eglamkowski's Journal: recipe of the day

Today I give out a long-ago promised rendition of Pearl Balls. I forget who did the pearl ball thing first here on slashdot, and don't care to research it, but here's another version to try:

2/3 cup sticky rice
2 dried chinese black mushroom caps
10 oz. lean ground pork
3/4 cup water chestnuts, coarsely chopped (hell, I just use a 5 oz. can...)
1/2 carrot, shredded
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons corn starch
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2" piece of peeled ginger, minced

Rinse the rice a couple of times in cold water til the water is clear. Cover with 2" of water and let soak for 1 hour.

Boil 3/4 cup of water and add the mushrooms. Cover and remove from heat. Let stand until softened, about 20 minutes. Drain, discard the liquid, and finely chop the mushrooms.

In a large bowl, combine everything except the rice. Shape the mixture into 24 equal sized balls about 1" each.

Roll each ball in th erice to cover it completely.

(Blah, for the steaming part I saw screw the cookbook, here's how I do it:) In a large wok or saucepan, bring 2" of water to a boil. Place a steaming rack in the wok. Put half the balls on a heatproof plate and place on the steaming rack. Cover tightly and let steam for 20-25 minutes.

If you have a real steamer, try it instead, but the wok method works just fine.