In many cultures, rice that sticks at the bottom of a pot isn’t a flaw, it’s a feature. Those crispy, caramelized shards are often the best part, but getting them right is an art. Dishes like Persian tahdig, Korean nurungji and Spanish paella with its socarrat crust all demand experience and skill to achieve that ideal layer of golden rice with its crackerlike bite.
Unless, of course, you cheat.
Instead of laboring over a traditional recipe, you can simply toss the rice with oil and salt, spread it out on a sheet pan and bake it at high heat until the top browns and the edges crackle. While this won’t give you anything time-honored or classic, it does yield a canvas ready to be embellished with spices, aromatics, vegetables and proteins, to create a weeknight-friendly masterpiece of your own.
For this version, I started with the flavors of shrimp fried rice, using plenty of scallion and ginger for brightness, sesame oil and soy sauce for depth, and a dab of fish sauce for funk. Fresh green chiles and lime juice added right before serving finishes it off with a burst of acidity and snap.
The most significant tweak I made to the ingredients was to use short-grain rice instead of the more typical long-grain.
Here, that plump short-grain rice takes on a wonderfully varied texture when roasted — with a soft chew at the center and edges, as if mochi and a potato chip had a love child. Long-grain rice works nicely, too. Just watch it carefully because it browns more quickly than short-grain rice. On the plus side, perhaps, it roasts up shatteringly crisp all the way through.
Either way, be sure to use rice cooked the day before, as it contains less moisture and crisps up more readily than fresh-cooked. And if you have a bag of rice tucked away in the freezer, you can use that. Just spread it on a kitchen towel to thaw before proceeding.
Two final tricks for the best results: To bolster the browning process, massage the oil into the rice to coat every grain, and add the shrimp to the pan only after the rice is already golden. Scattering the shrimp on top just for the last 5 or 10 minutes gives it enough time to blush pink without overcooking.
Then, serve it hot, warm or at room temperature. This dish’s brittle crunch is not only irresistible, but, it turns out, totally flexible.
Sheet-Pan Scallion Shrimp With Crispy Rice
This has the flavors of shrimp fried rice, but with a texture that varies between crunchy and soft. Roasting the oiled rice makes the edges especially crisp, while the center grains stay plump and moist. If you want to substitute long-grain rice, watch it carefully; it browns (and can dry out) more quickly than short-grain.
By Melissa Clark
Yield: 3 to 4 servings
Total time: 1 hour
INGREDIENTS
6 cups cooked white or brown short-grain rice, such as sushi rice
4 tablespoons neutral oil, such as grapeseed, sunflower or avocado, more as needed
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt or table salt, more to taste
5 garlic cloves, finely grated or minced
1 tablespoon finely grated or minced fresh ginger (from a 1-inch piece)
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, more to taste
1 teaspoon fish sauce or soy sauce, more to taste
1 pound medium or large shrimp, cleaned
1 jalapeño or serrano chile, halved, seeded and finely chopped
1 tablespoon lime juice, more to taste
DIRECTIONS
1. Heat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Spread the cooked rice out on a sheet pan. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil, then sprinkle with the scallion whites and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix and massage the rice until it’s evenly coated with salt, scallions and oil. Add a little more oil, if needed, to fully coat the rice so that it crisps up in the oven.
3. Spread everything out into an even layer and roast until the rice is crisp at the edges, 25 to 35 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the garlic, ginger, sesame oil, fish sauce and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and mix well. Transfer half of this paste to a small bowl and set aside for later (this will become your sauce).
5. Add shrimp to the large bowl and toss until the pieces are well coated. Let sit at room temperature while the rice cooks.
6. When the rice is golden brown in spots (especially along the edges), scatter the shrimp on top in one layer and continue to roast until the shrimp are cooked through, 5 to 10 minutes longer, depending on size.
7. To finish the sauce, stir the remaining 2 tablespoons neutral oil, lime juice and jalapeños into the ginger mixture.
8. Dab or drizzle the sauce onto the rice and shrimp, and stir everything so the crisp parts are mixed into the soft part of the rice and the shrimp gets laced throughout. Taste rice and add a little more salt, fish sauce, sesame oil and lime juice, if necessary; rice can take a lot of seasoning. Top everything with scallion greens to serve.
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