Northeastern Chinese Rice Balls
Northeast rice balls bring back the taste of childhood. Toss in some vegetables straight out of the pot, mix, and roll into balls — the whole family fights over them. They're tasty yet won't add extra weight. This is a low-fat, low-sugar meal: the vegetables come from my sister's home garden, and the rice is cooked in a Qiaofu sugar-removal rice cooker, where multiple rinses during the steaming process reduce the rice's sugar content by 50%. It's especially suitable for those looking to slim down and people with high blood sugar. Be sure to make a large batch — a small one disappears in no time.
Ingredients
Northeast rice
2 cups
cooked corn kernels
1 cup
lettuce
as needed
cilantro
as needed
stinky greens
as needed
green onion
1 stalk
homemade chili sauce
as needed
salt
a pinch
grilled sausage
1
Instructions
1
Step 1
Prepare the ingredients. I use Northeast rice and cooked tender corn.
2
Step 2
Place the rice in the inner pot of the rice cooker and rinse it thoroughly under running water. Set aside.
3
Step 3
Chop the cooked corn kernels. This is glutinous corn, which has stickiness and is perfect for making rice balls. It makes the rice more fragrant and gives a stickier, chewier texture, and tastes better than eating whole kernels.
4
Step 4
Since the corn is already cooked, for two cups of rice in the triangular pot, add slightly less water than the mark 2 level, as Northeast rice does not absorb much water. After adding water, place the pot inside the cooker.
5
Step 5
Close the lid. When you hear a 'click' sound, the lid is properly sealed. Press the 'Low-Sugar Rice' button, and the rice cooker will start cooking. During the cooking process, you can hear the water flushing multiple times.
6
Step 6
Now you can prepare the side ingredients. I chose lettuce, bok choy, cilantro, stinky greens, and green onion for a rich combination of flavors. Wash all these vegetables.
7
Step 7
The grilled sausage is spicy flavored; dice it. Chop all the greens and green onion, and set aside.
8
Step 8
Time's up, the rice is done. The color looks great.
9
Step 9
Because of the glutinous corn, the rice looks a bit sticky. This is necessary to be able to form the rice balls; rice that is too loose cannot be shaped into balls. If you don't have glutinous corn, you can add some glutinous rice (called Jiangmi in northern China), which also works.
10
Step 10
Take the rice out and put it in a bowl. Let it cool slightly until it's not too hot to handle. Add the grilled sausage, all the chopped vegetables, salt, and homemade chili sauce, then mix well. It smells delicious. My homemade chili sauce is not very spicy and is acceptable even for children.
11
Step 11
Wear disposable gloves and shape the mixed rice into evenly sized rice balls. Done!
