Red Curry Fried Rice Balls

This is my vegetarian take on a traditional rice ball salad from Northeastern Thailand that typically calls for sour fermented pork. You still get all those tart flavors and subtle curry heat, but without meat. The magic of miang khao tod is all in the texture: The rice becomes irresistibly crunchy once shaped into baseball-size spheres and deep fried, like a spicy, fragrant version of arancini. Cracking the rice balls open and serving them with peanuts, cilantro, and red onions all wrapped