“Rice is great if you’re really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something.” –Mitch Hedberg

I thought that quote was funny because it’s kind of true.  Small little specs of comfort to me. So small that you don’t even realize how much you’re eating.  I don’t eat that much rice, but sometimes when my body calls for it, a bowl of steaming rice along side my meal feels like medicine to my soul.  Okay, maybe not my soul, but it certainly makes me and my stomach feel good.

Rice isn’t just a carb for your meals though, rice is good in desserts like rice pudding and mango and sticky rice.  And when you toast  rice and turn it into a powder, it becomes a wonderful nutty flavor. If you’re a fan of Thai food and want to tackle some dishes at home, something you may want to try to make yourself is rice powder.  I’ve only use rice powder for one dish, Laab or Larb, which is a ground pork or beef salad.  I also make a tofu larb that is very tasty even for my meat eating husband.  But rice powder is important for the flavor of Larb, and I don’t think you could make this Thai salad, and call it Thai Larb, without putting rice powder.

You can buy rice powder at Asian grocery stores, but if you have white rice at home, you could also easily make it yourself.  I like to make more than I need and just store it in an airtight container for my next use.

Making rice powder is so simple it doesn’t even need a recipe, but I’ll provide you with some pictures because I like pictures and pictures are nice.

Take your desired about of rice.  If you’re grounding them yourself by hand don’t use too much. Your arms will thank you.  The most I can do is about 1/4 cup of white rice.
In a dry skillet on medium heat, toast the rice stirring constantly till they become toasted and brown.  About 7 minutes. 
Transfer a little bit  of the rice to a mortar and grind until the rice becomes fine and powdery. Transfer to small bowl and add more rice to the mortar grind. Do this until all the rice is grind.

Store in air tight container.

Use for tasty Asian dishes like Thai Larb.
Happy Friday everyone!