The Ultimate Rice Cooker (16 page)
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
1 cup long-grain white rice, such as basmati, Texmati, or Carolina
1½ cups water
⅓ teaspoon salt
Small 2-finger pinch of saffron
1. If using basmati, place the rice in a fine strainer or bowl, rinse with cold water twice, and drain twice.
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, salt, and saffron; swirl just to combine, close the cover, and set for the regular cycle.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the rice steam for 15 minutes. Fluff the rice with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. This rice will hold for 2 to 3 hours on Keep Warm. Serve hot.
saffron rice with cherries:
Add ¾ cup coarsely chopped pitted sweet cherries (unsweetened, fresh or thawed frozen) to the rice in step 2. Hold on Keep Warm for up to 1 hour.
Beth’s mom makes this fresh-tasting rice to serve with chicken sautés and grilled prawns. It is a favorite.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
1 cup long-grain white rice, such as basmati or Carolina
1½ cups chicken stock
Pinch of salt
1 large clove garlic
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1. If using basmati rice, place the rice in a fine strainer or bowl, rinse with cold water twice, and drain twice.
2. Place the rice in the rice cooker bowl. Add the stock and salt, stir just to combine, then place the garlic in the center on top of the rice. Close the cover and set for the regular cycle.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, add the lemon zest, butter, and parsley; stir to combine. Close the cover and 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. Before serving, remove the garlic and discard. Serve hot.
In Chinese specialty markets you can find an easy-to-use, inexpensive, and delicious grain blend that adds a sweetish, nutty flavor, fiber, and nutrition to your plain rice. It also adds color; the cooked grain blend will be tinted a light lavender. Greenmax Fine Multi Grains are imported from Taiwan. Look in the rice section for a small plastic bag containing a wide variety of grains, including two kinds of barley, four kinds of rice, buckwheat groats, fox-nuts, whole millet, wheat, and oats. As you can imagine, this blend is quite assertively flavored. We like it best combined with regular white rice to mute the flavors. Be sure to soak the mixture for an hour before cooking to soften the whole grains.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 4 to 6
1½ cups (2 rice cooker cups) Japanese-style short- or medium-grain white rice
¾ cup (1 rice cooker cup) multigrain blend
3¾ cups water
1. Wash the rice. Place the rice in a bowl (or use the bowl of your rice cooker) and fill the bowl about half-full with cold tap water. Swirl the rice in the water with your hand. Carefully pour off most of the water, holding one cupped hand under the stream to catch any grains of rice that are carried away with the water. Holding the bowl steady with one hand, use the other to rub and squeeze the wet rice, turning the bowl as you go, so that all the rice is “scrubbed.” The small amount of water in the bowl will turn chalky white. Now, run cold water into the bowl, give the rice a quick swish, and carefully drain off the water as before. Repeat the scrubbing and pouring-off process two more times. By the third time, the water you pour off will be nearly clear.
2. Place the rice and multigrain blend in the rice cooker bowl. Add the water; swirl to combine. Let the grains soak for 1 hour.
3. Close the cover and set for the regular cycle. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the grains steam for 15 minutes. Fluff the grains with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. This rice will hold on Keep Warm for 1 to 2 hours. Serve hot.
From excellent cook and new friend Julia Scannel, here is her quick weekday-night fluffy rice, which she learned when working on a book of recipes,
Cooking with the Spices of
India
(Culinary Alchemy, 1995). The whole spices add a gentle scent and subtle flavor to the rice, especially apparent in the rice close to the spices. You will need to go to a specialty grocery to purchase the whole green cardamom pods, a member of the ginger family, which are different than the bleached white ones that are used in Scan dinavian cuisine. The spices are left whole during serving, but are not eaten. Serve with yogurt-marinated tandoori chicken and chutney.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 3
1 cup white basmati rice
1½ cups water
¼ teaspoon salt
One 4-inch stick cinnamon
3 green cardamom pods
1. Place the rice in a fine strainer or bowl, rinse with cold water, and drain.
2. Place the rice, water, salt, and spices in the rice cooker bowl; swirl to combine. Close the cover and set for the regular cycle.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the rice steam for 15 minutes. Fluff the rice with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. This rice will hold on Keep Warm for 3 to 4 hours. Serve hot.
Dried fruits, especially raisins, are used extensively in rice dishes. We love the combination of rice, nuts, and plump raisins, especially when everything goes in the pot at once. Fast and simple, with a sweet edge, for dinner.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
½ cup golden raisins
3 tablespoons dry sherry
1 cup long-grain white rice or white basmati rice
1 cup chicken stock
⅓ cup water
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
⅓ cup chopped unsalted macadamia nuts
1. Combine the raisins and sherry in a small bowl. Let stand on the kitchen counter for 1 hour to macerate.
2. Place the rice, stock, water, salt, and raisin-sherry mixture in the rice cooker bowl; stir just to combine. Close the cover and set for the regular cycle.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, dot the rice with the butter and sprinkle with the nuts. Close the cover and let the rice steam for 15 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.
Although this recipe is designed for use with mild domestic button mushrooms (also known as the “youngsters”), if you are a mushroom lover, feel free to use another type. Look in the produce section of your supermarket or farmer’s market for cremini mushrooms, shiitakes, or chanterelles.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
1 cup long-grain white rice
1½ cups chicken or vegetable stock
½ teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
Freshly ground black pepper
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 stock and ½ teaspoon salt; swirl just to combine. Close the cover and set for the regular cycle.
2. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, prepare the mushrooms. In a medium-size sauté pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until tender and slightly browned around the edges. Season to taste with salt and pepper and add the mushrooms to the cooked rice. Stir to combine, close the cover, and let the rice steam for 15 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.
Another great recipe from creative consultant and recipe writer Julia Scannel, learned while she traveled in Mexico to help write
Cooking
with the Chiles & Spices of Mexico
(Culinary Alchemy, 1996). It’s wonderful to serve with enchiladas and chiles rellenos. Cilantro, also known as fresh coriander, is an herb characteristic of Mexican cooking. Don’t consider reducing the amount called for here; it is perfect as designed.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular/Brown Rice
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
½ small white onion, chopped
1 cup long-grain white rice
1½ cups water
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
1. Set the rice cooker for the Quick Cook or regular/Brown Rice cycle. Place the butter in the rice bowl. When melted, add the onion. Cook, stirring a few times, until the onion is translucent and softened, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the rice, water, salt, and cilantro to the rice cooker bowl. Stir just to combine. Close the cover and reset for the regular/ Brown Rice cycle or let the regular/Brown Rice cycle complete.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the rice steam for 15 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.
roasted brown rice with gomasio
Beth’s friend Mary Cantori roasts all her grains before cooking them to convert some of the starch into more usable food for the body. This is a technique for short-grain brown rice developed by the macrobiotic food gurus Lima and George Oshawa for their regimen of a fat-free diet based on the Zen Buddhist philosophical principles of yin and yang, hot and cold, controlling the delivery of specific types of energy to the body. While this is a diet that has its roots in American counter-cuisine, it has found its way into the kitchens of health-conscious cooks and has become an alternative for people with life-threatening diseases who choose to heal themselves by focusing on food as medicine.