Leftover Rice Pancake
Happy Tuesday, dykes and friends! Life is good here in unseasonably warm Chicago. My best friend and I ended our week with a visit to the Garfield Park Conservatory, a queer ballet, and a recording of the Moby-Dick opera. The conservatory is maybe my favorite place in Chicago. It's over one hundred years old, and is full of plants from all around the world, some of which were alive for hundreds of years BEFORE the conservatory opened in 1907! The gay ballet was a treat: I love watching dance and hope to take some intro classes some day. The ballet was titled THE CAPULETS and was a reimagining of Romeo and Juliet from within the Capulets' court. Gonna be honest: lotta they/thems in the cast. Finally, we watched the Moby-Dick opera. My friend loved the performances but Hayley and I kept yelling about how it needed a song about whale phrenology. Maybe next time.
Today I want to talk about transforming leftover rice into a crispy pancake! This is a common way we make leftovers more exciting. This is a great fridge clearing meal: add leftover protein, steam some vegetables and stir in, toss in some shredded cheese - the fridge is the limit! I'm going to give you my recipe and I'll include some ideas for veganizing it, but it's honestly just a guess. Because I love egg.
Leftover Rice Pancake
However much leftover rice you got (enough to fill a cast iron pan) One egg, scrambled 2-3 tbs flour 2-3 tbs neutral oil (canola, vegetable, grapeseed) Salt to taste
Combine rice, egg, and flour in large bowl. You want it to mix into a dough that barely sticks together, but does stick. If the rice is not sticking to itself, add another spoonful of flour.
Heat oil over medium high heat in a cast iron pan until almost smoking. Add the rice mixture and press into a flat pancake. Fry pancake for 5-7 minutes on first side, lifting the edge to check for browning. You want it to get quite brown and crispy. Okay, time to flip. Run your spatula along the edges to loosen. Place a greased plate over top of the pan and flip it over. Hopefully it comes out in one piece! Slide the pancake from the plate back into the pan. Fry again until golden brown, then slide the pancake back out onto the plate. Slice into quarters and enjoy. But guess what?
LAST CALL
Here's where you make it your own. A big handful of shredded cheese is the easiest addition. Toss some leftover meat or a tin of fish into the pancake. Saute some onion and slice some fridge vegetable thin (we did kohlrabi, you could add some small chopped broccoli, some frozen peas, whatever) and place on top of the first uncooked side, cover and steam. Flip it and let it brown on the other side. Make a quick mayo sauce (I did mayo and hot sauce) and drizzle over the top. Add some chopped scallion greens, parsley, cilantro, whatever!
Veganizing! Okay this is just a guess. I think you could do a milk alternative and flour or cornstarch here. You could try a flax egg, but that's gonna add Flavor.
Final thought: OH GOD JACK MY PANCAKE FELL APART! I'M SUCH A FAILURE! No, that's fried rice now. Fried rice fucks. Eat it.
Happy munching!