Brown Rice Cakes

I’m a child of the 1970’s.  I was a teen and young adult during that decade, and did my first real cooking then. 

How many of you remember the 1970’s? 

For those of you who are too young to remember them, much of what is now attributed to the 1960’s actually took place in the 1970’s. 

The 70’s saw the end of the Viet Nam war. 

Hippie-dom was alive and well. 

It was the decade in which we took brown rice, granola, and yogurt into our diets. 

It was the time of “back to the land,” and the decade in which the term “whole foods” first entered our vocabulary.

We were on the right track about food:  We understood that the processed foods that had been touted as miraculous in the decades following the second world war were, in fact, bad for us, and we began looking for a return to healthier, more natural foods. 

Although we avoided processed foods on principle, the role of fats in our diet was barely a blip on our nutritional radar.  We had little understanding of the damage hydrogenated fats could do, or about the importance of limiting the amount of fat in our recipes. 

Technologically speaking, the kitchen of the 1970’s was a very different place from our kitchens today:  Microwaves were very new, very expensive, and not commonly seen in home kitchens.  They were never seen in office lunchrooms.  Even refrigerators were considered a lunch room luxury.

There were fast food outlets in the 1970’s, but they were not as common as they are now.  A person could walk for blocks- even miles! - without seeing a MacDonald’s, Burger King, or KFC, and Starbucks was not yet even a concept.  Snack food and take out dishes were not as readily available as they are today so, unless you had the time and money to enjoy a sit down meal in a restaurant, a work-a-day lunch took some actual planning. 

Where am I going with all this? 

Well, I’m about to share a recipe from back in the day. 

I used to take homemade brown rice cakes in my lunch back then, along with some cheese, and an apple.  It was a simple, inexpensive, balanced meal that didn’t require refrigeration.  I could count on it to fill me up. 

Because they’re fried, I don’t eat brown rice cakes as often as I used to, but I do still make them.  They’re inexpensive, and rich in B vitamins, iron, and protein.  My husband loves them.  Besides, they’re a great way to use up leftover rice!

To make brown rice cakes, you’ll need:

• 1-1/2 cups cold, cooked brown rice
• 3 Tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 3 Tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
• A mix of sunflower (or peanut) oil and toasted sesame oil for frying

Combine everything except the oils in a mixing bowl.  Work the ingredients together with one hand. (The mixture will stick to your hand like cement.  You don’t want to get both hands all sticky.)  When the mixture will hold together in a ball when compressed in the palm of your hand, it’s ready to be formed into cakes.

Wash your mixing hand off and then wet both of your hands in cool water.  Use your wet hands to form the rice into cakes.  I usually get five or six rice cakes from a batch of this mixture.

When the rice cakes are formed, set them aside and pour 1/4 inch of oil (I usually use a proportion of one part toasted sesame oil to two parts sunflower oil) into the bottom of a frying pan.  Heat it to about 350ºF. 

You can check the temperature of the oil by holding the tip of the handle of a wooden spoon in the oil, touching the bottom of the pan.  If little bubbles immediately rise up around the spoon handle, you’ll know it’s hot enough.

Carefully place your rice cakes into the hot oil, without crowding the pan (I cook them in two or more batches), and leave them until they’re well browned on the bottom.  Once they’re well browned on the bottom, turn them and cook the other side. 

Be sure to let the patties brown well and form a crust before turning them. If you turn them too early, the patties will crumble around the edges.  (You can see from the raggedy edge on one of the patties in my picture that I turned it too early.)

When the patties are cooked, remove them to a sheet of brown paper (butcher paper or a cut-up brown paper grocery bag) and allow them to drain, and to cool completely.  This step is important because the paper will absorb any excess oil from the cooked rice cakes.  Once they’ve cooled to room temperature, the rice cakes are ready to eat.

When making them ahead, I store my brown rice cakes in the fridge.  They taste best at room temperature, so you’ll want remove them from the fridge at least 1/2 hour prior to serving them.
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This post is linked to Hearth and Soul Blog Hop hosted by Premeditated Leftovers, The 21st Century Housewife, Penniless Parenting, Elsa Cooks, Savoring Today, and Zesty South Indian Kitchen.