Goodbye, rice!

MILLIE: For restaurateurs like Karla and myself, it’s not easy to go on a diet. The more we try, the harder it gets. During the day, we are both busy attending to clients’ requests for menus. Karla spends a lot of time creating new dishes and teaches our chefs how to either prepare or present them. I have the fun part of tasting her new concoctions and giving my final seal of approval. I consider it my reward for having worked hard all these years.

Since we are always on the run, we usually have a heavy breakfast and lunch is out of the question, although sometimes we manage to grab a sandwich or sneak into the kitchen to steal a bite, in the guise of “food tasting.” For dinner we try to eat steamed or grilled and lately, we’ve been eating a lot more at home. We’ve learned to cook with an air fryer instead of frying. We have also been trying to avoid eating starch and sugar and that means NO BREAD. NO RICE. NO DESSERTS. Argh! Believe me, it is so difficult!

KARLA: The hard thing is that Mom and I know what is good for us but when working with food — and I mean, good food — sometimes, you can’t resist that second bite, or rather the entire dish. Ha ha! Between all the restaurants we have to try so we can write about them and all the dishes we have to taste-test for our business, how can one resist eating? We have tried to introduce more vegetables into our meals. I can do without the bread and the desserts because between the both of us, mom really has the sweet tooth. I’d be satisfied with tea after a meal.

But don’t tell me that I have to forego rice. No rice?! How can you have no rice with adobo or sinigang or kare-kare? Okay, so I don’t have to have it every meal, but I do crave Filipino food a lot. My best friend tried to get me on this no-rice program with her. We would send each other real-time updates of how much rice we ate for the day. But I just had so many cheat days I stopped updating her. Eek.

Recently, we were invited to the official launch of RiCo Corn Rice at Chef Jessie’s at the Rockwell Club in Makati. At first, mom was hesitant to go because it was during lunch and we just had oh, so much stuff to do at the office. But I was persistent and I wanted to learn more about it.

Since I was driving that day and we had lots of errands to pass for before the lunch, we got there pretty late. The presentation and speeches were done, but we were just in time for lunch. Good thing we were seated beside Marie Claire Legaspi, the general manager of RiCo Corn Rice, who basically answered all the questions we had about it. I know for a fact that corn has fewer calories than rice and therefore it is a good substitute, which is why they thought of making the corn look like actual uncooked rice. For me it does make a difference that visually it looks like rice so I can really see it as a substitute.

What also made me more interested in the product is that it’s a Filipino brand. Nothing beats being proud of Filipino ingenuity. It is not just made from 100-percent-natural corn, it is made from Philippine-grown corn. Hooray for the increased livelihood of our farmers! It is said that this can definitely benefit people with diabetes since it has a lower glycemic index. Of course I did not know what this meant at first, but the way I understand it is that it helps control one’s blood sugar because the body absorbs less sugar and also at a slower pace. There are other health benefits such as no cholesterol and it’s rich in fiber.  

Lunch consisted of a mesclun salad with tiger prawns coated with RiCo corn rice pops. Chef Jessie explained how her experiment with the corn rice pops was a tedious process. First she tried deep-frying the uncooked corn rice, but they came out hard. Then she tried cooking it and then frying it but it didn’t come out good as well. Finally, she discovered that the cooked corn rice had to be dried first before being deep-fried, then put back in the oven. Whew! But it was all worth it in the end as she came up with a dish that made use of the RiCo corn rice in a different way and turned out so well. Check out her recipe, which chef Jessie generously shares with us at the end of the article.

MILLIE: During the launch, chef Jessie Sincioco demonstrated the versatility of the ingredient through a sit-down meal of mesclun greens salad with prawn RiCo pops, minestrone soup with RiCo, a main course of pan-fried codfish fillet in Pommery mustard sauce and delicious and tender chicken breast grilled to perfection in creamy pepper sauce served with RiCo pilaf and sautéed French beans, and for dessert, a unique RiCo Crocant roll shaped like a corn on the cob. At home, you can use RiCo in your daily favorites such as sinangag, Yang Chow fried rice, and paella.

KARLA: To be honest, I know for a fact that I will crave white rice, but corn rice is definitely something I could get used to, especially with the holidays coming up. I’ve stocked up on corn rice and let’s see in a month or two. For now, goodbye white rice, hello, RiCo corn rice.

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RiCo Corn Rice is available in one-, two-, and five-kilogram packs at SM Supermarket, SM Hypermarket, Rustan’s Supermarket, Robinsons Supermarket, The Landmark Supermarket, and other leading supermarkets nationwide. Visit www.yummyhealthy.ph for more info.