Rice Cake

I realize that this picture really doesn't do the dish justice, so you just have to take my words that it taste better than it looks. Be as it may, rice cake is a common food related to Chinese New Year. I was reminded of it when I read the article in the San Francisciso Chronicle about a month ago. My grandmother used to make the sweet variety every year. Since I'm not usually a sweets person, I was much more interested in using the plain rice cake in a savory dish. This stir fry consisted of thinly sliced pork, canned preserved cabbage (which explains the color of the dish), a little fresh spinach, and garlic. The rice cakes were packaged in plastic. Actually, when you take them out of the package, they feel like plastic. A couple of minutes in boiling water will soften them up enough to stir fry with basically anything you would put in a chow mein noodle dish. I added a big dab of chili garlic sauce on top just like what I do with noodles.