When my grandfather was growing up in the 1920′s, he ate meat and potatoes 365 days a year. He never tired of it. When I was growing up, my parents added variety but rice was the backdrop of all our childhood meals.
As Bubba can testify, there is no reason to get bored eating the same thing everyday, with a little imagination there are countless ways of enjoying it.
Quick and Easy Rice Fritters using Leftover Rice
This tastes similar to potato pancakes (latkes) but even easier to make as there is no peeling involved. This is a perfect way to use up stale rice. Double the recipe as needed.
1 cup cooked rice, packed
1 onion, grated
1 egg
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Vegetable oil for frying
Combine all the ingredients except for oil and mix well. In a pan, heat oil for shallow frying. When the oil is hot, add a tablespoon of batter, pressing down slightly to form a flat fritter. Fry one side until golden and flip. If there are many holes in the fritter, add more cornstarch to the batter. Drain fritters on paper towels to absorb excess oil.
Serve with salsa, guacamole, tzatziki and anything else that has a zesty fresh flavor.
How do you use up leftover food? Please share!
White and wild rice fritters, served with spiced lentils
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Those look really good. I use up my leftover rice by making fried rice (which really works best with cold rice combined with whatever else is in the fridge, so is perfect for leftovers).
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Thanks Robin, they are really yummy, it seems I always have leftover rice so this recipe is perfect.
Wow, I’m so glad I happen to have leftover rice in the refrigerator right now! These look wonderful. I usually eat leftovers as my lunch since I work at home, but I get a lot of meals out of my chicken stock: I shred any remaining chicken and add it to all sorts of things, and use the carrots and potatoes to make patties like these, or as filling in pies.
Bookishima, lately with 3 boys in the house, I don’t have much of a chance to cook with leftovers, seems like I have to double my recipes
My mother would take leftover mashed potatoes and add eggs, s and p and matzoh meal and then fry them. Similar to latkes but with cooked potatoes. They were called chremslech.
intereresting, I never heard of chremslech before but it has a nice ring to it. I’ll try it next time I have leftover mash potatoes
Hi Sarah! Thanks for your welcome to She Writes. These pancakes look lovely. With my leftover rice, I fry spring onions in peanut oil, add a couple of beaten eggs, chop them up, and add the rice till heated through, then sprinkle some sesame oil and soy sauce over. I just love it.
Interesting, I’ve never seen anything like it.
BTW, I also recently heard of khremselach — from a friend, and no one believed it existed outside her family.
There’s no such thing as leftover rice in my house anymore since we started raising chickens – they love it. But, one of my all time favorite things to do with leftover rice (or fresh rice for that matter) is to mix the rice with eggs, onions, salt and pepper and then stir in a can or 2 or 3 of salmon or tuna depending on the amount of rice. I pack it all into a teflon frying pan (gotta be a non-stick pan of some sort or you’ll never get it out) and let it go on a medium heat till the bottom gets all brown and crunchy, and then flip it over onto a plate and slide it back into the frying pan to get the top side brown and crunchy. I usually eat it with ketchup mixed with sriracha to give it a nice spicy punch. Sort of a savory rice kugel.
Never thought to make fritters with left over rice, usually make fried rice, but this just sounds delicious, and so versatile.
We’re usually boring and make fried rice. I have just cooked some rice to eat with last night’s leftover curry. I’ve left some behind to try the rice fritters! Looking forward to it.
These were really tasty! I used leftover rice from yesterday’s lunch that I’d have otherwise thrown out!! I can see these would be good with tzatziki.
I just found you via Pinterest – imagine spending my Saturday night being sucked into the internet… Anyway, these look fantastic, and it’s always great to stumble on lovely food blogs. I always have a large pot of leftover rice in the fridge, so v happy to have a new way to use them. I usually just stir fry the rice up with spring onions, grated courgettes, grated carrots (gotta get the veggies into the kids) and some sort of fish (tinned salmon, or smoked mackerel fillets), lots of fresh lemon, and whatever herbs I have lying around. V easy and nice. Will be trying your fritters tomorrow.
Thanks Reluctant Launderer, I agree with you Pinterest is a bit addicting
Thanks for the rice fritter recipes and variations. I remember my mother making rice fritters when I was a boy. The difference was that she sprinkled them with powdered sugar and gave to us for a treat. She probably didn’t include any onion in them, because my father hated onions.