What is your never fails to be eaten rice recipe please?

[MissStrawberry]

I want to cut down on the amount of meat we eat and up the grains we have. I make rice with fish and veg, rice with veg only and used to make risi e bisi (makes note to make again) and would really appreciate some ideas from you for something I can make for my children, DH and I to eat (and if it can stay warm for 1-2 hours before DH and I are ready to eat that would be a huge bonus too but not essential.)

Thanks in advance .

Rice is the only thing all my kids will eat. 2 will eat pasta and cous cous. One will eat rice but not pasta (unless spag bol) and one will eat cous cous if they have too.

[Throughthelongnight]

Both bulgar and orzo are cooked like rice, orzo takes a little longer.

I use orzo like pasta, as in I dress it with a little sauce/ pesto/ olive oil and cheese. Then add something like sweet corn and red pepper.

You can use bulgar just like rice, it just has a bit more texture.

[smoothieooo]

• sorry, I meant you don't need a lot of chicken and can make it quite veg-heavy!

[Throughthelongnight]

Ooo milly that spinach and rice recipe sounds delicious, think I will make that tomorrow. Yum!

[cathpip]

Smoked haddock and spinach risotto. My dc love it and easily reheats for dh and I later.

[MissStrawberry]

All great ideas, thank you very much .

Tonight it was just DS1 for tea and he had a completely weird combination but I am not bothered. He was happy and was fed. Doesn't matter how!

[wordfactory]

I doa baked rice dish that my DC love.

Fry an onion, celery, peppers, cumin, corriander (can use chilli too). Stir in some basmati rice to coat.

Add stock and a slug of wine

Bung in a can of chick peas.

Put the lot in a caserole. Stick a few bits of lemon or orange on top. I also stick some browned chicken thighs on tp,but you don't need to!

Bake.

Keep checking it hasn't gone dry. Add more liquid as necessary.

Should be ready in an hour.

Srinkle with fresh corriander and serve with pitta bread and yoghurt.

[Dilidali]

My mum makes this, we call it 'cleaning the fridge', sure it has a proper name:

Boil rice

Chop whatever you have in the fridge:
Cheese
Capers
Sun dried tomatoes
Olives
Mushroom
Spring onions
Gherkins
Half opened tins of sweetcorn/peas

Mix whatever you just found in the fridge with the rice, a tin of tuna, a bit of pepper, squeeze quite a bit of lemon over and serve.

It's some Italian concoction. Trying hard to think of it's proper name, not sure pulire del frigo is quite right, which is what we call it.

[MissStrawberry]

That sounds really tasty, Dilidali, thank you.

I have made a list of all the food in the cupboard and freezer and will be planning our meals from it later.

[OneLittleToddleTerror]

My 2yo loves rice too. A lot of the things mentioned here, egg fried rice, kedgeree, paella, risotto are her favourites. She also loves Nigella's Korean Keema.

I can find a few 'copies' of it online
atannaskitchentable.blogspot.fr/2011/08/and-carrying-on-with-asian-theme.html
susansfooddiary.blogspot.fr/2011/12/korean-keema.html

[OneLittleToddleTerror]

Also we treat fried rice like dilidali. You can add whatever you have in the fridge. It's created to use up the leftover rice after all.

Below is a simple template for fried rice

justhungry.com/perfect-fried-rice-frying-pan-even-electric-range-or-hotplate

You can create variations by adding curry pastes before the rice and fried it for a minute or two. I usually use red or green curry paste. But korean gochujang is also very very good. (If you can get to a chinese grocer, they'll have it. It's very popular though not well known in the UK).

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

My mum used to make a chicken and bacon risotto - and I still make it (though I have adapted the recipe a bit). To be perfectly honest, it isn't really a risotto, as you don't use risotto rice, or do all the ladling in of hot stock and stirring - it's really more of a savoury rice - but it is a firm family favourite - and I even had to email the recipe over to ds2, who has just started at university, so he could cook it for himself and his flatmates.

When I do it for us, I roast a whole small chicken, and use all the meat from it (but I generally have enough leftovers to do a couple of light lunches for me and a breakfast or two for dh) - so you can easily do it with the leftovers from a sunday roast chicken, which is what mum used to do.

Chicken and bacon' risotto'

Ingredients:
Cooked chicken
Bacon lardons (or chopped up rashers - but lardons give a better flavour) - I use smoked.
Finely chopped onion - 1 or 2, depending on whether you are making one meal's worth, or industrial quantities as I do.
Rice - approx 100g per person - or just pour in what looks like the right amount, if you are me.
Chicken stock - approx 1 pint (more if you are doing a huge risotto)
Chopped parsley
Boiled eggs (approx 1 per portion).
Cooked peas (I use petit pois).

Put plenty of oil in a deep, wide pan, add the bacon and onions and soften gently - don't brown.

Add the rice, and turn so it is all coated in the oil, then cook gently until it is all browned nicely. Add the hot stock - it will spit and bubble so stand well back. Stir, turn down the heat a bit and let it cook gently until the rice is nearly done.

Add the cooked chicken, and let it heat through, then when the rice is cooked, add the parsley, chopped boiled eggs and peas, and let them heat through.

I think this is as tasty the next day, cold, with a sprinkling of seasalt, as it is hot, on the day it is cooked.

[MissStrawberry]

OOh chicken and bacon. Yum. Thank you.

This morning I have written down all the food I have in the cupboard and freezer and I am currently writing down meals for us for the rest of the week using what I already have in. The kids eat at 5 and DH and I at 7 as he isn't home in time to eat with the children and they can't eat that late so I have 2 different meals each night most of the time.

I am going to go back through this thread to look again at all your suggestions and see what I can make with what I already have in and see if I can put off the food shop for even longer.

Thanks again .

[Mintyy]

I love rice! Much prefer rice to pasta.

I make a cheats paella for me and the dc (dh won't eat prawns).

Get a couple of handfuls of frozen peas out of the freezer to defrost.
Gently dry fry in a large casserole pan (like a le crueset) some cooking chorizo until the fat starts to run, brown slightly, remove from pan with a slotted spoon. Saute a red pepper cut up into thin strips in the oil until softened, add two large crushed cloves of garlic for the last couple of minutes of frying time. Then add a mug full of long grain rice and stir through the oil, a tsp of turmic or some saffron if feeling flush, two mugfuls of hot chicken stock made with a knorr cube, or veg stock would be fine, and generous grind of black pepper. Put lid on pan and cook gently until rice nearly done, adding the peas towards the end. You might need to add some more stock, water or white wine. Finish with a pack of large cooked king prawns (often half price in the supermarkets) and heat through. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley and good squeeze of lemon juice before eating.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I forgot to say, in my recipe, whilst the rice is cooking, top it up with more boiling water if it is getting too dry and the rice isn't cooked yet.

[AmericasTorturedBrow]

Get those pre mixed space mixes - Mexican spices, Chinese 5 spice, jerk etc

I fry off onions and whatever veg is lying round in the spice mix, stir in cooked rice and pulses. Easy, quick and introducing new flavones

Risotto is always my go to as well tbh

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I like the sound of using those spice mixes to flavour rice, AmericasTB - I will definitely give that a try - either as a dish in itself, or as an accompaniment. It would be nice if you threw in a bit of left-over cooked chicken or some prawns, I think.

[MissStrawberry]

All good ideas again. Thank you.

I have more food in that I thought so it will be a couple of weeks before I have tried all these as I want to use up what I have and then start again, keeping a list on what I spend as looking at what I think I spend on food compared to the money I have there is a big discrepancy .

[EldritchCleavage]

Meal planning works for me. I rarely throw food away-everything I buy is bought with a meal in mind, and used.

[AmericasTorturedBrow]

I meal plan too...and yes SDT def good with leftover meat too! One of my stle meals at yin was onions, chicken, green peppers stir fried in Chinese five spice, add coked rice, fry in raw egg til cooked. Or kidney beans, chickpeas and red peppers with Mexican spices amd ore cooked rice

I make life even easier by using a microwaveable rice steamer, it's amazing

www.lakeland.co.uk/10619/Clear-Microwave-Multi-Steamer

Also a big fan of bulgar wheat (normally cook it in veg stock) and quinoa

[AmericasTorturedBrow]

*staple
*uni

Apologies for lack of proof reading!

[MissStrawberry]

ATB I had a look at your link and thought I would buy it as I mostly use Uncle Bens 2 minute rice sachet for convenience and really shouldn't but it has been discontinued! Thanks anyway for the idea though, I am sure I will be able to get one from somewhere.

[AmericasTorturedBrow]

Do a Google search for "microwaveable rice steamer",.. Amazon more than likely to do it. Honestly it's brilliant, you don't even need to measure out rice and water, I normally do a Tablespoon per person of rice, pour boiling water to cover the rice and them some, if white normally cook 5mins then stir, check, and a few mins more. Brown rice I do more like 10-15mins and it normally needs another 5ish depending how much there is. But no stirring throughout or watching the pot, if you have water left over you life the inner section and it sieves away. Brilliant...and I steam veg in it too

[ZoeZoeZoe]

Try my prawn and chorizo (and maybe chicken) rice : )

tyne-teas.blogspot.com/2013/11/rice-with-chorizo-and-prawns-sometimes.html

[spilttheteaagain]

Bean chilli & rice. Just use an assortment of beans in place of the mince, and increase the amount of spices/garlic etc to flavour the beans up as they don't give out their own flavour like meat would. I also add quite a bit of finely grated veg (courgette, carrot, v small diced celery, onion, mushroom) to thicken up the sauce.

Lovely with some fresh diced tomato and a load of cheese on top. DD (aged 2) will devour it if I describe all beans as different types of chickpea "Ooh look DD, a kidney bean purple chickpea!"

[mamij]

Have you tried orzo? It's technically a pasta (I think!) but looks like rice. We usually have it with smoked haddock and spinach.

Cook the orzo (leave a little bite to it) and drain.
Add garlic and onions to a pan and cook until softened.
Add orzo and some fish stock.
Add the smoked haddock and cover until almost cooked.
Add chopped up spinach and creme fraiche.
All the stock doesn't have to be absorbed, so that the end result can be a bit soupy (sounds horrible but tastes delicious!).
Serve!