Super Sweet

Our friend "T" had us down for dinner recently and it was good!  Because he's been making both dishes probably since he was tall enough to see into a pot on the stove, he didn't think they were special at all! My offer to write a guest column fell on bored ears, followed by a dismissive wave.

So once again, all on my own (sigh) I had to take the reins in my hands and forge ahead.  (Nobody ever helps me...it's always on my own initiative.  It's really not fair...)  I found the recipe for Chicken Adobo (Filippino style) at epicurious.com, an excellent site for hard-to-find recipes.   

The sweet rice dessert called "Beko" was not elusive - recipes abound for it, but they all had variations - cook the rice separately; no!  Cook it in the ingredients.  No one could make up their mind.  This is not going to be perfect because I didn't see how many ounces the cans of coconut milk contained, but it is "T
s" recipe.

BEKO
1 box light brown sugar
2 1-quart-sized cans of coconut milk
3 cups sweet rice (available in the Asian foods section of your supermarket.) 

To prepare the rice - measure three cups of dry rice into a suitable container.  Start pouring in water - holding your middle finger vertical from the horizontal rice. wait till the water reaches the first joint of that finger.  Stop the water!  You've got enough to cook a perfect pot of rice. 

To prepare the syrup - stir the sugar into the coconut milk and simmer until it begins to thicken.  At that point, keep a close eye on it.  Setting aside a cup of syrup, mix the rest of it into the cooked rice, put rice and syrup into a large shallow pan, smoothing out the top.  Using the set-aside syrup, glaze the top of the rice and set aside to cool.  When ready to serve, cut the dish into squares and plate. 

How easy is that?  And it makes enough to feed most of the neighborhood, too.