Dinner Bowl #94

 

This was a fun using-things-I-had meal: Steamed Calrose rice, sweet and sour meatballs, a savory mochi pancake (recipe from Margo Drobi), and an improvisational spicy dipping sauce.

Though I used Impossible meatballs and changed the technique in a few ways to accommodate that, the sweet and sour meatballs draw heavily on a recipe from The Foodie Takes Flight. I made it because I had adopted some canned pineapple when my friends moved away. Basically, I made the sauce without the corn starch and simmered the meatballs in that, then stir-fried the veggies, subbing broccoli for green bell pepper because it's what I had and because I love broccoli. When I added the sauce and meatballs to the pan, I then added a corn starch slurry to thicken everything up. It worked out great! This is a very, very sugary recipe I wouldn't make all the time, but for this meal it was delicious. I tried to cut the sugar in half and that was way too vinegary, so I did end up adding a bit more than I planned. It probably doesn't matter in the general scheme of things, but I had also had a (decadent but worth it) root beer float earlier in the day.

The mochi pancakes were good, but I couldn't accommodate anywhere near the amount of filling that the original recipe called for. I now have stir-fried sriracha mushrooms, tofu, cabbage, and carrot waiting to be made into something else. But more importantly, this finished off my mochi flour! It was so great getting to know that ingredient, and I'll have tons more confidence if I buy it again, but it can definitely wait a while.

The dipping sauce was soy sauce, sriracha, mirin, and rice vinegar, and it was absolutely parfect for the mochi pancake.

There isn't really any green showing in this meal, despite the broccoli. If I had it in me, I could have added some scallions on top, but life is short, and I almost started eating this before I even photographed it. I guess it was one of those days!