Cheesy Broccoli And Tuna Rice Cakes

Sometimes I get tired of making fried rice with leftover rice, so was looking up different ways to use up leftover rice. I try to cook rice so I don't have leftovers but when I do  I always end up with fried rice. In  Hugh Fearnley Whittinstall's  Love Your Leftovers
  book he had a recipe for rice cakes, but it didn't go down so well with me , and it also meant I needed to add half a can of beans as well. But the idea of rice cakes was still there, then I saw this cheesy broccoli rice recipe on Pinterest and thought of trying that out with the addition of canned tuna.

Its a bit fiddly so you need to be extra careful when rolling in breadcrumbs, so need to chill a bit in the fridge before rolling in breadcrumbs.

Recipe : Cheesy Broccoli and Tuna Rice Cakes recipe inspired via Pinterest.

1/2 cup finely chopped  cooked broccoli
2 cups cooked cold rice
1 small onion, finely chopped and browned in a little olive oil
1 can tuna, drained and flaked
1 small egg
1 chilli finely chopped
a big handful of grated cheddar
1 extra egg, beaten
breadcrumbs for coating, seasoned with a little salt and pepper
oil for shallow frying

Place the broccoli, rice tuna, cooked onions,  chilli and cheese in a large bowl. add in the egg season with salt and pepper and mix well with your fingers.

Chill the mixture for 30 minutes to 1 hour and form into patties, this mixture will give you roughly about 6- 8 medium size rice cakes.

Place the shaped cakes on a clean plate and chill in the fridge for another 10 - 20 minutes. Remove and dip in beaten egg and seasoned breadcrumbs.

Heat oil for shallow frying, just a thin layer of oil so about 4-5 tbsps in a large frying pan? .  Once the oil is hot, carefully add the rice cakes in batches and brown on all sides. To make sure its cooked through I like to pop the browned rice cakes in a  hot oven at about 180 degree C for about 10 minutes.

Serve warm with some salad and chilli or tomato sauce.