Rice Patties

Weekends are the time I normally clean out my fridge of all the leftovers I wasn't able to consume for lunch over the week.  I had a ton of white rice leftover from the Mardi Gras Meal.  Apparently I didn't do a very good job of approximating my rice to gumbo ratio.  I'll just say I was a tiny bit off to make myself feel better.  So I decided to make rice patties.

Now, we have had so much rain in Ohio over the past few weeks, it would be easy to mistake what I'm saying as the fields of rice grown in a lot of Asian countries, and honestly, right now, we probably could easily grow rice instead of the standard corn.  Let's not get rice paTTies confused with rice paDDies!

My mom used to make these when I was growing up and, like a lot of things she made, I wasn't a huge fan.  Wouldn't you know that now some of the things I crave the most are the very same things I sadly turned my nose up to when I was younger and had a less sophisticated palette.  Rice is, after all, pretty gourmet!!  Unfortunately though, my mom doesn't live very close to us...actually about 10 states away.  Can't exactly just swing on by for dinner!!  It always amazes me that food, like most things in life, is one of the things we miss the most when it's gone.  Growing up I definitely did not appreciate all the things my mom did for us...making meals is just one of the few things.  I am thankful, however, that watching her in the kitchen and allowing me to help in small ways (like browning the ground beef for her while she was driving on her way home from work or getting the awesome job of smashing the whole tomatoes with her wooden spoon in a huge pot of tomato sauce and watching the seeds burst out...I won't mention this was the same wooden spoon she would threaten to beat us with.  Don't worry CPS, this is pretty standard in the Italian culture!!!  Plus we all know it hurt her way more than it hurt us, right?!?) definitely set the foundation for my love of cooking.  Knowing my mom, I'm sure she doesn't give herself enough credit.

So today I gave her a ring to find out what, besides leftover rice, she put in her rice patties.  Her answer..."the same thing you put in a meatball"!  Easy enough.  I guess you could call them rice balls, but since you flatten them before you fry them I guess "Rice Patties" sounds much more appetizing then "Flattened Fried Rice Balls".  I have to note that I am not a huge fan of frying things, but for my Mom's rice patties I will make an exception!

I'm glad that these are fast to make because Aiden's asthma has been acting up the past few days and today he became pretty feverish.  Poor baby.  I know he wasn't feeling good because he fell asleep during his nebulizer.  Don't worry...it looks scarier than it is.  He sits very well through them for the most part.  In the 30 mins. it took me to mix everything together and fry the patties, this is what I found (this is UNHEARD of for him so yet another clue he wasn't feeling up to par)!



Poor baby!!

Rice Patties:
Leftover white rice (I probably had almost 2 cups left)
1 egg
1/2 c. Italian style breadcrumbs
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
Fresh parsley, chopped (you could easily use dried if you don't have fresh.  Put as much or as little as you want.  I probably threw in close to 1/4 c.)
Garlic powder and pepper to taste
A little water to thin the mixture out
Vegetable Oil, for frying
**I would imagine you could probably add just about anything you want in these.  Ground beef, ground sausage, peas, red pepper, mushrooms....you get the idea.  These would make a really nice base for a side dish that I think could probably accompany just about anything.  You end up with something wonderfully crunchy on the outside and soft, gooey and cheesy on the inside.  I ate 3 of them warm with a bowl of my leftover vegetable beef and barley soup for lunch and then before dinner I will admit that I ate one cold.  They were equally good cold vs. warm!!



Gather all the ingredients.  If you cook your rice fresh that day, let it cool to room temperature before handling.  If taken from the fridge you can either let it come to room temperature on it's own, or if you don't want to wait like me, you can warm it slightly in the microwave.  Patience is a virtue...I am not virtuous!

If using fresh parsley, chop herbs well.  If using dried, obviously you can skip this step! =)

Mix all ingredients into warm rice until well combined.  Mixture will be sticky to handle and easy to form into balls.  If rice mixture is too thick, this is when you would drizzle in the water a little at a time until you reach a texture where the rice stays in ball form and doesn't crumble apart.

You're going to have to get dirty during this part.  Grab a scoop of rice mixture in your hands (I used the size of my palm as a measurement) and roll it into a ball with the palms of your hand.  Just like you used to do as a kid with Play-Doh!!  Fun!!  It really is like making a meatball!!  The best part is you can make them as big or small as you want.  Once ball is formed, flatten them into round patties....kind of like a small "hamburger". 

Pour a thin layer of vegetable oil in a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat.  Bake until crispy and golden on the bottom and then flip patties.  Maybe about 5 minutes on each side.

Remove cooked patties from pan and place on a paper towel lined plate to drain excess oil.  Once they cool slightly (in my house this meant long enough to get Brenna and Tyler their lunch), you can enjoy these delicious treats.  Just like my mom used to make!!  Mmmmmmmm!