Being in the design (interior design and graphics) field requires one to keep abreast with developments in the industry by continuously reading trade-related books and magazines on a regular basis. This habit has changed drastically since I started my food blog two years ago. Nowadays, whenever I step into a bookstore, I’d by-pass art and design sections and head-off straight to the cooking section and pore over volumes of books and magazines available, about food, no less! And now, I have more food-related reading materials in my shelves than design magazines that I should have more of.

One of the several food magazine brands that have been piling up on my coffee table is the local YUMMY magazine by Summit Media which I have been religiously buying since its premiere issue came out in the market last March 2007.

What I like about this magazine is its crisp look and how meticulously organized it is with mouthwatering recipes and photos indexed by categories. Some tricky procedures even come with step-by-step photographic instructions which I feel is very handy for people who do not really cook. Apart from recipes, it features articles about food ingredients, kitchen tips, and even reviews of restaurants around the metropolis. Priced affordably at Php95, this food and cooking magazine tailored to the Filipino palate inspires readers to be creative with their food and meal preparation.

Its September issue’s cover caught my attention a few nights ago while planning meals for our weekly meetings. Without hesitation, I decided to have a go at Claude Tayag’s recipe of bringhe yesterday, which the magazine reprinted from his famous book, Food Tour, which I also have a copy of.

Bringhe, or bringhi in Kapampangan, is Luzon’s version of the Spanish Paella Valenciana, substituting turmeric powder for saffron color. The late Doreen Fernandez wonderfullly described the rice this way: “Eating paella, therefore, is ingesting the Spanish landscape. Eating bringhe, however, is ingesting the Philippine landscape – the chicken running around on the farm, the coconut from a nearby tree, and the malagkit for fiesta cakes. This is a clear example of indigenization through a change of substance, spirit, and nature.”

[From YUMMY magazine, September 2007 issue.]

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon minced garlic
½ cup chopped onions
1 kilogram chicken parts (wings or breast), cut into serving pieces
1 to 2 pieces chorizo bilbao, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
3 cups glutinous rice
4 cups chicken stock
4 cups coconut cream
1 medium red bell pepper, julienned
2 heaping tablespoons raisins
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Sauté garlic and onions. Add chicken parts and chorizo slices. Season with salt, pepper, and turmeric powder.

Add rice and continue sautéing. Pour in stock and coconut cream. Allow to simmer over low heat until rice is cooked. Stir occasionally.

Add the red bell pepper strips and raisins. When rice is cooked, allow a golden brown crust to form at the bottom. Remove from heat and flip onto a large serving platter when ready.

As in all my other experiments with recipes lifted from various sources, I also tweaked Claude’s recipe by pre-cooking the rice (in coconut milk and chicken stock) earlier during the day and kept the cooked rice in the refrigerator. Following the quantity of rice given in the recipe, I tweaked it, too, by using half-portion of malagkit (glutinous rice) and half-portion of jasmine rice to get a not-so-malagkit consistency. This is also due to the fact that we were having it for dinner and we didn’t want it to be too heavy in the tummy.

Half an hour before dinner, I sautéed all the other ingredients separately and then carefully folded in the cooled, cooked rice into the chicken and chorizo sauté, carefully mixing and blending all colours, textures and flavours. This procedure is a bit taxing and tiresome for the arms because of the stickiness of the rice, so I had to use both with two ladles! For the gata (coconut milk), I also used less than what was required resulting with just a hint of the creaminess of the coconut milk.