Recipe: Sauteed Rice Cake (Mochi) in the Style of Filipino Pancit

Philip and I share the same pastime: food!

My best friend, Philip Wong King (b. 1965) and I must have been born mentally conjoined at the hip.  Note - I said, "mentally" and we are not conjoined literally like Chang and Eng of the original Siamese Twins fame.  But Philip and I have been classmates in Prep E in Xavier School and we were classmates likewise for most part of Grade and High School.  We shared the same love for music and art.  We were both in the "de facto" faction of the drama guild and starred in the same High School production of "The Mousetrap".  We were both fat and chubby in our teenage years with me getting into the fat mode earlier than he did as we are both in the medical field with him becoming a doctor earlier than I did.  You see, Philip is way smarter than I am making him a part of the prestigious seven-year Medical track of the UP College of Medicine.  Me?  I'm just a pseudo intellectual, though I have my own moments - blonde moments, that is.  Anyway, I digress.  As much as we grew up very much enjoying similar things, ahem, Philip and I decided to part ways with me in the East Coast while him in the West.  But otherwise, we are still somewhat in the same latitude since he is in Washington state as I am in Pennsylvania.  At least, I thought, that we have vacation properties in either side of the continental United States.  Well, good for us. 

Shanghai Style Rice Cake

I decided to visit Philip last year and stayed in my Washington State vacation property, also known as, Philip's home.  Philip, the gracious host that he is, insist that he take me to these restaurants that the Seattle-Bellevue area has to offer.  Once we enjoyed the meal, he will end the experience with, "Now, if you happen to LIVE here, YOU could probably enjoy...." never ceasing to entice me that one day, I would finally decide to move in the same area as well. 

I haven't been convinced so far.  BUT, at least I could say that this chain of Chinese restaurants is a reason to frequently visit Bellevue, WA if not to relocate.  Originally from Taiwan, Din Tai Fung has only three restaurants in the United States, as in, three in Los Angeles and one in Bellevue, WA; thus accounting for Philip's enticing statement above.  The dishes are simple as what Chinese should be but the flavor is clean to the palate with new textures that are so unfamiliar to the American who has eaten Chinese.  So yes, please, do not ask for General Tso's chicken in Din Tai Fung. 

Tikoy but this is not what it is in this dish.

What impressed me was a new way of serving rice cake as a savory snack.  To start, what I meant by rice cake in this regard is similar to the dense sticky solid kind that we call "tikoy" in the Philippines.  If one sees the box of "tikoy" being sold in the Chinese bakery, the Chinese words say, "ti ke" (Hokkien) or "tien kao" (Mandarin) which in means "sweet cake".  I found out that to a native speaker of Mandarin Chinese, there is actually no such thing because this "tikoy" as it is customarily being sold during the turn of the New Year, is actually known as "nien kao" or "year cake" and I do not think the Filipino-Chinese Hokkien community call it as "ni ke".  So when I was explaining the "ti koy"- "ti ke"- "tien kao" concept to my Beijing doctor colleague, she didn't understand what I was talking about. 

See? They also call it "rice cake".

But this "nien kao" is actually the mochi of Japan and though it is called that, "nien kao" does not have the mental association that it has to be sweet.  In other words, "nien kao" is referred to as what it is - a glutinous rice cake not necessarily sweetened with brown or white sugar as in the Philippines; and definitely, there is no pandan or ube or chocolate flavor either like in new versions of the tikoy. 

Din Tai Fung uses this rice cake, still called "nien kao", unsweetened, to saute in a savory mix of flavorings that might include pickled vegetables and meat or seafood.  What resulted is a different take on rice based noodle that the carbohydrate involved has a chewy feel much like eating tikoy with meat with a savory flavor. To illustrate how it looks like, see the picture I have above.

In this dish, I am using the traditional flavors of Filipino pancit coupled with the texture of "nien kao".  It is therefore a different take on the Pancit Bihon.  I hope you readers would try and enjoy it as I have. 

Sauteed Rice Cake (Mochi) in the Style of Filipino Pancit 

Ingredients. 

• 1 package Rice Cake (in the freezer or refrigerated section of the Asian store, labeled as "Rice Cake", about 1.78 pounds) 
• 1/2 head garlic, peeled and chopped 
• 1/2 head onion, peeled and sliced 
• 1 carrot, peeled and sliced or julienned 
• 1/8 kilo snow peas (sitsaro), tips removed and sliced 
• 1/4 head cabbage, sliced thinly 
• 1/2 ounces "tenga ng daga" (Auricularia polytricha), rehydrated in water 
• 1 Shanghai bokchoy, sliced 
• 1 bunch spring onions, chopped 
• 3 Cantonese sausages ("lap chong"), sliced 
• 1/4 kilo pork, sliced thinly 
• 1/8 kilo shrimp, peeled and sliced 
• salt and pepper to taste 
• sesame seed oil to taste 

Procedure. 

1. In boiling water, blanch the mochi for less than a minute.  Drain and I suggest to mix in a tablespoon of oil to prevent them from sticking together.  Set aside. 
2. In a hot wok with about 1/8 cup of oil, saute the garlic until mildly brown.  Add the onions and saute further.  Then add the sausages, shrimp, pork and carrots and saute until almost cooked. Salt and pepper to taste. 
3. Add the cabbage and saute further.  Add the mochi until well mixed. 
4. Add the Shanghai bokchoy, tenga ng daga and spring onions. 
5. Before serving, pour in some sesame seed oil to taste and mix well. 
6. Serve warm. 

Tips. 

• The mochi should be blanched for a short time to prevent melting and sticking with one another.  It may be necessary that the mochi is immediately thrown into the saute once it is done blanching to prevent this. 
• As with pancit Filipino, serving with kalamansi or lime juice enhances flavor.
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