In my opinion rice is usually best when you simply boil it then pair it with something flavourful.
Braised pork belly or mapo tofu over the top a bowl of rice is hard to beat.
this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2026
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mapo tofu
First time I hear of this, is it hard to do? This sound pretty good.
The bean paste is Doubanjiang
I can't understand the instructions sadly, is the bean paste the 6th image?
Thanks though, I'll see what I can get out of this one, it looks super delicious.
Thanks! I'll save this.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Curry. Japanese curry rice, Thai curry (red or green). Indian curries like butter chicken, tikka masala, saag/palak.
drafting off this, try a few curries and when you find ones you like, stock up on the associated curry pastes. if you like thai curries, get some cans of coconut milk. you want unsweetened. uncooked rice, unopened curry paste, and canned coconut milk are all shelf stable.
my current S-tier favorites
- japanese curry
- (thai) red curry, yellow curry, massaman curry
all of these curries are solid with potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, etc, which keep fairly well in the kitchen at room temp and are cheap. after that, you just find your protein and you can have all the stuff necessary to put together a badass curry fast and easy. the recipe is usually some version of cut up your veggies into bite size chunks, put some oil+paste and your protein in a heating thing (stew pot, etc), get the paste all over, add the rest of the chunks and water or coconut milk, then slow cook or fast pressure cook everything until its done. dump over or serve with rice.
you can easily spend many lifetimes learning curries, it is a deep and wide river of knowledge that you can find flavorful dishes meeting any and every dietary restriction. my understanding is that curry basically just means "sauce", so it's like a recipe book for all the sauces.
Bean Squad Assemble!
I actually have been thinking about beans a lot since stepping food into the den of Hexbear...
The Way of The 
.
I just throw bullshit in a rice cooker and it's usually good tbh
If rice is on the menu, it's impossible to cook a meal that's not delicious.
That's true actually yeah lol
A really fast one I often do is just getting a ready tub of good Korma or something and then just add chickpeas to it, maybe spice it a bit more. Add meat if using and eat it with rice. I always cook my rice 10min plus 10min rest time, 300g rice and 600g water. Then make fried rice from the leftovers.
Panang curry is also so good even when using a ready made sauce.
Cooked rice in any sort of salad is also great.
Oven rice is great, just put the rice in an ovenpan, add all the other stuff you are going to eat like root veggies, vegetables, beans, meat on top and pour boiling water on the rice. Then roast the whole thing, takes about 30minutes.
Risotto is amazing, takes a bit longer. Any recipe probably works. Paella is amazing.
Rice porridge is so good.
Beans & rice
Any kind of veggie stew and rice
Really most things work so well with rice, kinda depends on what else you have to work with? That would help with sharing a recipe.
Really most things work so well with rice, kinda depends on what else you have to work with? That would help with sharing a recipe.
First of all, some nice suggestions. Onto what I have to work with. Well I have a rice cooker other basic kitchen tools and rice(ofc), veggies and can go to the grocery store if needed. I usually like cooking but my energy has been exhausted for a while, that's why I want to get back into it with simpler stuff.
If you have a rice cooker I am pretty sure you could do all sorts of combo meals in it.
I don't have one so I have no good ideas, but maybe there are some good ideas here.
not a recommendation but "good food recipes" reminds me of trump tweeting about "bad food restaurants" and now my brain is melting
you'll want different sauces but any solids you'd have with pasta you can have with rice
I usually have eggs over rice for breakfast with quick pickled cabbage / onion / peppers / garlic that I put in a large glass jar with a sealed lid and that lasts me over a week adding it to most of my meals.
Mexican red rice goes great with anything, especially
What kinda rice you got?
For most rice, not knowing how to make coconut rice is the 12th form of liberalism. Pick a recipe you like, sauté some vegetables, put ‘em together and you got an easy comfort food.
If you have a short-grain rice (my favorite is Calrose), just add 1/2 cup rice vinegar and a some sugar for every 2 cups of rice and you get sushi rice.
What kinda rice you got?
I think Jasmine rice? I am not good on what rice is what and how good each is. Sushi rice sounds good!
As a bit of a follow up to this, yeah Jasmine rice is amazing for coconut rice and you can do it in a saucepan if you don’t have a rice cooker (but I’m working on learning which rice is good with what.)
You can speed up making fried rice if you plop steamed rice in an air fryer. The texture comes out a little crunchier, but it's good!
Oven Chicken strips covered in sweet chilli sauce (usually stick them in tuppaware with a glob of it and shake it). Super simple but I love it
Are you open to meat, because I like to make spaghetti rice with hamburger, it's v. simple and filling for a cheap meal.
Spaghetti rice? I eat meat but I want to eat more vegetarian now.
Understandable. Here's the recipe just in case you're curious https://www.plainchicken.com/spaghetti-rice/ I substitute the sausage for hamburger.