Last month, we asked for your favorite rice dish for our latest #CNNFood Challenge and you replied.
Whether it’s a dish you’re willing to travel for or a national favorite that’ll make travelers homesick, our readers from around the world have shared their best-loved rice dishes with us via social media.
Here are some of our favorite responses.
Nasi lemak, Malaysia’s national dish
Malaysian food blogger Yen, or Baby Sumo, says nasi lemak – her country’s national dish – is one of the dishes she loves most.
Nasi lemak is made of rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf served with sambal, fried anchovies and peanuts.
Sides like fried egg and meat are optional.
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Burmese red pork stew in Portland
Portland-based Instagrammer Pauline Chan Lewis makes us jealous by sharing a photo of her favorite rice dish – Burmese red pork stew – from her neighborhood restaurant Tasty N Sons.
“Luckily I don’t have to travel far for my favorite rice dish,” says Chan.
Hole-in-the-wall biriyani
Chennai travel blogger Madhu Shetty tweets her favorite rice spot in India.
“The biriyani from the hole-in-the-wall Idris in Lucknow, is the best we have tasted by far,” says Shetty.
Idris Ki Biryani is a tiny eatery famous for its biryani rice dish.
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Organic rice experience
Rice connoisseur Aiah Rivera tells CNN that she likes her rice organic and unpolished.
“I ate this meal at a cafe overlooking the mountains where the rice was harvested,” Rivera tweets.
Singapore’s Hainan chicken rice
We asked our readers to tell us about a dish they’d fly for and Twitter user Esther Kofod says she’d fly to Singapore for the nation’s most famous rice dish – Hainan chicken rice.
While the tender chicken and the spicy and savory condiment go towards making this dish so special, the chicken grease and stock-flavored rice are arguably the more essential ingredients.
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Heavenly Greek spanakorizo
Megsy and Tommo share this spanakorizo – a Greek vegetarian dish made from spinach and rice — on their Instagram account Food Fun Travel Rocks.
They also introduce us to one of the highest terms of culinary praise in the Greek language: “Boukia kai syghorio” – “one bite and all is forgiven.”
Say Megsy and Tommo, “It’s like a spinach risotto but Cretan style, with baby squid, clam & fennel. Everything is farm to table fresh at Salis in Chania – even the fresh goats cheese that’s blended through the dish is made by the mum of one of the owners! Love it!”
Comfort food: Sticky rice pudding
Born in Taiwan and currently living in Montreal, Instagram foodie Eva Wang says Taiwanese sticky rice pudding is one of her favorites, especially when craving comfort food on a cold day.
The southern style of the dish is a bowl of chewy glutinous rice, topped with minced pork, fish floss and pickled cucumber.
It’s always paired with si shen soup (four spirits soup) says Wang, which consists of pig’s small intestines and is flavored with four Chinese medicinal ingredients.
“It relieves the sense of cloyingness from eating too much of fatty meat.”
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Rice Krispie buns
If Twitter user Live Less Ordinary ends up founding a country with Rice Krispie buns as its national dish, we want to sign up as the first citizens.
Check out more of our previous #CNNFood Challenges here on our Culinary Journeys page.