry that many varieties in the store, it was overwhelming to stand there looking at all they did have to offer. Then it hit me, the one thing I could make, the one dish that is so personal and that plays a large and important role in my so called food life is rice pudding. It is comfort food, it has always been there, it will always be there. On a steamy hot summer day, when the heat and humidity are too much to bear a dish filled with chilled, refreshing rice pudding, sometimes sprinkled with cinnamon, sometimes not, maybe with a raisin or two thrown in, maybe not, hits the spot in a way that leaves me happy and grateful. When I've got the blahs, a warm creamy bowl of rice pudding sets me straight like almost nothing else can and so it was decided, right there in Kalustyan's, that for the fourth IMBB I would make rice pudding!
Now, if you haven't noticed, I like to challenge myself in the kitchen and so a regular rice pudding recipe for this cooking event, in my mind, was too easy. It has been too long between actual cooking and blog entries about cooking these days, what with the warm weather and never being home anymore...so I wanted this IMBB entry to be something special, something I had never done. I found just what I was looking for on the Saveur website, a recipe for Empanadas de Arroz con Leche (Rice Pudding Turnovers). To challenge myself further, I decided to make the tortillas from scratch, having never made those before either. woohoo, this was going to be fun!
I made the rice pudding first, so that while I was making the tortillas the rice pudding could cool down and set, making it much easier for me to handle later on.
~ adapted from Saveur
1. Put the cinnamon stick and 2 cups water in a medium heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in rice, cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Uncover and remove and discard cinnamon stick.
2. Add milk, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and salt and mix well. I couldn't resist adding a few of my own touches and so at this point I stirred in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and the zest of half a lemon, the result was fragrant and married well with the cinnamon Increase heat to medium. Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring frequently, until very thick (pudding should hold its shape firmly in a spoon), about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely.
The tortillas were easy and surprisingly quick to make, I may never buy the store bought kind again. I hand rolled them using a rolling pin. I really got into a great groove with the hand rolling. (ah yes, wax on, wax off) I combined two recipes I found on the internet, this one and this one modifying them slightly to fit to my own preferences.
In a large bowl, stir together 3 cups unbleached all purpose flour, 1 cup of whole wheat flour, 2 teaspoons salt, and 4 teaspoons baking powder (a small whisk works really well for stirring this). With a pastry blender, a fork, or your hands (I used my hands and it felt weird yet oddly addictive too), gradually work in 2 tablespoons of vegetable shortening (or lard, although I used shortening) until it is all incorporated. Add enough warm water to make a soft but not sticky dough. (pictured above)
Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 5 minutes, then, invert a bowl over the mass of dough and let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Return after 5 minutes to knead for another 5 minutes or until you have a smooth uniform mass, cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.
When thirty minutes have passed, uncover the dough and divide the dough into 1/4 cup (3 oz) portions and form them into balls. (pictured above)
I was pretty chuffed that the dough balls fit into the 1/4 cup measure after I had eyeballed the measurements go me! (pictured above)
Roll each ball into a flat round about 6 inches in diameter and 1/8 inches thick. (pictured above) I like doing tedious repetitive work like rolling dough, I actually get satisfaction from it. (I know I'm a sicko)
Heat a large heavy skillet over medium high heat. Place the tortillas one at a time into the dry hot skillet; once or twice during the tortilla making a couple of the tortilla's created an air pocket and made bubbles, I didn't concern myself too much with that, I just used the tips of my tongs to pop them (pictured above)
cook until brown on one side, then turn and brown the other side. Remove from the skillet and keep warm in cloth towel. (pictured above)
I used a bamboo steamer lined with a clean kitchen towel to hold the warm tortilla's until I needed them (pictured above)
At this stage I was ready to assemble the empanadas, so, following the directions in the recipe I combined 1/4 cup sugar with ground cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
I Measured a scant 1/2 cup pudding into the center of each tortilla (pictured above)
A while back, my friend Miguel had given me a brick of chocolate that had been handmade by his Aunts in Mexico. (pictured above) His intention was for me to use it to make Mexican hot chocolate but I have yet to get around to that and as I was making the empanadas I got the idea to grate a little of the cocoa onto the rice pudding for an extra treat. (pictured below)
So with the cocoa grated over the top of the rice pudding I folded the tortilla in half, pressing gently to close edges, then tucked the extra tortilla under itself using a dab of the sticky rice filling as a glue to keep the empanadas closed. (pictured above) I think it worked out well (pictured below)
I lined them up like little soldiers on another clean kitchen towel (pictured above) while I add enough oil to come to a depth of ⅛'' up the side of a large cast-iron skillet and heated the oil over medium heat until it was hot but not smoking.
Working in batches, I fried the empanadas until crispy and deep golden brown (pictured above), 2-3 minutes per side, then removed them to paper towels to drain.
Rather than just sprinkle both sides of each one with cinnamon sugar like the recipe called for, I also gave each empanada a generous grating of Mexican chocolate. (pictured above)
These were a lot of fun to make and were an interesting way to eat rice pudding. I can see making these for an informal outdoor party, treats for folks to walk around with and eat with their hands. The chocolate and cinnamon went really well together and the savory taste of the tortilla balanced out nicely with the sweet and chewy rice pudding. I highly recommend eating them hot, they aren’t bad cold, just much better fresh and hot the cast iron pan.
And now for a little baby talk.
Coinciding with this IMBB topic of rice was the beginning of Ellina's journey into solid foods. The Dr. had me start her on a few tablespoons of rice cereal a day to get her acquainted with the feel and taste of foods other than her formula. Rice, from what I understand, is the most easily digested by young stomachs and so it is a good food to start them out with. It took about a week before Ellie took to the texture and taste, but as you can see here, she is beginning to really like her cereal time.
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