What Can I Cook With Rice? 9 Meals Beyond Plain Boiled

A bag of rice is half a dinner already

Rice is the pantry item most households never run out of, and it is also the one that gets cooked the same way every time: boiled, plain, next to something. That works, but it leaves a lot unused. The same two cups can become a one-pot pulao, a comforting khichdi, a tangy lemon rice, or the fried rice your lunchbox needed.

Here are nine dishes from our recipe library, grouped by what you are in the mood for. All amounts come in metric and US units on the recipe pages.

When there is cooked rice in the fridge

Some of the best rice dishes want rice that is already cooked and cold.

Egg fried rice. 300 g (2 cups) of rice, 3 eggs, an onion, carrot and peas, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and black pepper. It takes 25 minutes. Our recipe says to use day-old, chilled rice, because fresh rice turns mushy in the wok. Keep the heat high so the rice fries instead of steaming. Safe handling for that cold rice is covered below.

Lemon rice. A South Indian way to use leftover rice. 300 g (10.5 oz) of rice, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, mustard seeds, split lentils, peanuts and curry leaves. The rice should be fully cooled, because warm rice goes clumpy with lemon juice. It takes 30 minutes and the card marks it Easy.

Curd rice. 200 g (7 oz) of rice boiled very soft, 400 g (1.7 cups) of yogurt and 100 ml of milk, tempered with mustard seeds and curry leaves, then chilled 30 minutes. The milk goes in while the rice is still warm, then the yogurt once the rice is at room temperature. That order is why it does not turn watery later.

One pot, rice cooked from raw

Matar pulao. 400 g (2 cups) of rice soaked 20 minutes, 200 g (1.5 cups) of green peas, an onion and whole spices in ghee. Water goes in at about 1.5 times the rice by volume, then the pot is covered tightly and steamed on low for 20 minutes. Rest it 5 minutes before fluffing. About 55 minutes.

Vegetable pulao. The same method with 150 g potato, 100 g carrot and 100 g peas. Use it when the vegetable drawer needs clearing. The card says any seasonal vegetable can replace the potato and carrot. Water should sit about one finger-width above the rice. About 50 minutes.

Chicken pulao. When you want it to be the whole meal. 700 g (1.5 lb) of chicken is braised with yogurt first, then the rice goes in. Measure the liquid left in the pot after the chicken is cooked and top it up. About 70 minutes.

Soft and comforting

Khichdi. 150 g (0.75 cup) rice and 150 g (0.75 cup) split mung beans, boiled with turmeric in 4 to 5 cups of water until it breaks down into a porridge, then finished with a cumin tarka in ghee. It is a rainy-day and recovery-day dish. About 40 minutes. It thickens as it cools, so keep some hot water to loosen it.

Daal chawal. Red lentils simmered soft, with 300 g (1.5 cups) of rice boiled in plenty of salted water for about 12 minutes. This is the dish most children learn first. About 45 minutes.

Bhuna khichuri. The Bangladeshi cousin of khichdi, with dry-roasted moong dal, whole spices and ghee. 300 g (1.5 cups) rice and 200 g (1 cup) dal. Roast the dal only to pale gold, since dark dal tastes bitter. About 55 minutes.

Cooked rice and food safety

This is the part that surprises people. Uncooked rice can carry spores of a bacterium called Bacillus cereus. Cooking does not destroy the spores. If cooked rice sits at room temperature, they can grow and produce a toxin that reheating does not remove. So the rules are about speed.

• Cool it fast. The UK's guidance is to get cooked rice into the fridge as quickly as possible, ideally within an hour. Spreading it on a tray helps it cool quicker than a deep pot.
• Keep it cold. UK advice is to eat refrigerated cooked rice within one day.
• Reheat once, until it is steaming hot all the way through.
• Do not leave rice out overnight on the counter, or in a rice cooker that has been switched off.

That is stricter than the general rule for other leftovers, so rice is worth treating separately. If you cook rice for the week, freeze portions soon after cooking and reheat from frozen.

Rice tips that apply to everything above

• Soak basmati 20 minutes before a pulao, as our recipes do, and wash until the water runs fairly clear.
• Rest it. 5 to 10 minutes covered and off the heat lets the grains set.
• Aged basmati gives longer, less sticky grains for pulao.
• Storing dry rice: keep it in an airtight container in a cool, dry place, away from moisture and insects.

Swaps

• No basmati? We have not tested other rice in the pulao recipes. Long-grain rice should work, but the water ratio may need adjusting, so check after the first 15 minutes.
• No peas for matar pulao? Use the vegetable pulao instead. It is the same method.
• Khichdi with other rice: the Bangladeshi version traditionally uses short-grain aromatic rice, but ordinary rice works.

Cook it with Degchi

Add rice, peas, eggs or whatever else you have to your Degchi pantry, and the app shows which dishes you can cook right now. Each recipe page marks ingredients Have or Out. The app is free and in closed beta; join the beta if you would like to try it.

Questions

Can I reheat rice? Once, if it was cooled quickly and kept in the fridge. It should be steaming hot throughout. Do not reheat the same rice a second time.

Why does my fried rice go mushy? Usually the rice is too fresh and still wet, or the heat is too low. Use cold, day-old rice and a very hot pan.

How long does cooked rice keep? UK advice is one day in the fridge. If you want to keep it longer, freeze it soon after cooking.

How much rice should I cook per person? Our pulao recipes use 100 g (half a cup) of raw rice per serving, daal chawal uses 75 g (a third of a cup), and khichdi uses about 40 g of rice plus the same weight of mung beans.