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prawn and herb salad on steamed rice cakes



jonny angel's sunday dinner of banh beo tom chay looked so delicious, i was tempted to make it, but if there's one thing food blogs have taught me, it's that i am not a hardcore foodie. i like food--probably even love it--but if i have to spend more time to prepare a meal than eat it, most likely i won't do it.

this is my faux banh beo: prawns, shallots, green onions, cress, mint, cilantro, chili pepper roughly chopped and mixed with a little salt, a little sugar and nam pla or fish sauce, then dumped on top of steamed rice cakes (dried, store bought variety). pretty, and pretty delish; all the flavours i was looking for, but done within 10 minutes from start to finish.

6 comments:

Possibly dumb question but are we talking the dried glutinous rice cakes (mochi) or those things people on diets eat with peanut butter? Looking at the pic, I'm leaning towrds the former but I've never steamed the latter.

Speedcore foodie!

omg, MOCHI!!! that's the freakin' word i was looking for. yeah, that. thanks :-)

although, come to think of it, those crispy things might be an interesting texture. you know, like sizzling rice in some chinese dishes? i think i'd like to grill the mochi next time.

Wrap it in a strip of nori, grill then a dash of soy sauce and yum. Mind not to choke though. Those things kill dozens of people every new year.

Hi santos,

Was wondering about the same thing... it looked like mochi, but wasn't sure. Although, I am really curious about the rice cake that "people on diets eat with peanut butter"??

hi chika! anthony is talking about those american crispy puffed rice cakes that are compressed into a round disc and sold like packing material in the markets...come to think of it, taste like packing material as well :-) they were originally marketed as a "diet" food but now most of them are completely covered in caramel, chocolate, nuts, and every fattening and sweet topping possible, so really they're just lousy vehicles for fat gain these days. (shuddering just thinking about it) plain ones have potential though, and for more than just keeping a cd protected in a mailing packet.