Savoury rice bake

This recipe has been staring at me for at least 6 years. My lovely mum made me a recipe file when 9 friends and I ventured over to Canada to ‘do’ the ski season quite a while ago. Even at the tender age of 19 I loved cooking for people and fell into the role of regular house chef. I didn’t mind it really as I got out of cleaning up which is my least favourite part of the cooking process.

Anyway, I look at this recipe every time I open the book but for some reason have never actually converted from looking to making. When I was asked to provide lunch for Volunteer Qld again last week I knew the rice bake’s time had come. It had to be something gluten free and preferably vegetarian to cover a few bases and this fits the bill. Of course I savoured a little piece myself for quality control and was very pleased with the result.

It would make a great side dish or a savoury snack. I think it would even be good cut up into squares as cocktail food (you’d need to make it in a rectangular tin).

Good old rice cooker

The first step is to cook the rice. I use my trusty rice cooker for step one. If you don’t own one then I’m not much help as I am quite a failure at cooking rice on the stove (but I’m working on it). My more successful stove method is the absorption method.

Beaten egg

When the rice is cooled, add the egg and stir through. Another good thing about using the rice cooker – I used it to mix everything together so there was only one bowl to clean.

Milk

Add the milk and mix it through.

Onion mixture

Stir through the chopped onion and herbs until they are evenly distributed.

Mmm butter

Add the butter and salt. I’d probably melt the butter a little more next time. Do that first!

Spice it up

Last but not least sprinkle the curry powder over the top and mix it in. You can adjust the amount to your liking.

Tin time

Pour the mixture into your greased and lined tin. Now here is my biggest hint: don’t use a spring-form tin like I did! As you can see in the pic some of the liquid leaked out the bottom. Silly me thought that would stop when it started cooking but it just resulted in a big mess on my oven tray. If you line it so nothing can get out it would be alright but I’d probably use a normal tin next time and line it with an overhang to make the getting-it-out-of-the-tin process easier.

Bake the rice cake at 170C/340F fan-forced for approximately 45 minutes or until the top browns and it feels firm in the middle.

Perfect

When it’s cooked let it cool completely in the tin then remove to a chopping board to cut it up.

Sliced up and good to go

You can vary the flavours in this recipe to suit your taste. Coconut milk could be used instead of regular milk with some coriander to give it an Asian flavour… the options are endless!

Savoury rice bake

Yield: 6

A Claire K Creations original recipe stolen from my mother.

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Ingredients

• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 1 finely chopped clove of garlic
• 1 small finely chopped onion
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1/4 tsp curry powder
• large sprinkle of salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 170C (340F) fan-forced.
2. Grease and line a cake tin. I use a round tin.
3. Add the beaten egg to the rice and mix to combine. Add the milk and stir through.
4. Mix the herbs and onion through then add the butter, salt and curry powder.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until the top browns and it feels firm when pressed in the middle.
6. Leave to cool then cut up and serve. It can be served hot or cold.

Enjoy!

Notes

Serves 6 as a side dish.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post. It’s post number 100 for Claire K Creations. I’ve decided to do something a little special for everyone who take the time to read my ramblings!