preserving leftover cooked rice from Chinese takeaway for processing in a cold salad afterwards When getting Chinese takeaway, We never eat much of the normal cooked rice that goes with it, always opting for an extra dish of fried rice and/or noodles. My mother usually makes a cold salad the day after with some Cocktail sauce (with ketchup as the tomato sauce), a few varieties of canned fish (mackerel, sardines and anchovy) and some boiled eggs.

The problem is that this rice always turns out somewhat dry, somewhat detracting from the overal quality of the product. It's still edible and tastes good, but the textures are somewhat lacking in my opinion.

I have read &quot;Instant&quot; leftover rice? Making leftover-like rice without the wait? (as in for fried rice), but that's not what I need: I don't have control over the cooking process, and it's not for reheating afterwards. I also don't think this falls under the generic shelf live question, because this isn't about how long it will last, but how to store it short-term so certain negative effects don't occur, for which I cannot find a question (nor a tag).

I'm looking for a method to cool the rice without it turning dry that doesn't involve special attention immediately afterwards or changing the cooking process. With "doesn't involve special attention", I'm talking about something someone can do while unpacking the rest of the food and maybe putting a bit of the rice aside for those that don't like the fried kind.
We often do the same thing, saving the rice for another use the next day. Or sometimes I will ask my husband to pick up takeout that I can heat up for lunch the next day. Here's what I recommend.

Immediately upon returning home with your takeout, remove the rice from the take out container, placing in an equal size airtight container. E.g., if you have one pint of rice, place in a pint container. Don't break the rice apart any more than necessary. Press the rice so that it holds tight together in the container just as it was when you removed it from the takeout container. Put the lid on right away. Refrigerate to store.

By placing in an airtight container right away, you are shortening the amount of time that moisture can evaporate. By using the same size container there shouldn't be an excessive amount of airspace in the container.

I follow this procedure and the rice comes out the next day just like it went in, still moist. Plus it doesn't really require any excessive time or effort.