Baked rice cake with leeks and cheese and spicy tomato sauce

Tam West

This is a bit of an all-season dish, good cold in the summer and hot in the winter. It may be too prosaic to describe this as a frittata made with boiled rice — it is much better than that. All it needs is a simple green vegetable like green beans or sweet-stem broccoli to go with it.

For the spicy tomato sauce

3 Tbsp	Extra virgin olive oil
1	Onion, finely chopped
1	Cinnamon stick
3	Garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 pinch	Chilli flakes, or use more to taste
2 cans	Chopped tomatoes, approx. 800g (Main)
2 Tbsp	White wine vinegar
1 Tbsp	Sugar
1 handful	Coriander, coarsely chopped

For the rice cakes

200 g	Risotto rice, or paella rice (Main)
3 Tbsp	Extra virgin olive oil
1	Small onion, finely chopped
3	Garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 stick	Celery, thinly sliced
2	Leeks, white part only, thinly sliced
5	Eggs, lightly beaten
1 ¼ cups	Grated tasty cheese
½ cup	Parmesan cheese, fresh, finely grated
3 Tbsp	Chopped parsley

Directions

To make the spicy tomato sauce

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan over moderate heat and add the onion, cinnamon, garlic and chilli flakes. Fry gently, without browning for 10 minutes or until the onion is soft.
2. Add the tomatoes, vinegar and sugar, mix well, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until thick like chutney.
3. Discard the cinnamon stick. Taste and season withsalt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. Cool to room temperature and stir in the corianderjust before serving.

To make the rice cakes

1. Heat the oven to 200C. Line a 24cm diameterspringform cake tin with baking paper.
2. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Addthe rice and boil 10 minutes. Drain well and cool.
3. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and add the onion, garlic, celery and leeks. Fry gently, without browning for 15 minutes or until the onion and leeks are soft. Remove from the heat and spoon everything into a large bowl.
4. Add the cooled rice, eggs, cheeses and parsley. Mix well, taste and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
5. Pour the mixture into the paper lined cake tin and place in the oven for 40 minutes or until well set. If the top gets too brown, cover with foil until done.
6. Remove from the oven and then remove to a serving platter. (Remove the paper by inverting the cake onto a plate, peeling off the paper then inverting it again onto the serving platter.)
7. Serve in wedges, hot or warm, with the tomato sauce.

More hearty vegetarian meals from Ray

• Berlin potato and lentil soup
• Silken tofu simmered with vegetables in ginger soy broth