Rice

No Filipino can survive without rice. It is the center point of the meal, defining the final taste of everything consumed with it. It is not a side dish. We do not like it parboiled, nor do we like it dressed like a potato with butter or salt. We like it properly steamed, not dry, not mushy. And we eat rice at breakfast, lunch, merienda, and dinner. Leftover cooked rice is fried with garlic in the morning, and freshly simmered and steamed rice accompanies other meals. Filipino cooks turn to rice when adapting borrowed recipes, as in the ground rice that replaces corn in Filipino tamales and empanadas.