A Taste of India

It has been a busy day for me. So exhausted from work and had met some friends after office hours. I had no time to cook and for the fact that my husband and I are really starving. We want to rest right-away after dinner so we didn’t consider dining out. So the best option for us is to "take-home" cooked food. And since our last spot was in mall we had plenty of choices where to buy our dinner. We bought Indian Chicken Biryani.

Biryani is a traditional cuisine from India. It has a deep flavor and aroma. It is made from a mixture of spices, rice, meat or vegetables. So basically, Chicken Biryani involves chicken pieces marinated in a spice and curd mixture and cooked with basmati rice. I’ve watched a video on how to cook it and the preparation is quite lengthy but the outcome is surely simply amazing. It somehow looks similar from the usual Filipino fried rice mixture or from Chinese Chao Pan but the taste is far different.

Hunger solved! Thanks to the wholesome rice-based Indian cuisine we had. I won’t be able to give you a taste of Indian Chicken Biryani but I could indeed give u a glimpse of it =D

mouthwatering Chicken Biryani...
the aroma and spices will make you crave for more =D

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Biko Recipe

I craved for a home-made Biko last New Year's Eve, so I decided to try my luck in cooking this authentic Pinoy delicacy. I can buy a ready made Biko from grocery stores but the taste and the texture doesn't satisfy my cravings. I've search Biko recipe over the internet. Luckily, I've found an easy to follow recipe, thus I customized the ingredients' measurements according to my taste. I usually like a not so sweet Biko with its natural color, that's why I used white sugar instead of brown.

So here's how I did it =D

Ingredients:

·         4 cups glutinous rice

·         1 can coconut milk

·         1 tbsp. vanilla extract

·         1 1/2 cup brown or white sugar (depending on how sweet you want your biko)

·         banana leaves ( optional )

Toppings

ü       grated coconut meat or

ü       latik (Using low medium heat, boil coconut milk in a saucepan, uncovered. Once it starts to thicken, watch closely so as not to burn the resulting latik (you might have to lower the heat further). Once it starts to brown, scrape the bottom of pan frequently. When brown already, drain off the coconut oil and you latik is ready.

Procedure:

1.    Cook glutinous rice in water just like you do with plain steamed rice.

2.    In saucepan, pour in coconut milk, sugar and vanilla extract.

3.    Mix, stir and let boil. Add cooked glutinous rice to coconut milk mixture and cook until thick.

4.    Spread evenly on platter lined with banana leaves or foil container (this is what I used since banana leaves are expensive here).

5.    Topped with your choice of toppings.

6.    Slice and serve.

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