Fried rice. It requires cold left over rice and is delicious.

Fried rice....put some "stuff" bits of leftover pork, beef, chicken or a fer frozen shrimp, and some chopped onion, celery adn whatever other veggies you have...broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, pea pods....sautee it all quickly, when the veggies are crisp done, add "some" rice ( cooked of course) and a bit of broth or wine and some soy sauce and' or terayaki and toss and cook until coated and heated and eat....
different every time and always good.
Linda C

Stir Fry. Super easy, you can use whatever veggies & meat you like.

No recipe, but in general this is what I do.

Heat a wok or shallow skillet with a bit of oil, add a bit of Oyster Sauce,some Soy Sauce, and any of the following:

Cubed chicken
Shrimp
Mushrooms
Broccoli
Bean Sprouts
Water Chestnuts
Celery
Carrot
Peppers
Baby corn
Onion
Peanuts
Cashews

Oh so good, and healthy, too!

Put it individual serving bags in the freezer. Rice freezes great. When you leave for work in the mornings, just take a bag out of the freezer, it'll be thawed by lunch time. Then you can serve it with whatever you like.

Once bagged, lay it on something to flatten the bag out, in the refrigerator, to get cold before freezing. Then it will freeze in a flat, easier to store package in the freezer.

This is something my Mom taught me, always make extra because it was so easy to freeze for later uses. I have about 5 bags of Spanish rice in the freezer right now.

Beth

Thai Fried Rice

Cold Rice
well beaten egg
finely chopped onions
finely chopped garlic
finely chopped jalapeno pepper (or any hot pepper)
bits of cooked chicken, pork or shrimp
soy sauce
lime juice
cilantro

Squeezes of lime juice and lots of chopped cilantro goes on at the table.

All 4 of my kids like rice so I make it often, not a lot of leftovers but these seem to be main dishes that they would enjoy. Now as the summer garden is in, we will have lots to add:)

Stacie

Both hubby and little man love rice so if I want "leftovers" I need to make more than what they can eat. When I have extra rice I make fried rice with whatever I have in the fridge. I make different flavored fried rice i.e. Mexican spice, Oyster sauce, curry, black bean, tomato sauce ... then I add whatever meat I have: ground pork, chicken, ham, shrimps, sauteed beef, even scramble eggs into the rice. You can make so many combination out of it that no one ever gets bored over leftover rice. I even make leftover rice into congee (rice soup). Just soak the rice in a bit of salt & oil. Use the crockpot to cook on low overnight. In the morning, season it with salt & pepper and some freshly grated ginger, add meat if desire. Julienne some green onions to sprinkle over a bowl of hot congee. Leftovers can't taste any better.

Al

Rice salad.
Add chopped cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, anything you like, diced ham or chicken or prawns.....then a little vinaigrette.

GALLO PINTO (Red Beans and Rice)

Cook some chopped onion in vegetable oil. Use enough oil for the onion plus the beans and rice which will be added, about 4 tablespoons.

Drain a can of small red beans, reserving the liquid.

Combine the red beans and an equal quantity of left-over rice with the onions.

Cook until well heated throughout, stirring and turning and adding reserved liquid a little at a time to attain the desired moistness.

Season with salt and pepper.

Black beans are equally good. Dry beans can be cooked and used in this dish in the same proportions. Serve hot sauce for those who like to sprinkle some on their rice and beans. The combination of rice and beans provides all the essential amino acids. It's nutritious food and is the basis of the diet in some places.

Jim

One thing I forgot to add to my Thai Fried Rice ingredients which I feel is of key importance is that it is cooked in peanut oil. I like to use a good bit of it too as this really adds to the taste of the dish. Hope I didn't leave anything else out since I just do this one from memory.

Hubby used to eat it like cereal, pour some milk over it and chow down...

Rita

Put it in a microwaveable dish, pour 1/2 can of lentil or black bean soup on top and heat it.

Here's a rice salad we like:

CORN RICE SALAD

1 (16 oz.) can whole corn, drained
2 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup chopped sweet red pepper
1/4 cup chopped scallions
1/4 cup chopped black olives
Cherry tomatoes for garnish

3 Tbs. olive or salad oil
3 Tbs. white wine or cider vinegar
2 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbs. Parmesan cheese

In medium bowl, combine corn, rice, pepper, scallions and olives. In screw top jar, combine oil, vinegar, soy sauce, parsley, mustard and garlic powder. Shake and pour over corn mixture. Cover and chill several hours or overnight. To serve, stir in halved cherry tomatoes. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Last week I needed a quick side for dinner to go with chicken fajitas, I mixed rice with salsa and it was a huge hit! The next day, I had it cold and mixed in some grilled chicken, it was really good! Gina

Another option...
Stuffed zucchini, cabbage or peppers.

Dirty rice! Brown up some sausage or ground meat with a little onion and garlic. You can also add some green pepper and celery to complete the trinity or not. Then mix with the rice till heated through.
I also cook some cabbage with some kind of tomato, stewed tomato is perfect, until cabbage is done. Then serve over rice, or make the dirty rice and layer it with the cabbage mixture and bake, but for an easy lunch you could just serve it over the rice or dirty rice. Also along the lines of what Spacific said you could cook zucchini or peppers and serve them over the rice. I love zucchini steamed and served over rice with some soy sauce.

Wonderful ideas! I never even considered freezing the rice. I just assumed it would be like potatoes and make a mushy mess.

I'm going to freeze some individual portions right now... and then play around with some of these wonderful recipes as I have fridge space!

Yumm..... stuffed peppers!!! Why didn't I read this thread before going to the grocery store this morning!!!

Chicken rice soup is another option. Or, put the rice in more water and keep cooking it into a congee. I suppose rice pudding could be made, but I don't like that stuff much.

BTW, if you ever want to make fried rice but haven't any leftover rice, a reasonable shortcut is to spread the freshly cooked rice thinly over a sheet pan and broil it, not too close to the burner. This dries out and hardens the rice and makes it usable for fried rice.

Take it out of the refrigerator, let it come to room temp., and eat it. If it is a good rice, it will taste good.
Also, opt for short grain rice. The grains do not dry out into hard little pellets. Something about the starch grains - watch Alton Brown - he will explain it.
You can buy 12 pound bags at Costco. It is short grain brown rice - tastes great cooked or at room temp.
If you don't like it plain, drizzle a little low sodium soy sauce on it. A very quick snack that is filling and will stay with you for awhile.
Jim in So Calif

I'm glad to know you can freeze rice too. I've never frozen it, expected it to become mushy like potatoes or potatoes if I did.

If I'm in a hurry for cold rice, I cook it, spread it on a pan and stick in the freezer for a short time.

Beverly

Baked rice pudding. Not low in calories, but hey, it has calcium.

Fried, sunny side up eggs over rice is delicious. Lots of our Latin restaurants have it on the menu. Chop the fried eggs while they're on the rice and the runny yolk just covers the rice. Yummy. Don't knock it until you try it.

Here is an original Lebanese recipe from my son in law. I have not made this one, but Nasri makes it often and my daughter, Erin loves it!

Stuffed Zucchinis
5 med. zucchinis with centers cored out
Stuffing:
1/2 cup short grain rice that has soaked in water for a half hour
1/2 - 1 lb cooked ground beef (depending on your affinity for meat)
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1tsp. salt
-------
8 oz. tomato sauce (or crushed tomatoes)
3 cups water
6 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp. dried mint
2 cloves crushed garlic
Drain rice and mix with the rest of the stuffing ingredients. Fill each zucchini 3/4 full and place standing up in a stock pot.
In a separate bowl, mix the remaining ingredients and pour over zucchinis. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook for an hour or until rice is tender.
Eggplant may be substituted for zucchini and if you don' t want the hassle of coring the vegetables, just cut in slices and cook in sauce and serve over rice.

Linda

For dieting...you could combine rice and fat free vanilla pudding and have a mock Rice pudding. You could add rice to fat free refried beans and put it in the mission fat free tortilla for a rice & bean burrito.

Leftover rice? Such an impertinent name. I prefer to call it bonus rice. :-)

Fried rice with Chinese sausage.

dcarch

I'm not sure about eating cold rice... When I refer to freezing, I remove it from the freezer and let it thaw by itself and then warm it up or put it straight into the microwave for a bit and heat it up.

Jim, I'm curious about the "hard little pellets" too. The only time I've had rice be hard little pellets is when someone hasn't cooked it completely. It happens at Moe's from time to time - ruins the burrito!

Beth