How To Make Vegetarian Rice Cakes
Jun 12th, 2008 by admin
A tasty recipe from the vegetarian husband, which evolved from yet another simple experiment in the kitchen:
‘These rice cakes are very filling, but fantastic when you are starving hungry. They take just under 30 minutes to prepare and cook. The great thing about this recipe is that you simply use what’s in the kitchen. If you have to go out to buy the ingredients, then you’ve missed the point!
To make this, you need some leftover rice. Any kind of rice will do (we’ve used risotto and our usual mixture of brown basmati, red carmargue & wild rice), but leftover is always best, as you need the stickiness of slightly thickened rice to help bind the cakes when frying them. The cakes can be skewed towards Mediterranean or Asian, depending on what’s in your fridge that needs using up.
You can use anything you have, as long as they do not need a lot of cooking through. Any kind of pre-cooked leftovers such as spring greens, cabbage or peas etc can also be added.
It doesn’t matter how much rice you have, as you can add other ingredients to bulk it out as necessary. In our fridge, I found a medium-sized courgette, some portabella mushrooms, a couple of spring onions and some havarti cheese.
What to do next:
- Prepare your ingredients and add to large bowl, along with one chopped clove of garlic, one tablespoon of olive oil, plenty of sea salt and pepper (use less salt if the rice is already salted), some dried chilli flakes or one fresh chilli and three tablespoons of semolina flour. Any kind of flour will do – it just serves to thicken the mixture slightly.
- Cut up cheese into tiny pieces and mix in. Any kind of cheese can be used (we’ve also used Fontina and Gruyère) – again it’s about using leftovers. If you want to use an egg to bind the mixture together, you can, but this isn’t really necessary. Add the rice and mix together
- Heat up a heavy bottomed pan or skillet with a small amount of vegetable or rapeseed oil. I have a cheap American cast iron traditional frying pan that improves with age and is perfect for this kind of cooking
- Sprinkle a little flour on a separate plate or work surface. Take a dollop of the mixture (they will cook through more quickly if they are smaller) and place it on the flour. Pat down to about half an inch thick with a spatula, then dust with flour (which when fried, gives the cakes a lovely crunchy coating)
- Carefully lift a cake, place into the pan and press down with the spatula. Repeat this with more dollops until you have no more space left in your frying pan or skillet (we usually do four at a time)
- Turn heat down to medium and let cakes cook for at least 5-7 minutes, before turning them over carefully with the spatula and repeating the process. As long as you’ve left the cakes to cook for long enough, they should remain in one piece as you flip them over. Once the second side has cooked for the same length of time, they are ready to be served
You can eat these rice cakes as a snack with a cold beer or as part of a meal with any kind of seasonal salad. We’ve even had them for breakfast!’.
If you like risotto, then you might like How To Make Mushroom Risotto
All recipes on World Foodie Guide, categorised by cuisine, are archived here.
I love the look of these. Perfect for leftover rice.
GP has tried two types of rice so far – a brown basmati and wild rice mixture, and arborio rice. They both work pretty well. We hate wasting food, so it really is a great recipe for using up leftovers and things lingering in the fridge. I’m always re-arranging the contents of our fridge, and moving older vegetables to the ‘top shelf’ so that GP knows what needs to used up first! That way, nothing goes off…
And I thought we were the only ones to make these kinds of rice cakes! Not vegetarian, but paella makes great rice patties. Also mixing in some American/Indian wild rice is great—it’s not starchy enough on its own, but it adds a nutty chewy goodness.
Those old cast iron pans are wonderful. I have small, medium, and large pans that hang within reach of my stove. A few years ago I bought a Dutch oven, but it has never reached the patina or those 50 year old models. The surface inside is just not so smooth…
hahaha, this is such a good idea! Wonderful for those mornings when i have to make breakfast……-mum still cooks for me- haha. I like the fact how its simple and easy, perfect! They look yum too and healthy!
I am so gonna remember this for when I have a ton of rice leftover… *drool*
Tess, Vivi and Kristan, thanks for all your comments and additional tips! I must admit, the rice cakes made a lovely hot breakfast. We just had some risotto for dinner, fresh from our Italy trip, but couldn’t save any to make rice cakes, as it was too delicious…
I’ve always had problems disposing left overs when so many people are not eating in developing countries. Good thing, i read this post. It’s really helpful. It makes me want to know how to make a mexican rice using left over ingredients. Anyway, for people who want to make a mexican rice cake, i think this blog can also help you: http://www.foodista.com/category/mexican/
Hi Melanie D.
Glad you like it. There’s no wastage in this household! My mother also hates wasting food and all leftovers get heated up for the next meal. Thank you for the link too, I’ve had a look and it’s great!
Helen Yuet Ling
Dear Ms. Foodie,
I had a hunch to check the web for a recipe like this. Thank you very much! I love that the recipe needs no special trips to the store and also rewards healthy purchases on regular trips.
Your photo presentation is superb — I love the order of After, Before, and During.
Note for Tess about new cast iron ware:
You can make your own patina if you start from scratch, literally.
0. Preheat your electric stove’s burner(s).
1. Use hot water and Brillo to prepare ware for heating.
2. Empty clean hot water from ware. DO NOT DRY!!
3. Place ware on med-high to high burner(s). Let water steam off.
4. After 1 – 2 minutes (pre-smoke), add 1-ish Tbsp. Veg. Oil.
5. Wipe oil into ware with paper towel, let smoke, wipe harder.
6. Let smoke, wipe harder, remove from heat.
7. Repeat as desired, and after each use.
JIM – you’re welcome! It’s not my recipe technically, it’s the husband’s. But I liked it enough to feature it on WFG! In fact, I might have some rice cakes tomorrow evening. And I’ll let Tess know about your notes on cast ironware too, sure she’d be interested.
Helen Yuet Ling