Deep Fried Brown Rice Balls

Deep-fried rice balls

Ingredients:

• 3 cups pressure cooked brown rice
• 1 finely chopped yellow onion (medium size)
• enough whole wheat pastry flour to hold together (approximately 4 tbs usually does the trick)
• Light olive oil for frying

You will get best results with pressure cooked rice, but regularly cooked will do as well.

How to pressure cook brown rice:

Wash rice well. Place in pressure cooker with water at a ratio of 1 part rice to 1 1/4 part water. For example, 2 cups rice to 2.5 cups water.
Set on high heat until the pressure rises and steam is coming out. Now put the pressure regulator on, lower the heat to medium and wait until steam is starting to escape again. Lower the heat to the lowest setting and let it cook for 45 minutes. Take the pressure cooker off the heat and wait until the pressure has gone down, so that you can remove the pressure regulator without any steam releasing. This will take about 10 minutes. Remove the lid and the rice is ready to serve.)

Making the rice balls

Mix all ingredients together except for oil. Moisten your hands by dipping in cool water and form into small balls. If they don’t hold together, add more flour as needed.

Heat up the oil – I usually set it on medium and leave it there, you don’t want them to cook too fast. Check if the oil is hot enough by dropping a small piece into the oil, if it starts bubbling lightly and the piece rises to the surface you can start frying.

Fry a few rice balls at a time until they are golden brown. The oil should cover the balls.

Place them on a paper towel to absorb surplus oil. Serve immediately.

When making a large batch you can place the balls in the oven at 170℉.

These rice balls are perfect for bringing with you as picnic food on a hike or when traveling!

I also love them served with Kabocha pumpkin and a salad, as shown in the picture below.

Rice-balls with kabocha squash