Filler
I was planning to make ants on a tree last night, but there seems to be some kind of cellophane noodle shortage afoot. I checked Safeway and both QFCs and came up empty-handed. But the pork was already thawed.
Last time I had extra ground pork, I made little meatballs. But my taste buds were already vibrating in an Asian direction. Okay, that sounds wrong, you know what I mean.
So I made meat patties in the style of northeastern Thai sausage (sai krok). I mixed a pound of ground pork with garlic, shallots, scallions, ginger, cilantro, fish sauce, minced chiles, and a pinch of sugar. While I was chopping, I made some rice. Authentically, it would have been Thai sticky rice, but all I had was medium-grain calrose rice, so I made that. I cooled some rice by sticking it on a plate in the freezer for a few minutes, then mixed it in with the pork. I formed the meat mixture into two-inch patties and fried them in a pan, then served them with cucumber salad and a squeeze of lime.
I thought they were great—I love the springy texture you get from rice as a sausage filler. Iris wasn’t terribly impressed that I had wasted the rice by putting it in the sausage. “Why’d you only make a little rice?” she asked. “I love rice.” I have a feeling that when we take Iris to Asia, she will eat rice three meals a day and little else. She won’t want to go home until beriberi sets in.
Comment by Kathleen
I did something with medium grain calrose rice today, too. I mixed it with glue and green food coloring and helped kids shape it into advent wreaths. It hardens up nicely; we may have these for years to come.
What is “calrose” anyway? I’ve always assumed it had something to do with California (where they do, in fact, grow rice), but I don’t really know.
Posted on December 3, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Comment by heather
hmm…i learned that, a month or so ago, when i desperately needed some corn meal for oven-fried chicken (my husband loves fried chicken + my family’s history of heart disease = oven fried! wooo!), and NO stores (i visited three) had it on their shelves…just big empty sections, labeled “CORN MEAL, store brand, price, etc.” … “CORN MEAL, name brand, price, etc.”… that all the cornmeal comes from the same damn place, and that that place had found eggs in their meal…
luckfully, i work in a schmancy gourmet store, and was able to buy “polenta” at 20% off.
i’m sure the cellophane noodle crisis is entirely different in nature.
Posted on December 3, 2006 at 5:50 pm
Comment by mamster
Yeah, I don’t know what’s going on with the noodles. I like Sun Luck brand best, because they’re very springy, which is something I like in a clear noodle. They have other brands at Uwajimaya, but I haven’t seen Sun Luck anywhere for several weeks.
I saw a Cook’s Illustrated recipe for oven-fried shrimp that sounded really good, by the way. I think it was in their new 2007 best-of book.
Kathleen, I think Calrose does refer to California and is probably a state agricultural marketing thing.
Posted on December 3, 2006 at 8:59 pm
Comment by Fahmi
“I love rice”
I approve. I can’t go a few days without rice - I get little withdrawals. Thanksgiving was very painful this year.
Posted on December 4, 2006 at 9:54 am