Baked Rice Porridge Balls
Cute? I make these as a fun treat for my 20mo++ toddler who eats with his eyes. Really. If he likes what he sees, he will eat. If he looks at it with doubt and perhaps disgust, he will shake his head vigorously. If I try to coax him to just try one spoon, he will yell and squirm away.
So, I turn his leftover rice porridge into balls with the hope that he will like and eat them. I'll tell you what happen next.
Here's the porridge - cooked with mixed grain rice, minced pork, chopped shiitake mushroom, enoki mushroom, diced carrots, and goji berries. This is a good combination of ingredients. The porridge smells heavenly.
90% of the porridge is packed in a thermal food jar to bring to the babysitter.
After the remainder of the porridge cools down to room temperature, I roll them into small meatball-sized balls in my palm. I get eight balls. Then, I coat them with store-bought panko breadcrumbs. The balls are baked at 200°C for about 25-30 minutes until they are firm to touch.
The baked balls taste like porridge, with extra crunch from the toasted breadcrumbs. So far so good.
The first thing my boy does is, he squeals in delight and says, "Ball!" Then, he starts squeezing the balls!
*I'm-chanting-silently-oh-no-please-eat-please-eat-please-eat*
To my delight, he eats one handful of a squashed ball!
*victory sign*
Then, he begins to dig around the "grave of dead balls" and pick out all the goji berries that his little fingers can find.
*victory sign*
Then, he begins to dig around the "grave of dead balls" and pick out all the goji berries that his little fingers can find.
And eat them one by one with glee.
Too bad I forget to snap a photo of the aftermath.
Hah.
Hah.
Posts
your porridge doesn't have too much liquid left? I wonder how to roll the remaining porridge into meat ball size. Can help to explaine in more detail. Wish to turn my left over porridge into meat ball. You have very creative idea. 'Like'
ReplyDeleteHi Valerie, the porridge that I always cook for my boy is the sticky type, not watery. If there's excess water, I drain it first before rolling the porridge into balls. Thanks for the like. :)
Delete