Not satiated by the dinner earlier this evening, I now find myself, at 11:25pm, eating anew, this time with a dish of my own concocting which I just christened a few minutes ago as Milk Rice.Look at the picture, isn't it quite delectable? Milk rice is a rice meal, a congee, a porridge of sorts and a dairy product all rolled into one. The best milk rice is sticky, sweet, and mouthful.
To create milk rice you will need:
• cooked steam rice
• powdered milk
• sugar
• water (preferably drinkable water)
First off, you put in the desired amount of rice you want in a bowl (yes, a bowl is the most preferred dish implement for this dish) depending on how hungry you are but don't fill your bowl. If you want to eat a lot, use a bigger bowl.
Then measure a desired amount of sugar. If you're diabetes-conscious, you can use artificial sweeteners but nothing beats the real thing. The amount of sugar you put depends on your sweet tooth. Mix the rice and sugar until sugar is evenly distributed.
You then liberally apply powdered milk on the rice-sugar mix. Again, the amount of powdered milk really depends on your taste. If you want it to be creamy and powdery then feel free to empty the entire content of a powdered milk foil pack. If you want it light and thin, then a few spoonfuls should be enough.
Mix the entire thing lightly then add water. Water is needed to completely mix the entire concoction. Just add enough water to make the mixture mud-like. You don't want too much water as it'll feel like you're eating rice with milk sauce but you wouldn't want your mixture lacking water or otherwise it'll seem that you're eating polvoron mixed with rice. The right amount of water makes the mixture mud-like and sticky.
For good measure, you may want to add a few more spoonfuls of powdered milk to top the mixture.
The perfect milk rice is sticky to eat. It is best not to thoroughly mix the entire thing so that pockets of milk powder will be retained and released when you munch the thing in your mouth. While eating, it is advised to lightly mix the vat in between spoonfuls to distribute milk and sugar evenly but then again, not to overdo it or you may end up with a milk soup especially if you put in a formidable amount of water.
For the longest time since I was old enough to reach my mother's cupboard, I've been making this strange food combination whenever there's no other food available or when I don't like what's being set on the dining table. It's quick and easy to make, and the ingredients are readily available. It provides carbo, calcium and an insulin intake and thus, for medical purposes (ehem, ehem), helps prevent osteoporosis.
The milk rice had its origins in my youth. Before milk rice, I used to eat rice with sugar (yes, just sugar) as a contra to the popular rice and salt (as in nagdidildil ng asin saying). Because eating sweetened rice can become a sore, one day I saw the powdered milk my mother brought and proceeded to add it to the milk and sugar mix. The texture was wrong somehow and that's where the water came in.
It will take you several tries to come up with the perfect milk rice but then again, I never measure the ingredients ... I just dump everything in a bowl, mix and presto -- instant satisfaction.
And what does the household think of my gastronomic delight? My mother doesn't like it, my father thinks I'm weird eating this dish, my sisters can only stare at me oddly and say "yukk" and my wife is absolutely bloody amazed I can eat this stuff.
I tried this dish with liquid evaporated milk but it just doesn't cut it. The powdered milk adds a new sensation to eating milk rice --- stickiness and sweetness rolled into one.
