Cooking experiment

So when I lived at home I discovered these...things. I don't know what they are or what they are even made of. They are some sort of Mexican food and the only place I've ever seen them is at Shop 'N Kart in Chehalis where they sell all sorts of Mexican and Hispanic foods. They are hard and orange when you buy them, rather like an uncooked noodle, incredibly cheap and the only way I've known how to cook them is to pop them in a bowl in the microwave for a few seconds, and they puff up into a crunchy, light snack. They are rather like those onion ring chips that you can buy, really light and crunchy but without the onion flavor.

So a couple of months ago I was at home visiting my family and we ended up at Shop 'N Kart so of course I had to get some. After buying a whole bag, I remembered that I don't have a microwave (Aaron thinks they are evil). So they've been sitting in the cupboard for a while. So today I thought I'd have a go at cooking them. I'm sure there is another way to serve them besides microwaved, so I've just boiled some water and put in a handful to see what happens. Probably should go check on them...

Well they have been in about two minutes and appear to be softening some, so maybe they are a sort of noodle. They smell like cooking rice, and I've always sort of suspected they were made out of rice since they taste somewhat like rice cakes with a different texture. But with the orange color they must have carrot or something in them too. The weird thing is that when they are microwaved they lose their color completely and come out a light beige color, almost white. But with boiling they appear to be keeping their orange.

They are definitely cooking much like rice, with the same smell and a bit of foam on top of the water (which is turning a lovely shade of orange!). I'm going to let them boil a couple more minutes and then try eating one. I wish I knew what they were called so I could Google them! Perhaps "orange cartwheel rice noodles" would do the trick. Let's see...

Nope. Just lots of recipes for things with oranges and rice. Not sure where the cartwheel comes into that though...

Well, they seemed to have softened up some so I'm going to try one...

Um. Weird! First off, it's not really soft at all yet. Still very chewy in the middle. It's got this weird ricey, almost smoky flavor but with a hint of a nasty aftertaste that I'm not a big fan of. Perhaps with some sauce they could be improved. They are so good just out of the microwave! I'm going to boil the rest a little longer until they are actually cooked and try them again. Maybe they're just a little old, since they have been on my shelf for quite a while...

AH HA!!!! After some serious Google work I found them! They are called chicharrones de harina and they are just flour and fat...apparently you are supposed to fry them, not boil them! Ok, next blog: Frying Chicharrones de Harina!