Hot & Cold Rice Bowl with Shrimp, Avocado and Cucumber

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This dish is one of the main reasons why I always prepare a bigger batch of rice, making sure I will have leftovers the following day. It has started as an accidental, “what-I-find-in-the-fridge” meal, but has quickly become one of the most frequent and most comforting meals. I have it for breakfast, for lunch, as a snack and for dinner; at any time of the day and in any season, since I practically always have avocado, cucumber and shrimp in stock. I still remember the first time I made this bowl. I just needed something quick and light, but filling and I didn’t suspect it would become a staple.

For me shrimp, avocado and cucumber have always been a winning trio, butΒ I suppose I took this bowl idea from the maki sushi I have been making for quite a long time (click here to see Shrimp, Avocado and Cucumber Maki), so this bowl is almost a kind of deconstructed version of these. If I bothered to use freshly steamed and then seasoned rice, this bowl would be called “chirashi sushi” (scattered sushi). Since it’s basic, one day old, unseasoned rice, I simply call it a rice bowl.

Even though I post this dish only now, I think I must have made it at least 50 times with exactly the same ingredients. Over the months (or rather years) I gradually added some important details and modifications. The thing I absolutely adore is microwaving the rice until it’s hot and topping it with very cold ingredients, taken straight from the fridge. Somehow the contrast is very pleasant. The seasonings play also an important role here: mayonnaise, Tabasco or chili oil, Worcestershire sauce and toasted sesame seeds have become obligatory items. I find the combination of all these ingredients simply perfect (or rather perfectly adapted to my tastebuds).

Preparation: 20 minutes

Ingredients (serves 1):

one portion leftover rice

1/2 avocado

1/4 big cucumber or 1/2 small one

7-8 medium shrimps

mayonnaise

Worcestershire sauce

toasted sesame seeds

Tabasco or chili oil

Boil some water in a pan and cook the shrimps for a couple of minutes until they change their colour.

Put them quickly in cold water. Shell them and devein them.

Cut the cucumber and the avocado into bite-sized pieces.

Heat the rice in a microwave. Place it in a bowl.

Cover the rice with avocado, cucumber and shrimps.

Add some mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco or chili oil.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and enjoy.

 

 

 

 

Published by Sissi

55 Replies to “Hot & Cold Rice Bowl with Shrimp, Avocado and Cucumber”

  1. Is the rice always unseasoned rice? Have you ever tried vinegared rice instead? As you are fully aware from your maki, these toppings should go very well with vinegared rice.

    1. Thank you, Hiroyuki. Unfortunately I always prepare it with leftover rice and I suppose I cannot season leftover rice… (At least this is what I have always thought). I am aware it would taste great with seasoned rice!

    1. Thank you so much, Hiroyuki! Your sushi looks fabulous. I would never dare seasoning reheated rice without your encouragement. Now I will certainly try it next time and produce chirashi sushi πŸ˜‰

      1. OOH thanks so much hiroyuki for that idea. It’s great, as I almost always have leftover rice. I usually just use it for fried rice, but sushi is a good idea. love the avocado and prawns, sissi, maki or don!

  5. I always season my rice when I am making fried rice. Comes out great. You are right about the trio though…shrimp, avocado and cucumber go great together. I will have to try this with my leftover rice one day. I always make extra too πŸ™‚

    1. Thank you, Nazneen. (Actually this is not fried rice. When I make fried rice I also season it always, but this is just steamed rice, reheated the following day and usually sushi style seasoning requires freshly steamed rice, hence my lack of seasoning).

    1. Thank you, Jeno. I have never heard of burrito bowls (burritos, yes). I must check what it is!

  8. Sissi, I so love this refreshing shrimp creation of yours…a perfect delicious, and light summer dish. I’m a huge shrimp lover, and make it so many different ways. We get the freshest, and the best Key West shrimp here in S. Florida in our local fish market. Also, all we have to do is go to the nearest site where the fishing boats come back and get everything fresh right there on the spot, depending on what the catch of the day was.

    Sorry for not replying back right away, but I did leave a reply on my site on the previous post for you! I love your suggestions, and your positive in-put on your posts and comments. You’re like I am…you get right to the point and not “shy away”…I learned this since I was a young girl!

    1. THank you so much, Elisabeth. You are extremely lucky with fresh shrimp (and with the beach πŸ˜‰ ). As someone who lives in a country without sea I consider myself extremely lucky to have a superb supermarket selling about 20 different shrimps and prawns, but unfortunately frozen. Even in nearby France if you don’t live in the South it’s almost impossible to get reasonably priced raw frozen shrimps (I don’t even mention the fresh ones). Thank you for all the kind words. Your comment warms my heart πŸ™‚

  10. I don’t think it gets any better than shrimp, avocado, and cucumbers altogether!!! This reminds me of a fabulous cold crab soup I want to make!! But, think I will try this out first!!! Thanks!! xoxo

  11. I can already imagine this – almost like Salad Maki. Your idea of cold and hot sounds interesting! I tend to cool down rice a bit because I usually put sashimi but if no raw fish the hot rice won’t “cook” it so I can experiment this sensation!! :-). Looks wonderful – I always love tonkatsu sauce (Worcester sauce) + mayo combo!!!

    1. Thank you so much, Nami. I discovered the cold and hot by accident (the rice is always tough when cold, so I always heat it a bit and once I overheated it, I was too hungry to wait for it to cool and… it turned out delicious!). I love Worcestershire sauce especially with avocado.

  14. We always try to use leftover rice for either fried rice or eat with stir fries, or with sashimi. That’s why I always try to keep cooked rice there because you can do so much with it! Love the idea of this ‘open’ maki dish. πŸ˜€

  16. Your sushi bowl looks gorgeous Sissi and does indeed remind me of chirashi sushi (I think chirashi has a very loose/large interpretation – scattered ingredients in a bowl ;-)). I love the idea of hot and cold in this bowl and your collection is so wonderfully colourful and fresh looking… It’s only breakfast time here, but I would absolutely dig in right now – so inviting!

    1. Thank you so much, Kelly. It would be chirashi sushi if the rice was seasoned (the only obligatory item), but this is just unseasoned leftover rice. I sometimes have it for late weekend breakfast.

  17. Hi Sissi, I know what you mean with the combination of really hot and “chilly” ingredients. I love scalding hot baked potatoes, topped with salads and cold tomato etc… as you say, the mix is really nice!

    Lovely looking bowl – I’m surprised you boiled the shrimps freshly – I suppose if one didn’t have to do that then it could be a dish that could be prepared at turbo-speed, especially if one had rice handy from a rice cooker too!

    1. Thank you, Charles. Well, it’s a leftover rice dish, not leftover shrimp πŸ˜‰ (You have to cook them at a certain point anyway) I never plan this dish (sometimes I cook something else with leftover rice), so I take out my small portion of frozen shrimp, quickly cook, cool down and that’s it.

      1. Ah, no, I just didn’t say it right – what I meant was that I usually buy ready-cooked shrimp… ~9 times out of 10. It’s just easier I find.

        1. I see… I am lucky to have a place here selling lots of different kinds and sizes of frozen shrimp, mainly raw, and since my priority is to have it all the time in my kitchen, I just divide it into bags and keep in the freezer (cooked and not frozen doesn’t keep for ages). Then, cooking raw frozen shrimp is easier than waiting for the cooked frozen shrimp to thaw (I never buy frozen cooked because it’s not as good).

  18. I had an amazing salad at one time that was very similar to your recipe, except that they put grapefruit in with it β€” it was so amazingly delicious. The grapefruit works so well with the richness of the avocado and the crisp freshness of the cucumber. Very nice and light summer salad idea.

  19. I am en route back home from a business meeting in Ottawa and now I know what I am going to have for dinner! I have some leftover salmon in the fridge so i am going to swap out the shrimp and replace with salmon. I think this must be the blue square napkin with round bowl you talked about Sissi! Nice picture!

    1. Thank you, Barb. (Yes, it’s the photo I was talking about πŸ™‚ It’s funny we have the same ideas… Your photo was great.) Good luck! I hope you will like it. Salmon sounds like an excellent idea here!

  20. I did indeed make this for dinner and I really enjoyed it. I can see why you’ve made it so many times Sissi. It’s so simple but really tasty. I used the salmon and rice that was left over from dinner last night — so it was ready in less than five minutes. I also added some chopped green onions on top, just because I like them so much. I’ll be making this again.

    1. Thank you so much, Barb, for this message! You have made it so quickly! I am really happy you liked this simple idea. Salmon was an excellent idea and chopped green onions too (I must try them next time instead of coriander).

  22. Now how did I miss this one? Had my head in a haze for a little bit.
    This sounds absolutely refreshing, even if it’s rice. Kind of a rice salad. Avocado and shrimp makes a great combination always!

    1. Thank you so much, Ping. Usually half of the bowl is taken by toppings, so it’s not really heavy…

    1. Thank you, Sylvia. It’s perfect for hot days when we don’t necessarily want to prepare fried rice for example.

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