The Ultimate Rice Cooker (15 page)

TO WASH OR NOT TO WASH

This is one of the places where rice asks to be treated with respect. While washing rice or not is a personal preference, the general rule is to wash or rinse imported rices and not to wash domestic rices, which are well cleaned and dried before packaging. Imported rices can have plenty of clinging starch left over from the processing, and your cooked rice will be downright gluey if you don’t wash it off prior to cooking.

However, don’t wash Arborio or the other Italian-style risotto rices; the starch makes the risotto creamy. And many Asian cooks would not think of cooking unwashed rice; it would defy tradition. Domestically produced Japanese-style rice is coated with powdered glucose or rice powder. It’s perfectly safe to eat, but washing off this whitish powder improves the flavor. New on the U.S. market is Japanese-style rice labeled “Musenmai” and “Rinse-free rice,” which does not have to be washed. This rice takes a bit more water to cook than regular rice, because rice absorbs some water during washing. Indian basmati must be rinsed; recipes often call for up to nine or ten rinsings. Boxed and packaged rices usually do not need washing or maybe just one rinse. Converted rice does not need rinsing.

To wash rice, place the measured rice in a bowl of cold tap water and swish it around with your hand until the water becomes cloudy. It will often be foamy around the edges. Tilt the bowl and carefully pour the water off or pour through a fine strainer. Rinse and return the rice to the bowl, if need be, and add more cold water. Repeat until the water stays clear, or nearly so. Most rices need at least two rinsings, but each batch of rice will be different; we have seen some basmatis take four. Purists wash for minutes and really use some muscle power.

Some recipes call for soaking the rice in cold water after washing and before cooking to soften the outer cell walls. This is a traditional technique in Turkish, Persian, and Indian cuisines. Some newer models of rice cookers have a built-in soaking cycle. You can soak rice in the sink, in a separate bowl, or in the rice cooker bowl, or leave the drained rice right in a mesh strainer for 10 to 30 minutes and let the grains soak up the water that is clinging to the grains.

TO SALT OR NOT TO SALT

Salt is a flavor enhancer. In the environment of the rice cooker, when salt is added as one of the ingredients, it is absorbed into each grain of rice during the cooking. We have detected that some rices, especially brown rices and the aromatic rices, can get a bit of a bitter edge from the salt, masking the delicate flavor of the rice. To salt or not to salt is a decision that you will have to make in your own kitchen, based on your own palate. The addition of salt to rice is purely personal preference and also varies depending on how you plan to serve it. For instance, if you are serving the rice with roasted meat, you might want to salt it to taste. If the rice will be served with a spicy curry or salty stir-fry, you wouldn’t need the salt.

We have specified salt in some of the recipes that follow, but you may choose to eliminate it without affecting the recipe adversely. If you do add salt, add it with the water and swirl a few times to evenly distribute. If you are using a stock that already has salt added, or miso, the rice will not need salt. Some unhulled rices, such as Wehani, are minimally processed and are always cooked without salt in order to ensure the most tender results.

Types of Salt

Salt is not just a blue box with a little girl in a raincoat and umbrella anymore; there are fine, downright exquisite, salts on the market.

Fine iodized table salt (mechanically removed from rock salt deposits, with potassium iodine and magnesium silicate added to prevent caking) and fine sea salt (from saline deposits at the edge of the sea) can be used interchangeably. Sun-evaporated, unrefined sea salts retain their complementary minerals, calcium, potassium, and magnesium, which give a distinct flavor reminiscent of the sea. We use La Baleine, an iodized sun-evaporated fine sea salt from the Mediterranean that contains no preservatives or anticaking agents (you’ll find it at the supermarket), or Japanese sea salt, which we buy at the Asian market. If you buy regular sea salt, you want fine-crystal, which is finer than table salt, or medium-crystal, which is ground like table salt. Kosher salt (which is mined, but contains no additives) is preferred by many cooks for its purity and milder flavor.

Coarse salts, usually for sprinkling after a food is cooked, must be ground in a salt grinder before being added to the cooking water. Ducros of Provence markets sea salt in its own disposable grinder. Celtic Sea Salt, touted by the macrobiotic community for its health-giving properties, is pale gray. Fleur de Sel de Guerande, from Brittany and available from King Arthur, is hand-harvested.
Fleur de sel
, the “flower of salt” that is the top layer in sun-evaporation pans, is so coveted that the pretty white crystals are simply sprinkled over hot rice with some sweet butter. Take a chance and experiment with the flavor of salt as you would with any other premium ingredient.

REHEAT IN GRICE IN THE RICE COOKER

Some cooks make extra rice and have it for a day or two in the refrigerator, ready for quick meals. Other cooks would never think of using day-old rice. In case you need to reheat some rice, here’s how.

Place the cold rice in the rice cooker bowl. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons water (old rice will need a bit more water, new rice less) and break up the stiff clumps of cold rice. Cover and program for regular cycle. Steam until the timer sounds, about 10 minutes. Eat immediately and do not reheat again.

PERFECT BROWN RICE IN THE RICE COOKER

You will notice that the standard brown rice capacity of rice cookers is lower than their capacity for white rice. This is because brown rice must cook longer to become tender, and therefore you must start off with more water than for white rices. If you overload your rice cooker, you’ll face a messy boil over.

If your machine has a Brown Rice cycle, use it. But because most rice cookers do not have one, we put together these charts using the regular cycle.

During testing, we learned two surprising things about cooking brown rice. The first is that long- and medium-grain brown rice require the same amount of water. (On the stove, long-grain rice takes more water.) The second thing we discovered almost by accident: It is possible to exceed the brown rice capacities listed in the brown rice cooking chart. In fact, you can cook as much brown rice in your rice cooker as you can white rice; 4 cups in a 4-cup cooker, 6 cups in a 6-cup cooker, 10 cups in a 10-cup cooker. What about those messy boilovers we mentioned above? The trick we discovered is detailed in the chart below, Stretching the Brown Rice Capacity of Your Rice Cooker. When the rice has finished steaming, open the cover, fluff the rice, and re-cover the rice to keep it warm. Do not leave brown rice on the Keep Warm cycle for longer than 1 or 2 hours, as it has a tendency to begin fermenting.

STORING RICE

Some rices come in boxes, others in sealed bags, and others in bulk bins or large sacks. The latter require that you transfer the rice to a storage container. We recommend that you label your raw rices; even on a good day, short-grain Tamaki Gold can look a lot like Carnaroli, and short-grain and medium-grain brown rices are almost indistinguishable. Different types of long-grain brown rice are identical. Make a batch of the rice, write down the water-to-rice proportion, and keep it with the batch for quick reference; the rest of the batch should consistently cook up just like that first batch. Store white and wild rices at room temperature indefinitely, although remember that rice will dry out over time and need a bit more water to cook, especially Thai jasmine. Brown rices and some specialty rices like Jasmati are best stored refrigerated after a month.

Store cooked rice in the refrigerator for up to five days in a tightly covered container; if you just cover it with plastic wrap, it will dry out a lot faster (scientifically known as retrogradation, the degree to which the starch hardens as the rice chills) and lose its taste. Cooled cooked rice can be frozen for six to eight months in plastic freezer bags, waiting for your next fried rice session or spur-of-the-moment rice salad. You can defrost rice at room temperature or in the refrigerator. We remove frozen rice the day before using.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT MEASUREMENT

Every rice cooker comes with a small plastic measuring cup. This cup holds ¾ of a U.S. cup, 6 ounces, or 180 milliliters. When the manual that comes with your cooker says to put 1 cup rice in the rice cooker bowl and add water to the 1-cup line, this is the cup you are supposed to use. This can be very confusing for American cooks, whose cooking instincts have been honed on the standard 8-ounce U.S. cup (which is equal to 240 milliliters).

When we began using the rice cooker, and adapting recipes for it, we were befuddled by this new standard of measurement. In the end, we took different paths, but fortunately both paths led to perfect rice. Beth has stuck with U.S. cups for all applications. Julie uses U.S. cups for “dressed-up” rices like risottos and pilafs, but for Asian recipes, or for ordinary plain rice, Julie likes the convenience of the rice cooker cups, which allow her to pour water directly into the rice cooker bowl, according to the calibrations on its side. Beth doesn’t mind the extra step of measuring water. Until some enterprising manufacturer begins to calibrate a rice cooker for the American market using standard U.S. cups, you, too, will have to find your own path. Whether you choose one method or the other, or a combination of both, your rice cooker will work perfectly, as long as you use the correct amount of liquid. The charts
see
,
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, and
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are designed to help you.

Throughout this book, we use the term “rice cooker cup” to distinguish these little 6-ounce cups from the standard 8-ounce U.S. cup. For consistency, most of the recipes in this book have been developed using U.S. cups. Some exceptions to this are the sushi rice and the rice cooking charts, which give both measurements for your convenience. If a recipe is designed for rice cooker cup proportions, it will be labeled such (1 rice cooker cup). If there is no designation (1 cup), that will always mean a U.S. cup.

simple everyday rices and LITTLE MEALS

Saffron Rice

Lemon Rice

Asian Multigrain Rice

Julia’s Aromatic Basmati Rice

Raisins and Rice

Rice with Mushrooms

Julia’s Mexican Green Rice

Roasted Brown Rice with Gomasio

Brown Rice with Miso

Japanese Rice with Chestnuts

Rice with Three C’s (Currants, Coconut , and Cashews)

Moroccan Brown Rice

Basmati Rice with Corn and Peas

Greek Lemon and Dill Rice with Feta

Brown Basmati Almondine ( Julie’s “ Cheater’s Pilaf” )

Matthew’s Rice

Hunza Rice

Wehani Rice with Garden Vegetables

Rice with Fresh Greens

Creamy Dill Rice

Baby Artichokes and Arborio Rice

Polynesian Tiki Rice

Japanese Three-Mushroom Rice

Mexican Rice and Beans

Chinese Sausage and Rice

Super Supper Sausage and Rice

Rainbow Rice in a Pot

Japanese Rice with Mushrooms and Chicken

Indonesian Rice Bowl

Chicken Donburi

Paella Sauté with Saffron and Spanish Rice

Madame SooHoo’s Fish and Rice

Salmon-Stuffed Japanese Rice Balls

This section of recipes includes our “throw-all-the-ingredients-at-once-into-the-pot” rice dishes. These are the recipes we make most when we need a rice side dish for dinner or a quick lunch or supper. They are the staples of the everyday cook’s repertoire and are great alongside roasted and sautéed meats, poultry, fish, sausages, and game. Some of the recipes are very simple, such as the saffron or lemon rice. There are ethnic specialties, such as a Mexican-style green rice and a rice with dried fruit, and others are more complex, with a bit of meat and vegetables, such as Rainbow Rice in a Pot, designed to be a one-dish meal. Other dishes are outright compositions of rice with a topping that have multiple preparations, such as the Indonesian Rice Bowl or Paella Sauté. Japanese rice balls are lunch box staples. For a simple meal, have one of our rices, a crisp green salad, and a piece offruit.

saffron rice

Plain long-grain white rice with a pinch of saffron—the bright orange stigmas from the flowering bulb
Crocus sativus
—added to the cooking water is a favorite rice from the British Isles to Poland. The rice takes on a lovely pale yellow cast. Use a tiny pinch of powdered saffron or crush a stigma or two between your fingers. It is important that it is no more than a pinch; you want only the faintest hint of the pungent spice in the cooked rice. Serve with roast lemon chicken or pork loin with prunes.