So here’s a confession: I run a Neapolitan food page, but somehow my most viral content has absolutely nothing to do with pasta. (Don’t ask me how I got here either.)

Over the years, the biggest hits have been everything except Neapolitan classics—goldfish-shaped dumplings that made Taiwanese news, impossibly thin Indian crepes, shop-quality fried snacks, and DIY sticky rice sausages. At this point, I think the internet’s trying to tell me something. Maybe I should just lean into it.

So fine. Here’s my latest project: homemade Taiwanese vegan rice blood (素米血). This is a recipe I’ve tested and refined multiple times, borrowing techniques from my fried snack experiments to create something that works across different cooking methods—hotpot, oden-style, deep-fried, air-fried, you name it.

The Spicy Seaweed Discovery

I brought back several packages of seaweed snacks from Taiwan—you know, those crispy little sheets. The spicy ones were aggressively hot, so I abandoned them in my cupboard. While planning this recipe, I grabbed one to sandwich between regular sushi seaweed as a flavor booster. The result? Unexpectedly, authentically Taiwanese. The spice totally transformed the dish—so much so that I ended up teary-eyed eating it. (Partly from the heat, partly from joy.)

The Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 sheets sushi seaweed
• 1 XL spicy seaweed snack sheet
• ½ dashi cube
• ½ tbsp ground white pepper
• ½ tbsp seasoned pepper salt
• 5g salt
• 125g sweet rice (glutinous rice)
• 25g tapioca starch
• 25g sweet rice flour
• 125ml water

Method:

First, rinse the glutinous rice several times until the water runs clear, then soak for about 2 hours. Drain well.

Blend all the seasonings and seaweed sheets together until you get a smooth, uniform paste. This is your seaweed base.

In a pot, combine the seaweed paste with your drained rice and mix thoroughly. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Once it reaches a near-boil and you feel resistance while stirring—that’s your signal. The mixture should start to gelatinize. Turn off the heat immediately.

Pour into an oiled container, smooth the surface, then steam in a steamer basket at medium heat for about 40 minutes. Let cool completely before turning out and cutting into pieces.

Store in the freezer for later use. When you’re ready, fry, air-fry, or toss into your next hotpot.

Why This Works

The beauty of this recipe is its flexibility. The starches give it structure, the seaweed brings the authentic flavor, and the technique—borrowed from making fried snacks—ensures you get that perfect texture no matter how you cook it. It’s comfort food that tastes homemade because, well, it is.

And honestly? Some of my best recipes come from happy accidents and leftover ingredients. This is one of them.