Rice Latkes with Crispy Onions and Mint Yogurt Sauce

This dish is from leftovers of a recipe called “Mujadara Lentils and Rice with Fried Onions” in The Simple Art of Rice by J.J. Johnson, a terrific resource for rice dishes of all kinds and from around the world. Fun to read as well as to cook from. He does not have a recipe for rice latkes, however, so I made one up – and it happens to be gluten free as there’s no flour or Matza meal added. 

All amounts are a guess

Ingredients

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  About 5 cups Overcooked  Basmati Rice or just regular leftover rice

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  about 1 cup Cooked Brown lentils

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  5 eggs, beaten

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  ¼ t cinnamon

• 

  ⅛ t cayenne

• 

  ½ t salt

• 

  ½ -1 cup crispy onions

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For the crispy onions

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  2-3 L onions, thin sliced

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  Enough oil to cover them in a dutch oven (3 cups or more)

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For the mint-yogurt sauce

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  1 cup Greek yogurt

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  1-2 T finely chopped fresh mint or other available fresh herb

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  ¼ t salt

• 
  

To make the crispy onions – definitely the most important ingredient:

1. Peel and thin slice the onions

2. Heat oil to shimmering

3. Immerse onions in oil and boil for 15-20 minutes or until the onions start to turn brown and crispy. Watch carefully at the end so they don’t burn. Ladle them out with a slotted spoon. 

You can filter the oil and use it again for something else like cooking your latkes– or in case you want to make more crispy onions because they are SO good on top of anything.) Also you can make these and refrigerate them no problem. They still heat up crispy and taste delicious. 

The Yogurt Sauce

1. In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, mint or other fresh herb, and salt. 

2. Let stand for at least 30 minutes. 

The Latkes

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 for warming. 

2. In a large bowl beat the eggs

3. Whisk in cinnamon, cayenne, and salt

4. Add the rice and lentils and combine by hand, Break down any rice clumps. It will be pretty mushy

5. When evenly mixed, add about half of the crispy onions. Stirr in with spoon or spatula. You don’t want to break them up much. 

6. Heat ¼ to ½ in of vegetable oil in a large skillet. (I use my 14” All-Clad.) Use high heat and heat until the oil is shimmering and/or it really pops if you put in a drop of water.

7. Make the paddies one at a time in your hands and put in the oil. They are soft and it’s hard to use a spatula but you can try i you’re afraid of burning your hands. My paddies were 3-4 in. diameter, but you can make them any size. 

8. Cook until you can see it’s crispy brown on the bottom when lifted with a spatula. (Definitely use it here!) Around 3-4 minutes for the first side. 

9. Flip and cook other side 2-3 min or until crispy brown.

10. Remove to a baking tray and keep warm in the oven while you finish the batch. 

11. Serve, topping each latkes with a teaspoon of the yogurt sauce and sprinkle on remaining crispy onions. 

You can store these in the fridge and reheat for up to 3 days. Best to heat in a pan, not the microwave. 

Enjoy!