A soft and white plain rice flan is so simple and cheap, but no less special.
When I was still a young child, enjoying the plain rice flan made by my mother was one of the best things that I could dream of. Now that I grow up, I still cannot forget that wonderful feeling. Every time coming back home and tasting plain rice flan with my family, I feel like I am in heaven.
To make the plain rice flan, my mother has to choose carefully the best rice as well as fresh and plump peanuts.
First of all, my mother soaks rice into water to make it soft, then wash and grind it. Next, she puts the rice flour into pure limewater so that the flan would be glutinous and soft enough.
My mother says that making the limewater is the most important step in the whole process, since we have to estimate carefully the amount of limewater. If it is too much, the flan will be broken and pungent.
When cooking, we have to stir the flour steadily or else the rice flan would be clot. Adjusting the fire is also a tip that makes the plain rice flan more delicious. Looking at my mother stirring the flour and arranging the firewood surrounding the pan, I totally agree with the saying “cooking is an art”.
When the flan is nearly done, we have to gather the fire right at the middle of the pan. After about three hours, my mother uses a chopstick and takes a piece of the flour out. If the flour does not melt and fall down, we can touch to make sure the flour is dry.
Then, frying peanut and put it into a mould that we already poured rice flan into. The flan then would be very sweet and nutty. With my mother skillful hands, the plain rice flan looks so tasty with a lustrous surface.
This plain rice flan tastes best when we serve it with soybean jam and chili. The greasy and fragrance of the smooth white rice flan combine with the flavor of soybean jam makes the dish so delicious.
In the hard time, when my family was very poor, sometimes we only had plain rice flan with soybean jam for our meals; but we were all happy together. The flavor of this plain rice flan just like a fresh breath of air that brings to me so many sweet memories I could never forget.
