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We are a family of 4, 2 of us are little girls, which means (like may others alike I assume), we consume a lot of rice. Why? Because it’s simple to make, it is cheap, relatively healthy (version dependent), and is one of the very few dishes all 4 of us enjoy eating together.
The problem with rice for me, is knowing how much of it to make, and not due to us parents, as we usually eat pretty much the same amount. It is how much the girls will eat that puzzles us time and time again: some days the older one will take a few bites then declare she is full, while other days she’s just like the hungry caterpillar.. The little one is at an age now that she doesn’t want us to feed her anymore, yet her control of cutlery is still progressing, which means that most times it’ll be 10% in and 90% out, and this ratio vary as well.
And then sometimes, we have a friend of the older one stay for dinner, and who knows what her rice consumption habits are.. So, in order not to starve anyone, what we usually end up doing is we make more rice than we’ll actually need, but then we have leftovers. And I certainly don’t want to contribute to food waste, I feel it is one of those little things I can do as an individual that can have a global effect. That’s why I often find myself looking for creative ways to “get rid of” the rice leftovers.
This recipe for beet rice balls is one of my favorite ways to achieve this waste prevention goal, since with as little effort as throwing 2 ingredients to the food processor and baking them, you get a really aesthetic and tasty dish (baked beet is something we usually already have in the fridge, as we both love beets in any way and especially baked beets, so whenever I turn on the oven I try to stick in some beets “on the way” and that’s how I have them ready at hand as a base for other dishes when needed).
- 1 cup cooked rice
- ½ cup baked beet (cubed)
- Salt, to taste (usually these are already salted)
- Sesame, for coating
- Optional: soy sauce, for dipping
- Place the rice and the beet cubes in a food processor and puree until well combined (picture above). You may need to stop and scrape down the sides of the food processor using a spatula a few times. Check if you can easily create a small ball from the dough using your hands, and if so stop.
- Create small balls using your hands, coat them with sesame seeds, and place in an oven pre-heated to 180 C for about 20 minutes.
- A few comments/recommendations: These can work with any kind of rice (regular white or whole rice), and any type, but I did find that Jasmin rice works really well here. In addition to that, while I'm not a big fan of coconut taste, I did find that if you cook the rice with one table spoon of coconut oil it turns out great (with a very mild sweet aroma), and it will also help create the nice ball shape for this recipe.
P.S.
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Moran