Got leftover rice? Here are 6 food hacks to transform it!

For most people, the word ‘leftover food’ seems more like a task to get to the end of the finish line, which is an empty bowl. However, for foodies, it’s more of an excellent opportunity to try something easy-to-make, new, different and tasty, altogether. That being said, it’s quite common that the one thing that rarely gets over in one make is always a bowl of rice.

So why let it go to waste? Here are 6 things you can do with leftover rice:

1. Fried rice anyone?

Undoubtedly one of the simplest dishes to make, especially if you’ve got leftover rice. All you need are a few vegetables and maybe a little soy sauce. If you don’t want to follow a classic fried recipe, maybe a Korean bibimbap recipe could be what you’re looking for. Made with crunchy stir-fried vegetables, the dish also uses the goodness of egg in it. Alternatively, you could also try our recipe for Jasmine egg fried rice with shredded cucumber. The combinations and recipes are endless, so you can tweak the recipe to your liking.

2. When in doubt, make khichdi!

In sickness and in health, khichdi is just bliss in a bowl, especially because it is the ultimate Indian comfort food. It doesn’t take a lot of time to prepare, and comes with the goodness of two dishes in one – lentils (dal) and rice. All you have to do is, boil some lentils, add a little bit of spice, butter and temper it according to your liking, to give it that earthy flavour. Then add the leftover rice. Give it a good stir, cook it for a few minutes, check for seasoning and it is good to go. A complete meal, all in 15 minutes! Serve it with pickle.

3. Better batter

For the longest time, I have seen my mother and grandmother use rice to make batter for south Indian dosa, or palappam. However, while most of the time it is with uncooked rice, she does use cooked leftover rice from time to time to make a quick batter for breakfast the next day. In a food processor, add rice, urad dal or uzhunnu with a little salt and water, and blend it to a medium-consistency batter. Once done, you can pour it on a circular cast iron griddle and make dosa till it turns crispy, and golden brown. You can also make paalappam with leftover rice, so make sure to check our recipe here.

4. Sip it in a soup

Ever had rice in a soup? It tastes amazing! All you need are a few vegetables, shredded meat (if you’d like) and a few herbs, chicken stock if not broth and maybe even evaporated milk. Finely chop the vegetables, and sauté. Next, add in garlic and a few herbs (I’ve personally used parsley, but you can use thyme and rosemary or herbs of your choice) and cook it for a minute. Once done, add the chicken stock or broth with your meat and add salt and pepper. Cook it on a medium flame till vegetables are done. Serve and enjoy!

5. Frying it brown!

There are more than just one way to fry your rice. One, you could make pancakes; two, you could make pakoras; or three; you could even create your own recipe! For pancakes, combine leftover, cooled rice with beaten egg, vanilla extract, cinnamon, salt and oil to make it into a batter. Pour it on a flat pan and flip it as you would a pancake. For pakoras, you could use our recipe and add leftover rice to it as well. Serve and enjoy!

6. Make a pudding

If you’re looking for a sweet ending to your meal, maybe the leftover rice would help. You can make a delectable pudding with just a few ingredients like milk, sugar, cardamom, a few chopped nuts or you could think outside the box and create your own sweet recipe as well. Here’s our recipe for Bengali Payesh or rice pudding.

Do you know of other ways to transform leftover rice into a gourmet meal? Tell us about it food@gulfnews.com