What to cook with rice: 8 recipes

Which rice to buy and how to store it

Most recipes here work best with ordinary long-grain or medium-grain white rice. For plov, choose a firm long-grain or a special plov rice that stays separate after long steaming. For porridge, a round-grain rice is ideal: it releases starch and turns creamy. For meatballs, stuffed peppers and lazy cabbage rolls, any inexpensive white rice is fine, since it cooks inside the filling.

Keep dry rice in a closed jar or container in a cool, dark cupboard, away from strong smells; it keeps for many months. Cooked rice is a different story: cool it quickly and refrigerate within an hour or two, then use it within a day or two and reheat until piping hot.

Tips for fluffy rice and juicy fillings

• Rinse rice for plov and side dishes until the water runs almost clear; less surface starch means separate grains. Don't rinse round rice for porridge.
• Measure water by weight or volume, then leave the lid on. Lifting it releases steam and leaves the grains uneven.
• Part-cook rice for fillings. In stuffed peppers, meatballs and lazy cabbage rolls, half-cooked or just-rinsed rice absorbs juice from the meat and sauce instead of turning to mush.
• Let plov rest under the lid off the heat for 15–20 minutes before stirring; the rice finishes steaming and soaks up the fat and spices.

A rice week: what to cook

• Monday breakfast: rice porridge with milk, sweet and gentle.
• Tuesday: rice with vegetables, a quick side or vegetarian dinner.
• Wednesday: meatballs with rice in tomato sauce, enough for tomorrow's lunch.
• Friday: crab stick salad with corn, made with the rice you cooked extra on Tuesday.
• Weekend: Uzbek beef plov in a big pot for family or guests.

On cold weeks, swap one evening for kharcho soup or stuffed peppers from the same selection above.

Leftovers, kids and budget

Meatballs, stuffed peppers and lazy cabbage rolls freeze well in their sauce; thaw them in the fridge and reheat gently. Plain leftover rice is best turned into the vegetable rice or salad the next day rather than kept longer.

Children usually love milk porridge and soft meatballs in tomato sauce. Rice is one of the cheapest staples, and a little mince stretched with rice and vegetables feeds more people for the same money.