Cheesy Rice Cakes

It feels good to be back after a mini break from blogging. Life has been wonderful with our family having grown two more feet..yes, we have a ‘mini me’ but a boy version who is cooing and wailing, giggling and gurgling his way into our hearts. 

Now that we are settled and getting into the hang of things, my hands have been itching to cook and bake.Thanks to everyone for checking in on here, for your emails and messages…exactly the reason which has me coming back no matter what!

Now that my update is done, lets get down to the cooking part.. having mom here has made life so much easier, she pretty much takes care of everything around the house which includes the kitchen. Most importantly, I have had a chance to spend some quality time with her discussing our culinary experiments, showing her new ingredients available here, and the best part of all exchanging recipes and tips. One such recipe is for a quick snack or an appetizer which makes use of left-over cooked rice - Cheesy Rice Cakes

Being a South Indian, rice is a staple at atleast one meal in a day and left-over rice might as well be salt in the pantry. The more uses for it the better. 

Ingredients: 

1 cup Cooked rice

1 medium potato, boiled peeled and grated

¼ cup bread crumbs plus more for rolling

1 tbsp chopped scallions

1 tbsp Chopped cilantro

½ tbsp Green chili paste (Thai chilies ground to a paste)

½ tsp chili flakes (optional) 

½ cup grated Mozzarella 

Salt & Pepper to taste 

2 tbsp Corn starch (flour) 

Oil for shallow frying 

Mash the cooked rice with a fork in a medium bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and combine to form small patties. Make a thin paste of corn starch and water. Dip the patties in for a briefly and then dip in bread crumbs to coat evenly. Set aside for 15 minutes. Heat ½ inch of oil in a non-stick pan and fry the patties on both sides until golden brown. Have the heat on medium so that they cook through.

Serve hot with ketchup. These are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

The next time you have left-over rice remember to make these!