Makes about 2 dozen small rice balls.

Almost every meal I remember fondly has had rice playing a significant role in it. Like most Indians, I have it every day. Sometimes three times a day. And in all this time, never once have I ever tired of it. The countless rice recipes in Indian cuisine and the various side-dishes that rice plays a perfect canvas to probably have something to do with it.
Families usually buy rice by the sack full. A few hundred pounds to last the year. And a lot of care is taken to source the perfectly aged grain. The older it is, the better. The last few weeks have seen the cool winds recede and the heat making itself comfortable. Summer is here. Which means only one thing: The last harvest of fresh peas needs to find a way to my table before I have to settle for the frozen ones through the rest of the year.
With plenty of rice at hand, I thought there's no better way to say farewell to these emerald morsels than with Mutter Pulao (rice cooked with peas). The subtle, fragrant spices coat the rice, and the peas add a wonderful sweet burst to the dish.
It's a recipe full of nostalgia for me, because we'd eat it often as children. My brother and I would hastily pick out the succulent peas as soon as the pulao was served and each of us would vie for the bigger haul, when no one was looking.
All sibling rivalry would be forgotten as soon as we started eating, of course. It's one of those dishes that make you too happy to snitch.
So tonight, Peas Pulao it is. Yet another meal to reminisce.

A Facebook friend asked me recently if I had a list of my favorite recipes, and I was sorry to say that I didn’t. But what a good idea! Or so I thought, until I started to name all the recipes I considered favorites and found that the list would be so long that it would be useless. So I decided to reshape the question: Which recipes do I make over and over again? I decided to focus on the recipes I actually make week-in and week-out plus a few that I make regularly for holidays or special occasions, such as green bean casserole for Thanksgiving.

After I thought of it like that, my list became both much shorter and much less fancy. It includes the Dirty Little Secret Soup that I make once a week (a little differently each time), the chickpea “tuna” salad I pack in my daughter’s lunch, and at least 4 different kinds of split-pea soup. All have been thoroughly tested and are dishes that we–teenager included–love. You can see the full list of my family’s favorites here (it’s now a regular category in the recipe index).

As I was making the list, I asked my husband to help me think of every meal we eat regularly, and I was a little surprised to discover that several of the dishes in our regular rotation haven’t appeared on the blog. I guess I’ve been so busy trying to feature new recipes that I haven’t bothered with the very simple, stand-by dishes that make up a big part of our diet. So I’ve decided to rectify that. For the next three weeks, I’ll be adding a new “old” recipe each week. I’ll reveal what food we always travel with and tell you how to make the vegetable-rich pasta dish my daughter loves.

My first old favorite reveals another “dirty little secret” of my family’s eating habits: about once a week, we eat burritos for dinner. On really rushed nights, we rely on canned fat-free refried beans (I know, I know–sodium and BPA, but we’re talking emergency meals) and wrap them in whole wheat tortillas along with lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, jalapenos, and my daughter’s specialty, guacamole (there’s another recipe I’ve never posted.) But when I have leftover brown rice, I skip the refried beans and throw together this easy Spanish rice. It makes a great burrito filling or side dish and doesn’t take much longer than heating up a can of beans.

The secret with this rice is not to skimp on the ginger and garlic. You could just stir the eggs through but I think the little omelette ribbons are a nice touch. Add some leftover roast chicken and you've got dinner.

If you have live or whole cooked crabs you can make a stock from the shells. If not, you can use freshly picked crab meat and fish stock as the base and/or stir some of the brown meat in at the end.

If you're not already a tofu fan, this might just convert you. It's so simple, it's virtually instant and, as with many of my dishes, you can amp up the flavours however you like by adding a bit more of what you fancy.

I could probably live on fried rice and it's such a great way to use up leftovers. The addition of some juicy, fat prawns here makes it a little bit more special if you're inviting friends over.

Serve this dish (inspired by the Middle Eastern classic, Mujadara) either as a vegetarian main course or a hearty side.

Mejadra is the Israeli equivalent of rice and beans—a hearty grain and legume dish that can be served as a side or a vegetarian main. This version of mejadra from The Book of New Israeli Food by Janna Gur begins with gently cooked onions mixed with lentils and seasoned with cumin. The lentils are then simmered with long grain rice and topped with crisp-fried onions. Five onions for six servings of rice might seem like a bit much, but the two layers of onions give this dish its wonderfully deep oniony flavor, lending their sweet-savoriness to the rice and lentils.

The traditional way to steam sticky rice is in a conical steamer basket; other stove top methods can be used. I've included the directions for a microwave, but use the method of your choice.

You can put the casserole together ahead of time and bake it just before serving. Start with it at room temperature, if possible, and bake it long enough to be sure it’s heated through. If it starts to get too brown on top, cover it with aluminum foil until it’s hot.

Kushari is a simple yet healthful dish of pasta, rice and lentils widely sold in small Egyptian restaurants and roadside stands. With its full complement of protein, a spicy topping of tomato sauce and crispy fried onions, kushari is often considered the Egyptian national dish.

I have Egypt on my mind. While Egyptians have risen up like a tsunami that will not abate until it has destroyed the Mubarak regime in its wake, all I can do is follow the news. While history is being made on the streets of Cairo and Alexandria, all I can do is write about my favorite Egyptian street food. But Egypt is also on my mind for another reason. The pictures below are from three weeks ago when my Egyptian friend Yasmin invited a few of us to lunch to learn how to make Koshary just a few days before she was about to leave for Egypt for a month-long vacation.  A few hours ago, she posted a quick note on Facebook to let us know that she is fine. Relieved, it struck me how today events around the world affect me in a much more personal way than even ten years ago. And in my small way, writing this post inexplicably makes me feel closer to the people of Egypt.

Koshary is one of the ultimate street foods. Just like Egyptians from many walks of life have come together to create the perfect storm of a protest, the many layers in this humble dish come together to make a very satisfying dish. It is affordable, filling and fairly healthy though loaded with carbs. While the various ingredients take time to assemble, it is simple to make. Rather than the pyramids or the sphinx, this dish is one of my favorite things from my trips to Egypt.

There are many recipes for Koshary and some include toppings that others don’t. It is up to you to decide which of the toppings to include although I highly recommend keeping all of them. Koshary is typically served with a tomato sauce and a garlic sauce. Yasmin combined the two sauces for ease. This recipe serves 4. The various ingredients could be prepared ahead of time and brought to room temperature or warmed before serving.

A frequent offering on Thai restaurant dessert menus, this exotic creation is a soothing finale to a spicy meal.

Every Tex-Mex restaurant serves rice like this on virtually every plate, and even though you're not likely to find rice like this anywhere in Mexico, the flavors all come from south of the border.

Here is a classic shrimp and rice dish from the Caribbean.

Rice was introduced to the Americas by the Spanish, but the corn and chiles in this dish are traditional Central American ingredients.

I usually make this with Tofurky vegan sausage but didn't have any so I substituted tofu. I sauteed the tofu a bit in olive oil, smoked paprika, liquid smoke and cayenne for some extra flavor. Worked out deliciously if I do say so myself!

Tempeh is made from fermented soybeans and has a nutty flavor and a firm meaty texture. Here it's combined with red pepper and snow peas to make a simple and satisfying Indonesian-style stir-fry.

On this page we have put a few recipes for rice and oats which can be cooked in your Zojirushi.

We hear it often from budding cooks who have recently gotten their own apartments: stocking the spice rack is intimidating and confusing. Once you own oregano, cumin, chili powder, and dried coriander, making that bowl of chili is a breeze. But if you don't, even making a dish as budget-friendly as chili can become an expensive, annoying undertaking.

This rice pilaf gets much of its flavor from plain old pantry peppercorns, to the dismay of the rest of my stocked spice rack. By frying the whole peppercorns in oil at the beginning you extract much of their flavor; cooking them slowly with the rice mellows them enough to make them palatable. Vegetables, almonds, and fatty coconut milk add to the savoriness of the pilaf, but in large part the deliciousness of this hearty rice is owed to these peppercorns—which is good news for your wallet, no matter how stocked your spice rack is.

I have no idea why this is called risotto because it's not made the traditional way risotto is but it's a rice dish I frequently serve when I am creating a menu featuring Cuban foods (which we like a lot). This dish freezes well.

I usually make this dish with a hotter pepper then a jalapeño. You may want to do the same if you like more heat. Chipotle peppers also work very well in this recipe.

The depth of flavor from the hoisin sauce, ginger and cayenne perfectly complements the mild tofu. Carrot, broccoli and corn add vibrant color to aromatic Texmati rice.

Enjoy this simple vegetarian version of classic Spanish paella. We added lima beans and peas for extra flavor and protein. Topping with grilled tempeh would provide an even bigger protein boost. Rice in paella should be al dente, so take care not to add too much water.

Rice and vermicelli is a common combination in Arab and Turkish cooking - it has a lighter texture than rice on its own. Here they're stuffed into cabbage leaves to make a truly comforting dish. Serves four.

I got the ingredients for my version of paella from the small Spanish supermarket, Garcia, on Portobello Road, west London - it has a great selection of pickled vegetables, many varieties of paprika, a luscious cheese and meat counter, and lots of other attractively packaged goodies that probably only a native Spaniard can fully appreciate. The place reminds me of a rare but still possible blissful retail world. Carrots, courgettes, peas and sugar snaps can all be used in making this dish, with adjustment to the cooking times. Serves two, generously.

I generally opt for steamed basmati rice to accompany my homemade curries but after trying out this Kashmiri Pilaf from Anjum's New Indian, I'm wondering, why settle for that when you can have an aromatic nut and fruit studded pilaf?

This pilaf begins with whole spices—cloves, cinnamon stick, bay, cardamom, and cumin—toasted in vegetable oil. Sliced onions are added to the pan and caramelized, followed by almonds and raisins. The rice is sautéed briefly to add toastiness and then cooked in a mix of water and saffron-scented milk. Fluffed with a fork and scattered with pistachios and lots of freshly ground black pepper, the pilaf is ready to go.

For a dish that contains barely any extra added fat at all, the flavors are incredibly rich thanks to the oily nuts, subtle saffron, and the heady, exotic mix of spices.

I have what could be called an infatuation with fried rice, but have never stopped and thought through every step until I came across this recipe from Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking. It's one of the most meticulous accounts of fried-rice-making I've ever seen. It features a marinade and a sauce, and a fairly complex set of instructions, which has you turning the heat up and down often. Luckily the results were worth all of the fussy instructions.

To be sure, it looks like a lot of ingredients, but many of the ingredients in the marinade are used again in the sauce. The only trouble I ran into was how to find a Chinese sugar ham. Lo has a recipe for it in the book, and while it isn't exactly the hardest thing to create, you will have to buy a ham shank, cure it, then baste it with sugar. Not exactly perfect for a weeknight meal. I took a short cut and just used some hickory smoked bacon—I figured it would have a little sweetness already. To keep the rice from getting too greasy, I cooked the bacon first, and drained away most of the fat.

This pudding is delicious served warm or chilled.

Rice Pudding Grand-Mere
from The Paris Café Cookbook: Rendezvous and Recipes from 50 Best Cafes,
by Daniel Young

Shir Berenj is a traditional Persian dessert, it can be served cold or hot. You'll need rosewater for this recipe and you can get it at any Persian stores; If you can't find it, use vanilla.

In Spanish, chile con carne means “peppers with meat” and that’s what this dish delivers. Chunks of diced beef replace the usual ground mince, producing a meaty stew with flavours of chilli, peppers and tomato. Serve with the colourful turmeric rice on the side some sour cream and coriander (cilantro)leaves.

This savory dish is a staple at the Cajun table and goes well with just about everything, especially spicy foods.

Fried rice, or cha-han (チャーハン) as it’s called in Japan (a word imported from Chinese), is one of my comfort foods. (It’s also called yakimeshi 焼き飯, depending on where you grew up and so on.) There are variations of fried rice throughout Asia, and a light colored, Cantonese-influenced version (probably introduced by Chinese immigrants who settled around the port cities of Yokohama and Kobe) is a standby of Japanese home cooking. It’s a very frugal dish, since it’s quick to make and is a great way to use up leftover vegetables and meat. My idea of perfect fried rice has to have separate grains, each coated with a bit of oil and flavoring - but never too greasy, enhanced by bits of vegetables and/or meat or shrimp and fluffy yellow egg throughout.

I always have a bit of a conundrum as to where I should post a new recipe. I’ve more or less settled on this formula: if it’s particularly suited for bentos, the recipe goes here on Just Bento, and if not, it goes over on Just Hungry. The exception to this is if it’s a sort of foundation Japanese recipe, that applies to a wide variety of recipes - then it goes on Just Hungry. Got that? If you want to be sure not to miss anything, I hope you decide to just follow both sites. ^_^

The negimiso or onion-miso sauce recipe I posted over on Just Hungry last week belongs to the third category - it’s a foundation type recipe for Japanese cooking - but it’s really well suited to bento dishes. Here are three of my favorites - all quick to make if you have a batch of negimiso on hand.

For all of the recipes here, I’ve used variation no. 1 of the negimiso recipes, using a light brown miso and cooked to a loose-sauce state. I did use a sugar substitute for the sugar, but you can use regular sugar (which will be better). Any of the negimiso variations should work just as well.

If you have access to a top-notch cheese purveyor then you should be able to get a good quality Gorgonzola dolce from Italy. If not, then any good quality blue cheese will make an excellent substitute.

First, get the Pot. You need the simplest rice cooker made. It comes with two speeds: Cook, and Warm. Not expensive. Now you're all set to cook meals for the rest of your life on two square feet of counter space, plus a chopping block. No, I am not putting you on the Rice Diet. Eat what you like. I am thinking of you, student in your dorm room. You, solitary writer, artist, musician, potter, plumber, builder, hermit. You, parents with kids. You, night watchman. You, obsessed computer programmer or weary web-worker. You, lovers who like to cook together but don't want to put anything in the oven. You, in the witness protection program. You, nutritional wingnut. You, in a wheelchair.

A delicious vegetarian main dish or accompaniment to another curry, ideal for a curry buffet or spicy feast

Introduce children to spices by getting them to cook this easy rice dish

This simple rice dish is a useful backup – it needs practically no preparation and uses storecupboard ingredients

Rice and corn are frequently combined in Mexican soups, stews, and stuffings, and here they make a perfect match all by themselves.

For various reasons, I’ve been staying away from eating bread recently. This has led me back to an old favorite that I hadn’t made in a while, rice burgers. Rice burgers are made with rice that is formed into two flat patties, then made into sandwiches. Here are my original instructions for making a rice burger. Rice burgers are great for people who like onigiri (rice balls) but want a high filling vs. rice ratio.

This bento relies on two staples (plus premade frozen rice): meat soboro, and stewed hijiki seaweed with carrots and tofu.. 3-color soboro (sanshoku soboro 三色そぼろ) is a classic bento combination, and as you can see it’s quite colorful. To eat it yo mix the toppings into the rice. You may want to bring a spoon along to make eating the mixed rice easier.

OK. Those of you with a fancy rice cooker, or a rice cooking method that you’re completely satisfied with, skip down to today’s recipe – egg fried rice.

For everyone else who struggles with cooking rice, or avoids it completely – gather round.

This Sullivan's Island Shrimp Bog from Edible: A Celebration of Local Foods by Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian was one of those recipes that I was drawn to for its name. The name conjured up images of marshy Carolina shores, tall grass, and rice paddies. This evocatively titled recipe captures a region where both shrimp and rice are staples and whose diverse culinary influences season it with flavors that are both unexpected and satisfying.

''The soupe de poisson used here is a very special ingredient made from fresh whole fish. The seafood is blast frozen as soon as it reaches the shore to retain its fresh flavour. The Arborio rice is the highest quality, and the fresh mayonnaise tastes absolutely home-made. All these combine to make this the very best seafood experience for those of us not lucky enough to live near the sea.'

Curried Eggs with Rice (Adapted from Everyday Food)

Orange-Glazed Tofu Triangles with Sesame Rice (Adapted from CL)

Mao Pao Tofu (Adapted from CL)

A regular bento maker relies heavily on leftovers. But there is no reason why they have to look boring or sad, or scream ‘ich bin ein Leftover!’ at you from your bento box. This bento is made almost entirely of leftover bits; the rice is left over from dinner so I didn’t have to draw from my frozen rice stash), the ham and lentils were from a soup a couple of days ago (the lentils were Puy lentils so they stayed nice and firm in the soup) , and the broccoli stems are, naturally, left over after the florets were used up. Once they are peeled, they are perfectly edible, and add a nice crunch to any dish.

Signature Spanish rice dish shows Moorish influence and is surprisingly simple to make.