Budget cooking: rice

Stretching your last bit of money just before payday can be a challenge. You do still want to eat well, after all. You can buy a pack of rice for € 3,- and it’s enough to fill a whole lot of mouths. If you get a little creative with your other ingredients, you’ll soon have an incredibly cheap meal.

Every dish calls for a different type of rice, whether round-grain or long-grain. But as a base, we usually use basmati. When rice makes up a large part of the meal, it’s important that it’s cooked perfectly. Read here how to do it; it’s easier than you think.

Egg
Another cheap but delicious product that goes perfectly with rice. If you have neither money nor time, fall back on one of these combinations. They’re so easy they hardly qualify as recipes.

Fried egg
Put cooked rice in a bowl and add two small pieces of butter.. Place a fried egg on top and drizzle soy sauce and sesame oil over it, then sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Stir the rice under the egg a little so all the flavours are in every bite, and you’re done. It’s best of all when the yolk breaks and mixes with the warm rice.

Japanese
Even less in the mood for cooking? Put Japanese rice (the kind you also use for sushi) in a bowl while it’s still piping hot. Pour in a small splash of mirin and soy sauce and crack a whole egg over it. Stir everything together very quickly; the egg cooks from the heat of the rice. Stirring very quickly makes the egg white light and airy, while the yolk provides a creamy flavour. True die-hards add an extra raw egg yolk in the middle. Also delicious with thin strips of nori (seaweed) on top, but fantastic without them too.

Caramelized onion and lentils

Onions don’t cost much either, and caramelizing them gives them an incredible amount of flavour. Combine them with nutritious, cheap and above all delicious lentils and you’re all set.

Fried rice

For when you have lots of leftovers in the fridge but don’t know what to do with them. Fried rice is the answer. Fry rice with some onion, garlic, vegetables, bacon bits, egg—whatever you like. It’s best with rice that’s a day old. Click here for four variations.

Congee

A typical Chinese breakfast, but it also regularly appears on our table at dinner. By cooking rice for a very long time in a large amount of stock, you get a soft porridge that’s packed with flavour. Top with spring onion, though leftover chicken also works very well here.

Rice salad

Let the rice cool thoroughly, or rinse it with cold water if you’re in a hurry. Now you have a delicious base for a salad that you can add absolutely anything to. We often use a classic vinaigrette combined with diced red bell pepper and tomato, rocket, basil or sage.

But this is also a dish where you can basically use anything from your fridge. It’s entirely up to you whether you use the rice as the actual base, with a little lettuce or vegetables mixed through it, or the other way around.

Chicken

Chicken with rice, as simple as it gets, all in one pan. Buying a whole chicken is more economical, but you can also use thighs or legs. Cooking everything together allows all the flavours to blend. Finish with some fresh herbs and you can sit down to eat. If you have plenty of Indian spices at home, even a spicy biryani can still fit your budget.