Quarantine has opened my eyes to many things in my life that I will want to adjust when all of this has passed. One of them is the amount of food waste that happens in my home. I have a million excuses for why this happens, but I realize now that it must change. So, this quarantine has become an opportunity to make changes in this way. To be resourceful and creative and use what we have on hand instead of going out to get more and more and more.
Let’s start with rice. I’m sure you have all been in my shoes. You have a tupperware with leftover rice- or maybe a carton or two of takeout rice sitting in your refrigerator. The problem is that what was once hot, soft and fluffy, has now become hard, starchy and deeply unappealing. It’s tempting to just dump it in compost.
Well, I have a solution for you! You can turn your hard old rice into the most delicious crispy rice cakes!! I made these on instagram stories the other day (I saved the story to my highlight reel by the way) and lots of people have asked me to post this on the blog so it is easier to follow. So here you go!
-Notes- I used leftover short grain white rice, otherwise known as sticky rice. I flavored them with sesame and green onion. I think that ginger would be wonderful too. We ate these with the dipping sauce, but honestly they would be delicious topped with shrimp, pork or a spicy tuna or salmon situation. I might experiment with stuffing them!
- 4 cups old rice
- ¼ cup glutenfree 1:1 flour
- ¼ cup finely diced green onion
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 4-5 tablespoons hot water
- Kosher salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- Oil for frying
- Dipping sauce:
- 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon sambal
- 1 teaspoon agave
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon tamari
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped green onion
- Add all the rice cake ingredients to the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat for a few minutes until the rice mixture coats the sides of the bowl and is very sticky and somewhat uniform as a dough. Scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl and shape with damp hands into discs. I got 10 evenly sized discs. Sprinkle them with kosher salt and the sesame seeds.
- In a heavy skillet or non-stick pan add the oil over high heat. Fry the rice cakes (I did 5 at a time) for about 4 minutes until golden, and then flip and cook another 4 minutes until golden brown on each side. Repeat with the next batch and serve hot with the dipping sauce.
- While the cakes are frying, whisk together all of the dipping sauce in a small bowl.
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Could not agree more – this has been an eye opening experience re food waste. Your post was so timely for me as I had rice leftover from indian takeout. I made the rice cakes and served them with a stirfry of chicken, snowpeas, and carrots in a sweet and sour sauce – sort of a modified chicken a la king with rice cakes instead of biscuits/puff pastry/bread. Thank you for the recipe!
Awesome Caitlin! Thank you!
What is gluten free flour 1:1?
Hi, 1:1 flour is a variety that implies it is the same as regular flour cup for cup 🙂
Can you use brown rice? This recipe looks awesome and I want to try it but my husband can only eat brown rice so I wanted to make sure before I totally messed it all up.
I have never tried brown rice- please let me know if you try it!
Could these be made a few days ahead, refrigerated, and then reheated?
Yes! But you would want to bake at a high temp to get them crispy again.
Hello! I hope you will see this comment. Does the rice need to be cooked?
Yes it does. I used leftover takeout rice.