I_am_Tosk wrote:
>
> Back to the old days, a lot of my diet, in fact my main part was
> Stickrice or "sticky ri" (pronounced sticky rye I had learned to cook
> and appreciate working with the Laotians (sp?).
>
> It's starting to make a showing in more than just Asian markets now and
> my kids love it so we have been making it again.
>
> Sticky ri is not the product of the cooking, it's the product you *are*
> cooking. Glutenous rice or Sweet rice is used, it is a bit different
> than "regular" rice and makes for great stick.
>
> I take two cups of sweet rice and put it in a bowl with 1 1/2 tsp sugar
> and 1/4 tsp salt, cover with water and soak overnight. Pour the excess
> water off, but do not rinse, then steam for 45 minutes loosely and
> tossing it a couple times during cooking to keep the texture consistent
> through out the dish.
>
> They make special cookers but I just use a wok and a basket suspended
> over a pool of water by putting a steaming rack or even crossing up some
> chopsticks to keep the basket suspended. Cover and steam for 45 minutes,
> like I said above, mixing it up here and there, maybe twice during
> cooking.
>
> When you are done you have a nice plate of "Sticky ri" ready for your
> dipping sauce, and this is after all what you made the rice for in the
> first place
>
> A typical sauce begins with the drippings and pan scrapings from the
> night before and can be made directly after eating the evening meal, in
> the same pan. Take the scrapings (especially the crispy burnt ones) and
> add some of the excess veggie and meat juice from the meal and heat it
> in a pan. Add some minced mushrooms, spinach, potato or anything that
> will add flavor and carry flavor, and add texture, basically what ever
> is left over from the meal. We are talking only a couple teaspoons all
> together of solids. Make sure your pan is on high and you have a
> stirring utensil available, I use wood as it won't harm the wok or pan
> when you start smashing the whole thing. Now take a clove of garlic, a
> hot pepper (very important, it's not sticky ri, if it's not spicy), and
> a bit of soy sauce, or any other flavorful sauce Next you need to smash
> them all together in the pan, turn it into a thick paste. Add a bit of
> salt to taste and then burn the whole thing black, again, if you aren't
> going to burn it, don't bother cooking it.... Add a bit of moisture
> here and there to keep it moist but burn it good.. That is key to the
> flavor.
>
> When this is done, typically we would just pour it into a piece of
> leftover tin foil and throw that package in with the rice for the next
> days consumption.
>
> Now the fun. Take a couple oz. chunk (a tiny handfull) and squeeze it in
> you fist to it forms a long thin snake that kind of looks like a huge
> grain of rice. Now dip the "worm" into the sauce and eat. The
> combination of hot spicy and mild rice are beautiful, one of my favorite
> snacks. Back in my single days, I lived on this stuff. About two cups a
> day, maybe two oz. of meat (one steak lasted over a week for me), and
> loads of fresh veggies (the biggest part of my food budget was fresh
> veggies, maybe three to 4 cups a day minimum). I would buy maybe one
> gallon of milk a week and sometimes, but rarely a loaf of bread. I was a
> hard core athlete back then and ate better than any of my friends, on
> less than 30 dollars a week that way. I wasted nothing from cooking, and
> I ate better than any of my American friends... Oh, and I had one wok,
> a couple bowls, and a rice basket for lunches... That was my kitchen in
> a nutshell, life was so simple then.
>
> Anyway, try it sometime, you will love it...

Hmmm. I have a SE Asian steamer basket that I am probably going
to get rid of....

--
Jean B.