A spicy sheet-pan supper pulled right from the freezer

Our go-to meal prep method centers on frozen rice and a simple make-ahead sauce starter

Hey gang, and welcome back to Cool Beans! A bunch of you are new to The Bean, so I’ll get something out of the way: We’re pretty obsessed with frozen rice around here. It’s cheap and low-waste, and freezing draws moisture out of the grains so they’re less mushy than fresh ones when revived. That’s why we made it the centerpiece of our signature method for meal prep. These speedy dinners call on a trio of freezer staples: leftover rice, veggies, and flavorful make-ahead sauce portioned out and frozen in ice cube trays. 

Today I’m using this technique to make a quick and tasty riff on biryani, a traditional, celebratory Indian rice dish. This version cuts a lot of corners thanks to a pre-prepped sauce cube that’s packed with all the spices and aromatics it takes to turn frozen rice into a feast of color, texture, and flavor. You can make the rice and sauce days—even weeks—in advance and grab ’em out of the freezer when you’re craving takeout. Plus: Since we’re saving so much time on dinner, I’m also whipping together a cooling side dish that doubles as a dip for afternoon snacking. 

The review: Savory yogurt is here to spice up your dinner 

Don’t let anyone tell you yogurt is “plain.” Credit: Gabriella Vigoreaux

Yogurt is an essential component of Indian cuisine, where it’s served alongside savory meals as a cooling agent and flavor enhancer. Raita, a yogurt-based condiment, is a prime example. Somewhere in the gray area between condiment and side dish, raita is commonly seasoned with herbs and spices and gets a little bit of texture from grated cucumber or other veggies. To go alongside our spicy biryani, I decided to try making a nondairy version of

Nik Sharma

‘s extremely photogenic carrot raita from his 2020 cookbook The Flavor Equation. This side grabbed my attention for a couple reasons, but the biggest was that it’s topped with a tadka, a spice-infused oil that gives the raita bonus layers of flavor and texture. 

Help us make Cool Beans even more delicious! Take our speedy reader survey:

There’s a little bit of prep here, but nothing bananas. Grated carrots, diced shallots, grated ginger, and a finely chopped serrano chile fold plenty of texture into the yogurt base. (Sharma’s recipe calls for full-fat Greek yogurt, but I made a 1:1 swap for coconut yogurt.) The tadka brings together toasted mustard and caraway seeds and a dose of Kashmiri chilli powder (this one’s my favorite) and cayenne pepper into hot canola oil. The finished spiced oil gets poured over the raita and stirred into vibrant red streaks.

I’d argue that this raita surpasses the simple label of “condiment.” It’s both spicy and cooling with plenty of tang—perhaps a little extra from the coconut yogurt swap—and added texture from the mustard seeds and carrot. I would gladly eat it as a dip or even on its own as a savory yogurt snack. 

A jar of this stuff in the fridge (it should last up to 3 days) means I have a tasty topper for curries or roasted veggies at the ready. It also means I can make yogurt rice, one of my favorite ways to use up leftover grains, in about two minutes. But if I’ve got more than two minutes, what I really want out of my languishing basmati is a big bowl of biryani—which begs to be dolloped with ample amounts of raita.

The recipe: Freezer rice strikes again in this low-fuss biryani 

The inspiration for this week’s recipe came from biryani, an Indian layered rice dish that’s crammed full of meat and/or veggies, spices, nuts, dried fruits, fried onions, and, in some versions, coconut milk. It’s an elaborate affair with ample technique required to get it just right. To make it weeknight (and meal-prep) friendly, I packed all the spices and aromatics into make-ahead coconut-milk cubes. From there the formula’s simple: thawed frozen rice + sauce cubes + frozen veggies + sheet pan = dinner. Does this technique work with grains right outta the freezer if you’re in a hurry? Yes, but I found things crisped up better when I pre-thawed. 

As for those coco cubes, they can double as marinade for tofu or grilled veggies. Just squeeze in a lime! Personally, I love them in tomato soup, stirred into a pot of lentils, or as a shortcut for this coconut curry. At the very least, they’re a means to salvage those half-cans of coconut milk that have a tendency to languish in the fridge at the end of a recipe.

Our make-ahead sauce goes nice on rice. Credit: Gabriella Vigoreaux

Sheet Pan Biryani 

Yield: 4 servings