Easy ways to make a meal out of microwave rice e.g. Tilda, Uncle Ben's?

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Can anybody help me out with instructions to make a simple meal using microwave (pouch) rice please?

I've just put some interesting Tilda ones in my online shopping basket: Jalapeno rice, Piri Piri rice. Wondering if I can just bung some diced chicken in a pan, fry it, add the rice and call that a meal? Or do I need to get more creative to actually make something edible?

I'm guessing that if I just serve it with e.g. curry, I will get a weird clash of tastes or just won't be able to appreciate the flavouring of the rice.

Try cooking veggies in the oven then stirring in the rice and cooking for the final 5-10 mins, could also put some tinned chickpeas or lentils in :-)

They're absolutely brilliant for stir-fries.

I add chicken or salmon, Olives and chopped peppers and eat in a wrap like a burrito

Prawns

I stir fry some veg and meat/fish then add the rice so it becomes a paella/jambalaya type concoction.

Exactly what I add depends upon the rice, chicken, chorizo, or prawns work well, as do mushroom, peppers, onions, green beans, peas etc.

sautee some onion/garlic in XV Olive oil

Add rice & thawed frozen peas

top with a runny fried egg (or 2!)

Add Tabasco or a splash of soy for extra kick

You can use microwave rice to make an egg fried rice/jambalaya sort of meal with whatever bits you have. My teen son often does fried mince and peppers in a Mexican style rice pack for an easy meal. I like marinated prawns with my flavoured rice

Chop and sauté random veg from the bottom of the fridge e.g. carrots, peppers, mushrooms. Supplement with frozen peas, sweetcorn as desired. Sometimes I add tofu as well. Whisk one egg per person with some soy sauce and sesame oil. Add the rice to the veg then add the egg and scramble it in the pan with the rice and veg.

I am no cook. One of my favourite meals is a piece of salmon covered in spicy season all cooked in tin foil alongside some cherry tomatoes. Frozen sweetcorn cooked on the hob. These just thrown on top of the microwave rice.
Really wouldn’t be most peoples idea of cooking but I really enjoy it.

you can get nice tinned dahl at Sainsbury's (was £1 but now £1.60, I presume due to chickpeas being in short supply). Makes a filling meal with rice, or I sometimes cook frozen parathas (Tesco), which are better than takeaway ones.

Wow thanks everyone! Ashamed to say that some of these sound beyond me, I am a really poor cook and a fussy eater too. I may end up just eating the rice on its own… 😂

Stuffed peppers www.spar-ni.co.uk/recipes/stuffed-peppers

I tried this Fajita chicken traybake after seeing it on another thread and it's a favourite now. It's really easy and you can alter it according to what you have in.

When the kids were small I used to do a plate of a warmed up pouch of tilda rice with veggies, cubes of avocado, halved cherry tomatoes and grated cheese over the whole thing - they loved it!

You can also heat up the rice, fold in a handful of baby spinach leaves (they'll wilt in the heat of the rice) and top with your diced chicken. One-dish meal!

Add some peppers, onions and sweetcorn then top with fried eggs, spring onions and hoi sin sauce. Can also add meat or prawns if you want. Takes less than 15 mins, really filling and tastes lovely.

I fry plain microwave rice in sesame oil with eggs, peas and soy sauce for a simple egg fried rice.

I use the plain ones as a base for a quick fried rice. Microwave the rice. Microwave some frozen vegetables with a couple of ice cubes. Then break out a frying pan, an egg or two and some soy sauce and you have veggie fried, often heavy on the veggies.

I think it would work with other flavors and then you wouldn’t need the soy sauce.

I eat them alone for lunch in the office

I’ve used these before to make rice based salads - add chopped cucumber, chopped nuts, sliced spring onions, cherry tomatoes, flat leafed parsley or coriander, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper etc.

Cheat's risotto - mix with canned soup plus protein. Steamed veg bag if you like

• Chicken or mushroom soup with cooked chicken or ham & peas

• Lobster bisque with seafood

• fish chowder with smoked mackerel

Any tinned fish in a sauce stirred in

Roast some vege. Add cubed paneer or Quorn chunks part way through cooking, plus some spices. Eat with packet rice. Might need a bit of yoghurt or sour cream on the side. Can become vaguely Indian or vaguely Mexican depending on the spices etc.

Or buy the Merchant Gourmet packets of lentils/grains etc and mix with cubed feta plus cucumber, red onion, beetroot etc.

I buy the tomato and basil rice,add cooked chicken and sweetcorn,a favourite lunch if I WFH,quick and easy.