Ginataang Mais

Here is a snack or 'in-between-meals' meal that I often had as a child growing up in Cavite. It's very similar to the previous Ginataang Totong I blogged more than a year ago. The abundance of coconuts in the Philippines means that a lot of its by-products find its way into the local cuisine and snacks are no exceptions. So you can find a lot of variation with sweet coconut soup with glutinous rice then flavoured with some other ingredients such as mais (corn), munggo (mung beans), chocolate, etc. These are often served hot but a lot of people love it chilled cold from the fridge.

If you can get fresh corn on the cob then by all means please use that. The flavour it imparts in the soup is the best. Shred or remove the kernels (yasyasin) by sliding off a knife diagonally across the side of the cob. It may be a bit messy but it just ensures that it will bring out the flavour from the cut kernels as which is much better than having the kernels intact. But if in a bind, you can use thawed frozen sweetcorn though not as packed with flavour as the fresh ones.


Ginataang Mais
(Coconut Soup with Glutinous Rice and Sweetcorn)

1 cup fresh shredded sweetcorn kernels (or thawed frozen ones)
1/2 cup glutinous rice
5 cups coconut milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup coconut cream (optional)

1. In a pot, bring to boil the coconut milk with the sugar and salt. Taste the soup to see if it is sweet enough for you. If not, add more sugar.
2. Add the glutinous rice, bring back to boil then lower down the heat and simmer until the rice is almost cooked.
3. Stir in the corn and simmer again until rice is cooked.
4. Serve hot or cold with some coconut cream on top.