GUAM FOOD YUM: Rice, Rice, Baby - Guam PDN Article #4

Rice, rice, baby

How do you red your rice? Trick question, but for reals. Red rice, or Valencia rice? In CHamoru, hineksa’ agaga’ pot hineksa’ Balensiåna. A few months ago, in the Facebook group Chamorro People on Facebook, there was a discussion about red rice. Most of us refer to red rice as red rice and hineksa’ agaga’, while a handful of people have either heard it, or refer to it, as Balensiåna rice, as in Valencia, Spain. Then there are even fewer that draw a distinction between the two. Regardless, we agreed, it is yummy for our tummies.

Here we go, down a beautiful though sometimes controversial road of our heritage where our CHamoru and colonial cultures intermingle. I love it, I love all things Guam food! For those not in the know, the red in CHamoru red rice comes from the achiote tree, or achoti in CHamoru. Annatto, the spice from the seeds of the achiote tree, is used more widely in Mexican and Latin American cuisine compared to Spanish food, as annatto is native to much of central and south America. The red in Valencia Spanish rice is achieved from one or a mixture of paprika, saffron, and tomatoes. It is said that Mexico left their mark on our CHamoru food, while Spain’s influence was over our customs and traditions. On that note, what always amazes me is that black beans, tacos, and guacamole didn’t become typical CHamoru fare, and neither did the seafood dish, paella.

Hineksa’ agaga’ and hineksa’ Balensiåna both use achoti to color and flavor Calrose-style, or short to medium-grain rice. For a few, what distinguishes between the two is the size and quantity of meat and vegetables cooked in the rice. Hineksa’ agaga’ is rice made with a little bit of small onions and maybe bacon, while hineksa’ Balensiåna is cooked with large pieces of vegetables, and big hunks of chicken or pork. Hineksa’ Balensiåna is not to be confused with paella as paella is rich with seafood and seasoned with saffron.

Growing up on Guam, I remember bacon and peas in red rice, but not all the time; there were always onions though. I’ve never seen big pieces of chicken, pork, or vegetables. I’ve always heard red rice referred to as hineksa’ agaga’. How about you? Are you of the hinkesa’ agaga’ or the hineksa’ Balensiåna camp?

For either side, if it’s made with Calrose-style rice and lots of fat or mantika, it’s not only excellent in taste and texture, but it will freeze, thaw, and reheat quite well. Thawing frozen red rice along with frozen barbecued meat and frozen gollai åppan aga’, or bananas simmered in coconut milk, is a lifesaver, providing quick and easy CHamoru meals as needed.

Which now begs the question, to use achoti seeds, or achoti powder? I shudder when I go back to the 1990s at the University of Oregon in Eugene where I bought achoti seeds from the local Asian store. For the life of me, my so-called red rice was always bitter. Was I using too many seeds? Was I cooking it wrong? Turns out, the seeds were old even before they expired. Nowadays, unless I know the seeds are fresh, I stick with achoti powder because I’ve never had a problem with it. Or, when I want to be risky, I’ll use the seeds to make red rice on the stove and cross my fingers. Then there was a time in Germany, when I coordinated a Guam liberation, that I used 5-gallon buckets to mix achoti powder with water. Never again. My brother Jun taught me a better way to dissolve the powder, as written below.

For this month’s column, I’ve got a recipe on how to cook red rice in a rice cooker with achoti powder, onions, bacon, and luscious fat. In case you are craving a barbecue plate, there are video and recipe links below for CHamoru barbecue meat, gollai appan aga’, and fina’denne’. I mean, think about it. If you’ve built up a freezer stash of already-cooked CHamoru food, and have fina’denne’ in your fridge year-round, alls you gotta do is thaw and reheat. Freezing CHamoru food helps ease the stress of cooking when life gets busy. For CHamoru foods that freeze well, here’s a link to my YouTube playlist, Chamorro Cooking Freezer Food. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRNRfxiqxcIgZXVLKPKKdDyjKQ0-MbFwF

RED RICE IN THE RICE COOKER

My go-to recipe for red rice is to cook it in the rice cooker. I love this recipe because it’s quick, and I can freeze, thaw, and reheat perfect red rice for many meals ahead.

INGREDIENTS

Set 1

3 cups or 680 grams Calrose-style, short to medium-grain rice

*Use a regular measuring cup, not the one that comes with the rice cooker.

Set 2

1 packet or 10 grams annatto/achoti powder

2 teaspoons or 12 grams salt

1 tablespoon or 10 grams garlic powder

Set 3

4 cups or 946 milliliters water

*Use same measuring cup that scooped the rice.

Set 4

½ cup or 115 grams bacon

3 tablespoons or 45 milliliters fresh lard/your choice of oil.

4 tablespoons or 42 grams real unsalted butter, grass-fed if you can

½ cup or 80 grams diced yellow onion

Tools: rice cooker, long wooden spoon or rubber spatula, 1-cup measuring cup

DIRECTIONS

Pour 3 cups of uncooked short to medium-grain rice into the rice cooker pot. Rinse and drain two to three times. There shouldn’t be much water with the rice once you drain the water.

Sprinkle the achoti powder, garlic powder, and salt over the wet rice. Stir the rice and powders around to dissolve the seasonings.

Use the same 1-cup measuring cup to add 4 cups of water to the rice. Taste the water then add more salt if you like.

Add the onions, lard, and bacon to the pot. Stir. Add the butter. Wipe the rice pot then place in the rice cooker.

Cook according to the settings of your appliance. Set a timer for 25 minutes. Open the rice cooker and scoop three to four times from the bottom up to incorporate seasonings that have settled on the bottom of the pot. Close and let it finish cooking. Once it’s done, do a final three to four scoops again to redistribute bacon, onions, and any settled seasonings.

Link to red rice in the rice cooker video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxVpUQ2akUQ

Link to CHamoru barbecue marinade:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS1yuXGm3IE

Link to gollai åppan aga’ or cooking bananas in coconut milk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCurc41YTQk&t=27s

Link to fina’denne’ recipe:

https://www.paulaq.com/guamfinadennerecipe.html

*First appeared in the Guam PDN August 2021

Paula Lujan Quinene

Enjoying CHamoru food in a fasting lifestyle.

Reach out to Paula at pquinene@gmail.com