Taiwanese Rice Balls

This is my mum's recipe for Taiwanese Rice Balls! These are soooo much easier than it looks and look AMAZE-BALLS!!!

These are great to eat with baby cos lettuce leaves as a healthy main meal, can also be served as an impressive entree, a cocktail style party food, and can also make for a very impressive lunchbox meal! 

Taiwanese Rice Balls

Water chestnuts can be bought from Coles/Woolies - usually in a 230 gram tin. I have put 100 grams in the list of ingredients which is approximately half of the tin (and freeze the other half for the next time you make these).

Fish paste can be bought from your local Chinese grocery shop - scroll down to the bottom of this page for a photo of the fish paste used. You can also make your own with certain types of fish - here is a good Thermomix recipe to make your own fish paste (Steps 1 to 3 and use 330 grams for this recipe).

These rice balls taste like very moist Chinese meat balls usually served with noodle soup, with a little bit of crunch from the water chestnuts, and added texture from the rice coating. They are delicious served warm but also taste fantastic at room temp or cold from the fridge. They are great served with a dipping sauce i.e sweet chilli sauce.

TAIWANESE RICE BALLS

Ingredients:

100 grams long grain rice (i.e basmati, jasmine)
100 grams water chestnuts
1 teaspoon minced garlic
500 grams pork mince
330 grams fish paste (1 packet)
50 grams soy sauce

Method:

1. Soak rice in water for a minimum 1 hour. Strain rice and lightly pat dry with a paper towel. 
2. Add water chestnuts and garlic in bowl - blitz 3 seconds/Speed 5.
3. Add pork mince, fish paste and soy sauce - mix 50 seconds/Speed 9.
4. Roll mince mixture into teaspoon sized balls, and roll these balls in the rice. Place rice balls in the two levels of the Varoma steaming tray. 
5. Wash bowl and fill with 1200 grams water. Place Varoma steaming tray into position - steam 20 minutes/Varoma/Speed 4.

Soak rice in water for a minimum 1 hour

Strain rice and lightly pat dry with a paper towel

 Add water chestnuts and garlic in bowl

Blitz 3 seconds/Speed 5

 Add pork mince, fish paste and soy sauce

Mix 50 seconds/Speed 9

Roll mince mixture into teaspoon sized balls...

...and roll these balls in the rice. 

Place rice balls in the two levels of the Varoma steaming tray. 

Wash bowl and fill with 1200 grams water

Place Varoma steaming tray into position and

Steam - 20 minutes/Varoma/Speed 4

  

Serving suggestion with cos lettuce

Fish Paste

Steamed Sponge Cake (Chinese Ma Lai Goa)

With my Chinese Malaysian heritage, I grew up with this steamed sponge cake! It's my dad's all time favourite, and a lot of Yum Cha places serve this as a dessert too! With 10 seconds to mix, and 25 minutes to steam - this is just soooo easy to make at home!

Steamed Sponge Cake (Chinese Ma Lai Goa)

I've always wanted to steam a cake with the Thermomix so thought I would try off with this! It has a light sweet caramel flavour and is nice and moist from being steamed. It is light and 'bouncy' and it isn't as crumbly as baked sponge cakes.

A lot of the recipes I've seen are with have ingredients which are not very common in Australia, and have evaporated milk (with an amount that would use up only a portion of a tin - and I haaaate having half a tin of stuff leftover!). Another uncommon ingredient is double action baking powder, which I haven't been able to find in shops in Sydney, and I have only been able to find online so I have just used normal baking powder (McKenzie's brand).

I have adapted and converted a Steamed Sponge Cake recipe from The Honk Kong Cookery with ingredients that I have at home, and so it is easily made in the Thermomix!

The cooking time is based on 8 x silicon Dariole moulds from Alyce Alexandra. You could also use ramekins or silicon cupcake moulds instead.

STEAMED SPONGE CAKE (CHINESE MA LAI GOA)

Ingredients:

160 grams plain flour
100 grams brown sugar
90 grams milk
20 grams custard powder
40 grams oil (light tasting, I use Rice Bran oil)
2 eggs
20 grams baking powder
Handful of sultanas to top

Method:

1. Add all ingredients into bowl - mix 10 seconds/Speed 5.
2. Pour mixture into 8 x silicon moulds, top with sultanas, and place into Varoma steaming tray.
3. Wash out bowl, and add 1 Litre of water.
4. Place the Varoma steaming tray in position - steam 25 minutes/Varoma/Speed 3.
5. Take the lid off to cool for a few minutes, then take the cakes out of the mould to cool further (...or to eat!).

This is great eaten fresh, kept in the fridge and eaten cold (or warmed up in the microwave), and also can be frozen and defrosted nicely.

Add all ingredients into bowl

 Mix 10 seconds/Speed 5

Pour mixture into 8 x silicon moulds, top with sultanas, and place into Varoma steaming tray.

Wash out bowl, and add 1 Litre of water.

Place the Varoma steaming tray in position - steam 25 minutes/Varoma/Speed 3.

Take the lid off to cool for a few minutes, then take the cakes out of the mould to cool further...

..or to eat!

The Body Building All-In-One Meal (aka. The 'Zac Efron' Diet)

So...my husband has decided that his body goal now is to look like Zac Efron in his latest Baywatch photos!!! :) :) ...yep...don't see me complaining there!! :) :) My husband is generally very fit, but after the boys were born didn't get much time to work out. Now that they are a little older, he's hitting the gym again and he asked me to prepare a high protein diet with lots and lots of vegetables to get his body building body back!

Zac Efron ... yes please! 

(picture taken from Google images)

On Twitter, Zac Efron wrote that his diet consisted of:

“9 days of absolutely zero carbs & sugar. Only organic grass fed/free range protein and organic leafy greens.”

I wanted to make up easy to heat up containers to keep in the freezer so my husband can just take it out and quickly heat up (as he tells me that body builders are supposed to eat many meals a day to keep their metabolism up!). So, the leafy greens are out as that would need to be prepared freshly each meal (and I'm not always around to be his personal chef!), plus I wanted to use up all the vegetables I had in the fridge (cauliflower, brussel sprouts, corn and carrots). Also, I would have liked to use all chicken breast (I'll use them in my next lot!), but I wanted to use up the chicken I had in the freezer, so used some drumsticks and chicken thigh fillets. I added flavour to the chicken and vegetables by steaming them along with soy sauce and garlic.

The Body Building All-In-One Meal (aka. The 'Zac Efron' Diet)

THE BODY BUILDING ALL-IN-ONE MEAL 
(AKA. The 'Zac Efron' Diet)

8 servings

Ingredients:

1200 grams Water
50 grams Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
300 grams Chicken Breast (or any other pieces of chicken you have...the breast is the leanest part though)
Mixed Vegetables (i.e. Corn, Carrot, Brussel Sprouts, Beans, Brocolli - cut into smaller bite sized pieces)

Method:

1. Add the water, soy sauce and garlic in the bowl.
2. Place the chicken pieces in the 2 levels of the Varoma steaming tray.
3. Cook 15 minutes/Varoma/Speed 4.
4. Add the mixed vegetables in the steaming basket, and among the chicken in the Varoma steaming trays.
5. Cook a further 20 minutes/Varoma/Speed 4.
6. Distribute evenly between 8 plastic containers, and let it cool down.
7. Cover the containers with lids and place in the fridge/freezer.

Add water, soy sauce and garlic

Place chicken pieces in the 2 levels in the Varoma steaming trays

Cook 15 minutes/Varoma/Speed 4

Place mixed vegetables in the steaming basket and among the chicken pieces

Cook 20 minutes/Varoma/Speed 4

Distribute between 8 plastic containers

Cover the containers with lids and place in fridge/freezer

Creme Caramel

My whole family LOVES creme caramel! My husband and I have always bought the ready made ones from the shops for a quick and easy dessert. When I got my Thermomix I couldn't wait to make it from scratch!!

Crème Caramel

Most of the recipes I found mixed the creme caramel in the Thermomix then baked it in the oven, however I really wanted to use the Varoma steaming function in the Thermomix, so after a bit of a search, I found this recipe:

http://journalofafrenchfoodie.com/2012/07/15/creme-renversee-au-caramel/ 

The recipe says it fills 6-7 ramekins, however it perfectly fits my 8 x silicon dariole moulds I bought off the Alyce Alexandra website:

http://www.thetmshop.com.au/…/produ…/silicone-dariole-moulds

They are SOOO creamy and melt in your mouth, you won't be able to stop at just one!!

This is a great dessert to make earlier as it lasts a few days in a fridge, so you can pre-prepare for a dinner party or have some ready in the fridge for an easy weekday dessert (or snack!).

For serving as pictured, I used chocolate ganache (recipe from the Basic Cookbook TM5 chip) and spread it on with my 99c silicon pastry brush from Ikea. I find the shorter silicon 'bristles' on this brush allows it to have more control and provide a more distinct 'paint brush' pattern on the white plate.

Crème Caramel

Silicon Dariole Moulds from Alyce Alexandra

Silicon Pastry Brush from Ikea