Leftover Diaries: Rice

Whenever we make rice at home we always seem to have leftovers. It always grow more than we think it will. Usually, we just toss the leftover rice into a veggie stir fry, but we recently tried something a bit more interesting! Here is a delicious and customizable fried rice ball recipe.

INGREDIENTS
Leftover rice
Cheese(s) of your choice, shredded (I used a mix of cheddar and pepper jack)
Seasonings of your choice (I just used salt and pepper)
2 eggs
a bit of flour
bread crumbs
vegetable oil

1. Start by pouring 1.5-2 inches of oil into a frying safe container. Put the heat on high.

2. In a bowl, combine your rice, cheese, seasonings, 1 egg and a few tablespoons of flour. The egg and flour will help the mixture stick together better.

3. Form the rice mixture into small (1-2 inches) balls.

4. Prepare two separate bowls. Beat the second egg in one and pour the bread crumbs into another.

5. Roll your rice balls first in the egg and then in the bread crumbs until completely covered. Pat the bread crumbs so they're fairly secure.

6. Put one rice ball in the friar to test the oil. If the ball bubbles and starts to brown immediately then your oil is ready, if not give your oil a few more minutes to heat up.

7. When your oil is ready lower the heat to medium. Fry as many as your rice balls at once as you are comfortable with. After a few minutes, rotate the balls making sure it browns evenly on all sides.

8. Let the rice balls cool for a few minutes then enjoy!

Leftover Diaries: Mashed Potatoes

The Leftover Diaries might become a mini series here on the blog as inspiration for what to do with some common leftovers. Today is starring mashed potatoes! Now, I know that there are a lot of voracious mashed potato eaters out there. Maybe you don't typically have leftover mashed potatoes. Solution: just make more mashed potatoes than you typically would because this recipe is worth it. Like a lot of my cooking recipes you'll notice that I don't give specific measurements of ingredients. That's because cooking is as much art as science and I really just add ingredients in until I get the consistency and flavors I want and those will depend on how much leftover potatoes you're starting with and your taste preferences. Cooking is customizable! Have fun with it :)

YOU WILL NEED:

leftover mashed potatoes

shredded cheese (I used cheddar)

pepper

flour

milk

butter

1. Shred some cheese and dump it into your bowl of leftover mashed potatoes. It helps if your mashed potatoes are cold from the refrigerator. Add a dash of pepper, a few tablespoons of flour, and a splash of milk. Stir to combine. The consistency should allow you to form patties in your hand without them being super crumbly.

2. Melt a few tablespoons of butter in a nonstick pan. While the butter melts, form the potato mixture into small patties. After the butter is melted, place a few of your patties in the pan. Be careful not to crowd the pan too much because these are pretty delicate and you'll need a bit of room to maneuver. Give them about 5 minutes on the first side. You want a nice golden crust to form so just let them sit and do their thing. Gently flip them and let them cook another 3-5 minutes on the second side. Enjoy!

These are super delicious and I think I actually prefer them to just regular old mashed potatoes. Something about the golden crust and melty cheese....perfection. I like to make these for breakfast the morning after we have mashed potatoes with dinner. Give them a try!