WOW -- Lots of ideas....

Fried rice (a gazillion different ways)

Rice pudding (a gazillion and 1 different ways)

Rice salads (half a gazillion ways)

Stuffed peppers

Rice frittatas

Rice croquettes

Rice porridge for breakfast

Pseudo-paellas

Rice-stuffed cabbages

Turkey-rice casserole

Soups with rice...

and on and on...

Joe

Make cuban black beans and pour over rice...delicious!!!

It freezes nicely, too.

If you want to get a head start on this, saute the onions, mix with the leftover rice, spinach and parm. cheese; then refrigerate in a covered container. The night you are serving it, add the tuna, egg mixture and cheese topping and bake.

TUNA-SPINACH FRITTATA

2 Tbs. butter or margarine
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry *
3 cups cooked rice (1 cup uncooked)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 (6 oz.) can tuna, drained and flaked
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

Melt butter in large saucepan. Add onion and garlic and saute over medium heat until soft but not browned. Remove pan from heat and add spinach, rice and Parmesan cheese and mix well. ##At this point, mixture can be refrigerated for a day or two and finished up on another day.

Mix tuna into rice mixture. Mix together eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over rice mixture and gently stir to blend. Turn into a greased 9 inch square or shallow 2 quart baking dish. Top with Mozzarella cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes and then slice into squares or wedges to serve.

* Note: 1 lb. fresh spinach, cooked, chopped and well-drained (about 1 1/2 cups) can be substituted for the frozen spinach.

Wow, is there anything Joe didn't think of?

I've tried to do a stir fry with it before, but it didn't go very well! It was coagulated from being in the refrigerator (I like my rice mushy, so that probably didn't help becuase I over cooked it to begin with).

When I get it as a side with a Chinese dish from a take out place, I usually throw it away. I will also be interested in responses to this thread!

I often use left-over rice to thicken soups, especially creamy-type ones that get buzzed in the blender.

Mix it with some wheat flour, chopped onions, chopped green chillies, salt, few drops of oil, water and make a soft dough. Pat it on a griddle, cook until you can flip it over and cook for another minute or so. You can also add any grated veggies.

Leftover rice! Right up my alley.

What I do with it depends on what type of rice it is, long grain or short grain. Vacuumfreak, if you like "mushy" rice, you might want to try short grain rice, which is the rice Japanese people favor as it is naturally softer and "stickier" than long grain.

First of all...what Joe said. :D

I don't usually bother with the leftover rice from Chinese restaurants as it most likely had sat in a warmer all day before it was served and is now dried out from the fridge...though DH likes to mix it up with eggs and fry it in patties, which he eats (believe it or not) with maple syrup. :P

I'm going to assume we're talking about long grain rice here.

To refresh leftover rice to make a side dish for another meal, saute it gently in butter to reheat and add a good amount of chopped cilantro or green onions,sometimes some chopped tomato salt & pepper.

Rice can be simmered until it falls apart into a soothing gruel called "Jook" in a light chicken stock and then flavored with your choice of cooked meats, veggies etc. It is very good for sick people or people with upset stomachs.

I like to use it in salads too. A mixed green salad with rice, veggies & chopped meats is good. Also, a rice salad is good as well, with rice sort of instead of lettuces, chopped veggies & meat, maybe some beans & a vinaigrette.

I have posted this recipe in another thread somewhere but here's a good grain salad recipe that one could certainly make with leftover rice:

Mixed grain salad with roasted butternut squash

A mixture of grainstry to use at least 3 kinds, of different colors. I use varying combinations of basmati rice, long grain brown rice*, barley, bulgar (tabuleh), quinoa, wild rice, millet, and sometimes, to lighten the texture, I add couscous.

Onions, celery, carrots-chopped

Green peas (frozen are fineÂif you have fresh, blanch them first)

Roasted butternut squash cubes**

Cranberry vinaigrette***

Chopped parsley & green onions

Chopped, toasted nuts (I like pecans or hazelnuts)

Cook grain selections separately, according to directions, but remember that they will absorb dressing and soften, so a bit al dente is better than over cooked.

Saute onions, celery, carrots until tender, but not too soft. Toss with grains, parsley, green onions and vinaigrette. Gently fold butternut squash cubes in.

*Short grain rices are too sticky for this dish, in my opinion.

**Roasted butternut squash. Peel squash. Cut into ½ inch cubes. toss in olive oil and roast in the oven, checking frequently until just cooked, but not mushy. If it doesnÂt brown at all, pass under a broiler after cooking just to brown the edges a bit.

***Cranberry vinaigrette. Make a basic vinaigrette with olive oil, red wine or champagne vinegar, garlic & onion powders, salt & pepper. Put the vinaigrette in a blender with about 3/4 Tablespoon dried cranberries per cup vinaigrette, and puree until smooth. Then, add about a quarter cup of dried cranberries for every cup vinaigrette, and pulse blender until cranberries are chopped, but not pureed. Let vinaigrette sit over night.

Before tossing the grain salad in the dressing, taste the vinaigrette for sweetness and add a bit of sugar if need be. It shouldnÂt be too tart or too sweet.

Sprinkle the toasted chopped nuts on top and garnish with sprigs of parsley, green onion tassels or carrot curls and a few whole dried cranberries

Put the rice from the chinese joint (or any leftover rice, for that matter) into a glass container, sprinkle with a tsp or so water, loosely cover and nuke for a minute or two. Just as good as fresh for any of the delicious concoctions above. Why throw it out?

Arrive home from the bar at 2:30 AM and eat it cold out of the pot. Ummm!... perfect.

: )
lyra

Lyra, that would assume I could still say up until the 2:30 bar time, which sadly, I cannot! ;0

A friend of mine makes her own "instant rice" -- she cook up a pot of (short-grain Korean/Japanese-type) rice, makes large rice balls (enough for one serving) and wraps them in plastic wrap to freeze. When she wants some, she nukes the plastic wrapped ball.

Try 'Dirty Rice'--a rice dressing popular in cajun country. If you want to get an idea of what it should taste like, go to Popeyes fried chicken and try their rice dressing. It's pretty good for 'store-bought'. (Popeyes calls it rice dressing, but I've never heard it called anything but 'dirty rice' in Louisiana.)

Basically, it's rice with chicken livers, gizzards and lots of black and red pepper, some onions and garlic.

The link is for a recipe using raw rice, but you could cook up some liver and gizzards with spices and stock, and add the cooked rice to it. It would be fine.

Will birds eat it? Or can it be used in the garden as fertilizer?

I live on a lake, and wonder if the freshwater fish would be OK with eating it if I put it in the water.

For a breakfast treat, pour milk of cream on a bowl of leftover rice and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Heat in the microwave oven. I learned this from my mother and taught it to my daughter. She loves it.

Leftover rice doesn't seem to work well for making conge (aka jook). Start with uncooked rice for that.

Jim

Time to make stuffed cabbage or stuffed peppers??

Well, I was particularly interested in this because I have a lot of leftover Spanish rice. We've already stuffed burritos, and I was thinking of stir-frying it Mexican style. A frittata is a great idea, and I can see it stuffed in peppers. Thank You for helping me out as well!