Posted 6:37 PM by Blah blah

Check out Neemanet.com---another Renaissance man's homepage. Fascinating. Neema posted pix of his travels around the world for eight months between Oct. 2000 and May 2001.

Was talking to Rose about favorite foods. My mom is an excellent cook. A while back, I'd asked her to tell me the secrets behind some of her outstanding creations, which I wrote in a notepad. Here's my all-time favorite food she makes! I swear...I kill for this.

Sweet Rice with Chicken (Giam Bung, copyright by Mom)

- 5-6 cups glutinous (sweet) rice
- 1 chicken, cut into large chunks
or boneless thigh, 4 pieces, cubed
- dried mushrooms (get the big, ear shaped black kind...not button mushrooms)
- dried shrimp
- soy sauce
- salt
- sesame oil
- garlic, ginger (2 slices, shredded)
- black-eyed beans


Soak beans in water at least 3 hours, until skin is enlarged. Soak mushrooms and shrimp in water 1 hour. Slice mushrooms in long strips (Julian). Save mushroom and shrimp soaking water.

Heat vegetable oil in saucepan. Saute w/ garlic and ginger. Add chicken. After a little cooking, add shrimp and mushrooms. After some cooking, add beans. Later add soaking water (shrimp & mushroom), soy sauce, and salt.

Put raw sweet rice in rice cooker (preferably one that allows water around the inside container). First, barely cover rice w/ water. Add all the cooked chicken, etc. onto rice. Put about 2 cups water around, inside container. (Allows greater heat and steam.) Cook everything.

When done, mix all with sesame oil.

You may also cook in a wok at high temperature. I'm not sure if you just cook the rice separately and add it to the chicken in the wok. But I love it when the rice at the bottom is slightly burnt and crispy!

Serves only one. ME!

Do any of you have suggestions or your own sweet/sticky rice recipes? It's like the rice you usually see for dim sum, wrapped in a banana leaf. I can't get enough of it!