Chewy Rice
Now that I live in Southeast Texas, rice is a common starch in a meal. People rave about rice and gravy—I thought gravy only went on potatoes, sometimes boiiled and mashed on your plate or if your mom was ambitious and it was a holiday meal-..one of your borthers was in charge of mashing the potatoes. My moither-in-law added sour cream sometimes and butter
But rice in my in-law’s home was served as this awful rice pudding at Christmas time with an almond hidden somewhere–and the person who got tht almond opened the first gift on Christmas morning.
I thougth the custom was nice—but I soon subsituted a pecan hidden in a mound of rice intended for a large ladleful of gumbo.
Then there is fried rice. That was something I learned to make, frying the raw rice in a skillet until browned—my residency friend from India did hte same with her wonderful chicken curry dish, Our rendition of fried rice included adding onion, and bits of leftover vegetalbes and bites of meat–too large to toss but not enough for a full meal.
I still try to make rice as a starch.
I am not terribly successful.
Here is my last attempt.
As you can see the rice was not successful so i baked a biscuit instead.
That is okra and tomatoes–a very traditional southeast Texas dish—and I could eat a whole meal of it.It is from our garden last year—okra is not hard to grown, and when you have an abundance of a vegetable, it is fun to experiment. This method of cooking came from a cook in a local hospiatl who let me stand in the doorway of the kitchen while she prepared it—and talked me through it. One Thanksgiving, the grandmother of my youngest son’s wife haelped me prepare it for the meal.
the chicken is coated with a bit of mayonnaise and then rolled in stale crushed tortiall chips—and baked.
Preparing food together and trying new ways and new foods is a way we are all connected.
The rice by the way was quite tasty—cilanrto and lemon and sour cream mixed in. But it was definitely chewy.
Better luck next time.
Sylvia Weir Art 