25. Rice

 

No other Latin Americans like rice as much as Peruvians. No dish, even those that include potatoes, is served without a serving of rice, which surprises visitors to our country. Lomo saltado (beef sautéed with onions and tomatoes), which is mixed with fried potatoes, would seem orphaned without its helping of rice. Roast beef is served with a flavorful helping of mashed potatoes, but it would not be complete with a side dish of rice.

Originally for Southeast Asia and India, rice has spread throughout the world. The Spaniards introduced it to Peru during the conquest; and the Arabs had introduced it in Spain. The famous Jesuit chronicler, Jose de Acosta, wrote in 1575 “ in Peru and Mexico, where there is wheat, they eat rice in stews and as a side dish, they make it with milk and with the grease from the pot, among other forms, He adds, “The preferred kind comes from the Philippines and China” (Vega, 1993).

Rice was an important ingredient in criollo cooking and gave us typical recipes like rice broth, duck and rice, beans and rice, and stews (Aji de gallina and Carapulcra or carapulca, etc.) and desserts like rice pudding. Peruvian cookery also offers dishes like scallops and rice, prawns with rice, fish chowder, which includes rice and potatoes, and the typical dish from the jungle, Juanes, tamales made with rice.

This said, we propose the question that has been asked by many students of Peruvian cookery: Did the arrival of Chinese immigrants in the mid-1880s increase Peruvians’ like for rice, encouraging them to eat it on a daily basis?

Rice has been popular since the Spaniards introduced it. The coastal population ate it; the black slaves on the coastal farms ate rice and beans, as did the poor classes. Nevertheless, in her book Cooking in the Peru Viceroyalty; Rosario Olivas maintains that rice did not hold and important place in food preparation from the Viceroyalty. It appears in the food rations served to sick sailors at the Bellavista Hospital in 1788. The 30 rations mentioned included: “ 1 pound a mutton and 4 ounces of rice (100 grams, approximately), ¼ chicken with 4 ounces of rice and milk, 8 ounces of rice with 1 ounce of lard and 4 eggs, 12 ounces of mutton, 175 chicken, 1 ounce of bacon, 1 ounce of Lima beans, 4 ounces of rice, 1/6 ounce of wine” (Olivas, 1996). The grain also appears in texts about what black slaves ate during the viceroyalty. In general, we find that it did not have a major presence and did not stir the curiosity of the chroniclers who visited the country, did not stir the curiosity of the chroniclers who visited the country.

In his 1896 book, The Treasures of Peru, Jose Clavero described the condition of rice production in the country in the face of massive imports of the product, “Along the lower coast, in Pacasmayo, Guadalupe, Chiclayo, Lambayeque and Ferreñafe, rice production was a noble agricultural industry that maintained the hard-working people of those provinces. The lake seed, as the children of Washington called rice, was first introduced in Peru in 1605 by D. Ruiz Diaz Gonzales and first planted on Pizarro’s farm in the city built along the shores of the La Leche River, which later became Batan Grande…On Jan, 4 1869, the Carolina strain was introduced, replacing the primitive strain which offered good yields and was the only kind eaten until today. The free import of Chinese rice has blinded Peru’s rice industry; its production has been reduced to less than that of the primitive crop and it does satisfy the demand of the classes used to eating it… San Jose a rice port has disappeared. With the industry prostrate in front of the imports, the families of rice producers, humbled by misery, had no other choice but withdraw from the business” (Clavero, 1896): Traveller M: C: Renoz, citing Commercial Statistics from Peru in 1892, stated that rice imports totaled 566,044 soles, of which 220,115 came from the British Indies, 171,687 from China and 164,371 from Chile. The amount was significant when compared to wheat, the most important imported good, which totaled 699,142 soles (Renoz, 1897). According to the 1884 Home and Industry Guide of Lima the amount of imported rice was much higher that year, totaling 963,387.56 soles (Soot, 1886).

The Peruvian table or the Book for Families Cookbook, printed in Arequipa in 1867, included the following recipes: rice with meat, rice with cheese, rice with prawns, rice with any fish, rice in general and granulated rice. These recipes were included

In a section labeled, “Different Casseroles.” With the exception of granulated rice, all the dishes used the grain as only another ingredient, mainly as a thickener.

This is recipe offered for rice with meat: “Soak and wash one pound of rice, more or less the amount needed for the number of people, and cook it with salt. Normally a mutton coccyx or loin is chosen and cooked with a handful of chickpeas. When the meat is well-cooked it is seasons as follows: Finely grind some Palillo (Indian saffron), a clove of garlic a pinch of cumin, a few peppers, a tomato and two onions cut in strips. Fry the mix in lard, adding it slowly to the broth along with the rice, chickpeas

And whole peppers. Cook it on a low flame for 30 minutes and let it stand.”(Ibañez, 1867). This process is also used for scallops and rice and rice with any kind of fish. Another dish eaten during the time, and included in the cookbook, is rice soup.

There are only a few dishes in which rice appears as a side dish, the way it is normally consumed today. We find it in the so-called bean casserole (whipped or mashed). Which is “accompanied by granulated rice-together they are called St. Peter and St. Paul. The beans are placed by top and garnished with onions, tomatoes, parsley, oregano and crushed pepper” (Ibañez, 1867). Also mentioned are potato flour and cheese. Granulated rice is called for in only these dishes. Potatoes, broad beans or chickpeas are suggested as side dishes in the other recipes. In the Peruvian dishes mentioned by E: W: Middendorf, only steaks and spare ribs are served with rice, as well as eggs, fried potatoes and fried plantains (Middendorf, {1894} 1973).

It appears that rice as a side dish began to gain popularity in the second half of the 19^th century. We cannot be sure that this was due to Chinese immigration; rice was already known here and was prepared differently (with salt and garlic) than the style used by the Chinese (without seasoning). Further, the Chinese way of cooking rice was criticized by Peruvians, who demanded a less natural taste and more condiments. The kind of rice used by both peoples was different –Chinese rice is not granulated, whereas Peruvians appreciated very granulated rice.

In his 90s, well-known author Estuardo Nuñez does not remember eating too much rice during his childhood. “Potatoes were often used”, he says. Nevertheless, other testimonies maintain that rice was always eaten as a side dish. According to Ricardo Alcalde Mongrut, a Peruvian gastronome who used the pseudonym El Compadre Guisao,” rice and the habit of eating it daily, at least along the Peruvian coast, came to Peru with the coolies imported to replace the black slaves freed by Ramon Castilla’s glorious revolution. They incorporated rice into their daily diet and later, when they were freed from their contracts, they began the groceries and bodega-bars and made this a popular food” (Alcalde Mongrut, 1981). 

Rodriguez Pastor (1993), an expert on Chinese immigration, maintains that at the end of the coolies trade (1849-1874) “if the Chinese established racially mixed couples, their homes must have been a confluence of two cultural traditions. “This determined new eating habits in members of these kinds of families. The awareness liking and inclination toward Chinese cookery was a given, this cultural exchange lasted more than a generation. A few of the dishes prepared daily began to decline, but not the fundamental dish, rice.” Without trying to reach a Solomonic or eclectic conclusion, we can state that people living along the coast ate rice more in the form of casseroles, as seen in the cookbooks cited, except in dishes like St. Peter and St. Paul. On the other hand, rice served as a side dish was popular in the Chinese taverns and in racially mixed families. In this way, the custom of serving rice as a side dish expanded along the coast. Of course, rice was prepared with the condiments enjoyed by Peruvians. Rice is indispensable for soaking up the “juices” remaining in each dish, a custom that is wide spread in our country and considered by some to be the maximum gastronomic pleasure. The daily use of rice in the country is an unquestioned fact, but one that also confuses visitors to the country.
People in the highlands are also familiar with rice. In the testimony of an Ayacuchan woman with peasant background, she remembers her great grandmother, who was in her 90s when she was a little girl, telling her: “the rich will feed you like a cat (a flat plate unlike the deeper dishes used in the countryside) and they will make you eat rice and noodles.” In this way, she expressed her opinion that rice was not as filing as potatoes and grains, and was more expensive. Today in the traditional taverns of Cusco, rice competes head-to-head with potatoes for a place at the table.

 

 

Desserts Recipes 25. Rice 33. Fried Rice Fried Rice Crispy Rice Cabbage and Shrimp Soup Chicken ginger soup Sai Wu Beef Soup Sam Si soup Egg and Tomato Soup Egg-coated Tofu with Cau Choy Tofu with Fish Filling Tofu- Stuffed Fried Wonton Stir-fried Noodles Sauté Potato Strips Chinese Tacos Wonton Jeon Sai Kao Kualoc Ja Oriental Mermaid Tun Cua Cream Steamed Fish w/ Lemon Chinese Cebiche Chrysanthemum Fish Wop Tip Fish Sauté Fish Pork Spareribs w/ Curry Steamed Pork w/ Mushrooms Pig’s Trotters in Vinegar Steamed pork w/ yucca Pork with Pineapple Steamed Pork Spareribs Pork Cutlets in Mango Sauce Stir-Fried Celery w/ Pork Stir-Fried Pork Loin Strips Stuffed Leg Chicken w/ Sesame Seeds Chicken Rolls Duck in Ginger Chijaukay Chicken Hen in Soy Sauce Chili Chicken Wings Sal chicken