Saturday Night SE Asian

Yesterday we picked up some snapper at the PA farmers market and used that to direct a Southeast Asian menu. Two of the dishes -- "minced fish salad" and "buffalo and lemongrass patties" -- are from an NYT article Amanda Hesser did on Laos; the other, for "sticky rice cakes with scallions" is from FStoS.

Neither Andrea nor I was overly impressed with the fish salad. It was good, but it wasn't as good as some of the other ceviche-type preps that we do, certainly not as good as the kokoda was. Part of the problem is that the other ingredients are a bit too assertive for the snapper; the fish ended up serving as merely texture. Also, the marinade is just lime juice and fish sauce, so it's not a particularly pleasing sauce; the final dish is a bit dry.

The buffalo patties were good, but they could have used a sauce. And, since I did them in a dry nonstick pan (the recipe does suggest a dry pan), they didn't end up particularly crunchy on the outside. This would be easily solved with a bit of oil.

The rice cakes were the star of the show. I made them with sweet rice instead of sticky rice (that's what we have), which means that the raw material (batter? dough?) wasn't going to be easily forming patties. This wasn't a problem though -- I just spooned a portion out into the pan and quickly flattened it. I modified the sauce by adding a bit of honey to it, I like the way sweet balances the lime in these sauces.

Here's about what I did:

1 1/2 c sweet rice
2 scallions, finely chopped
1/4 c. 'tro, finely chopped
1 Tbs butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
salt and pepper

Cook the rice following Bittman's method 2, when it's done (and still warm), add it to a bowl with the butter, scallions, 'tro, salt and pepper to taste. Mix well, then mix in the egg.
Spoon portions out into a hot pan with canola oil and quickly flatten them into patties.
saute for about five minutes on each side, until nicely browned and crisp.

While the patties are cooking, make the sauce by melting another Tbs of butter in a pan with a Tbs of good soy sauce, the juice of one lime, 1/2 tsp (or thereabouts) honey, and a good couple grinds of pepper. Whisk together and taste for balance.

Serve the rice cakes hot, topped with the sauce.

I like these suckers so much, I'm going to make some for breakfast -- assuming Andrea doesn't veto the idea. :-)