The Ultimate Rice Cooker (13 page)
1. Coat the rice cooker bowl with nonstick cooking spray or a film of vegetable oil. Place the rice in the rice bowl. Add the water, 1 tablespoon of the butter, and the salt; swirl to combine. Close the cover and set for the regular/Brown Rice cycle.
CLICK TO SEE AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT MEASUREMENT
2. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the rice steam for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. This rice will hold on Keep Warm for 1 to 2 hours. Serve hot, with the remaining 1 table spoon butter nestled on top.
Heirloom, unhulled short-grain red rice (
eue
chum
) is an ancient grain from the remote and beautiful Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, and has been a staple daily grain in that country for centuries. It is imported exclusively by Lotus Foods. It is as colorful as it is flavorful, a lovely salmon red after cooking. Naturally colored, red rice is served at festive occasions. Red is the color of the rajas, bearers of a title of nobility in India. The red color is a long-standing Hindu and Buddhist symbol for creativity and the energy of life. We found the rice to have an aroma like that of a robust brown rice. It is a slightly moist rice, so be sure to let it rest for 10 minutes after cooking to firm up a bit.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular/Brown Rice
YIELD: Serves 4
1 cup red rice
1¾ cups water
¼ teaspoon salt
1. Place the rice in a fine strainer or bowl, rinse with cold water twice, and drain twice. The water will be foamy and a dull red.
2. Coat the rice cooker bowl with nonstick cooking spray or a film of vegetable oil. Place the rice in the rice bowl. Add the water and salt; swirl to combine. Close the cover and set for the regular/Brown Rice cycle.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the rice steam for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. This rice will hold on Keep Warm for up to 1 hour. Serve hot.
black rice
Forbidden Black Rice is a Chinese black rice. This rice was the first grain to be imported by the fledgling company that would be called Lotus Foods. While traveling in China, owners Caryl Levine and Ken Lee went on a marketing tour of the upper Mekong area, Laos, and Burma. In an area populated by 26 autonomous tribes, they ate this rice at the Dai minority village. This rice is unusual because black rice is usually sticky; Forbidden Rice is not. It is known as having medicinal qualities. Because it still has its colorful bran layer, it turns an intriguing purple-black color when cooked. It is a
sweet, rather moist rice with an ever so slight crunch and is perfectly addicting. Note: This rice will stain the sides of your mouth for a short while, just like blueberries. Serve under stir-fries and with grilled poultry.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular/Brown Rice
YIELD: Serves 4
1 cup Forbidden Black Rice (China black rice)
1¾ cups water
¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
1. Place the rice in a fine strainer or bowl, rinse with cold water twice, and drain twice. The water will turn grayish.
2. Coat the rice cooker bowl with nonstick cooking spray or a film of vegetable oil. Place the rice in the rice bowl. Add the water and salt, if using; swirl to combine. Close the cover and set for the regular/ Brown Rice cycle.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, open and dry the inside of the cover. Crumple a clean paper towel and place it over the rice to absorb excess moisture. Close the cover and let the rice steam for 15 minutes. Remove the paper towel. Fluff the rice with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. This rice will hold on Keep Warm for 1 to 2 hours. Serve hot.
Black Japonica is another specialty rice developed by the Lundberg brothers in the upper Sacramento delta in central California. It is an unhulled, unmilled blend of a medium-grain red rice and a short-grain black rice; it cooks just like brown rice. When fresh, the rice has an attractive natural sheen and very earthy smell. This rice turns a dark mahogany color and ends up with a bit of a bite after it is cooked, so don’t expect it to be soft or mushy on the tongue even though it is quite moist. This is an assertively flavored rice, much like pure wild rice, with a strong vegetable/grain taste that is almost mossy. Serve with roast venison, prime rib, or as part of a stuffing.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular/Brown Rice
YIELD: Serves 4 to 6
1 cup Black Japonica rice
2⅓ cups water
1. Place the rice in a fine strainer or bowl, rinse with cold water twice, and drain twice. The water will be dull reddish.
2. Coat the rice cooker bowl with nonstick cooking spray or a film of vegetable oil (this is important with this rice). Place the rice in the rice bowl. Add the water; swirl to combine. Close the cover and set for the regular/Brown Rice cycle.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, open and dry the inside of the cover. Close the cover and let the rice rest for 30 to 45 minutes. Fluff the rice a few times with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. This rice will hold on Keep Warm for 1 to 2 hours. Serve hot.
THE BASICS : AMYLOSE AND AMYLOPECTIN
Every time you cook a pot of rice, you are making mental notes about amy-lose and amylopectin, the two components of starch found in rice, even though you probably don’t know it. Long-grain rices like Carolina and basmati, with a dry texture, have a high level of amylose and low levels of amylopectin; amylose is a waxy starch that sets up into a stiff gel in the grain during cooking, so you end up with dry, separate grains. The raw grains of long-grain rices look translucent; a bit of light shines through.
Medium- and short-grain rices have the opposite balance; they are low in amylose and high in amylopectin (think “pectin” like the plant substance that helps fruits jell). Rices low in amylose are sticky and creamy when cooked, like Arborio and Calrose, because the starch does not set up during the cooking; when you look at the raw grains they have a more solid, opaque, pearly essence.
Between the shape and the color, with a little practice, you can identify every rice, even if it’s not in its identifying packaging.
RICE AND OTHER COMMERCIAL GRAIN MIXES IN THE RICE COOKER
The number and variety of commercial rice and grain mixes on the shelf of the average American supermarket is astonishing and, in many cases, so is their high quality. Almost every producer of rice has a line of rice plus flavoring mixtures designed for “extra-quick” meals. You can have a mellow pilaf, a robust brown rice blend, or even a satisfyingly spicy jambalaya on the table in the amount of time it takes to cook plain rice, with no chopping and only minimal cleanup.
We tested a dozen of the more than 100 rice and grain mixes we found at a local market. All cooked up beautifully in the rice cooker, except a risotto mix that spattered all over the counter when made on the regular cycle. If you want to make a risotto mix in the rice cooker, do so only on the Porridge cycle of a fuzzy logic machine.
Here are some of our favorite brands and flavor offerings:
Zatarain’s New Orleans Style Jambalaya Mix
, which was spicy and satisfyingly hearty. We followed a suggestion on the package and added a pound of sliced smoky sausage (we used turkey sausage).
, an old favorite that includes orzo pasta, pearled wheat, and almonds along with the rice. This one is buttery and mildly spiced, and it’s a bit chewy because of the wheat.
, which enriches plain rice with a surprisingly extravagant variety of nuts: cashews, almonds, pine nuts, and pistachios.
Rice-A-Roni
, in Herb and Butter flavor. This mellow rice and pasta mix is flecked with parsley. The package directions call for two extra steps: a short sauté of the rice and pasta before the water is added and stirring in the seasonings at the end. We sautéed right in the rice cooker bowl and stirred in the seasonings before the steaming period.
Mahatma Saffron Yellow Seasonings & Long Grain Rice,
which is sold in a yellow foil tube. But that bright yellow color left a ring on the bowl of one of our inexpensive cookers. This mix did not stain bowls with nonstick coatings.