The Ultimate Rice Cooker (17 page)
The finished rice is enticingly nutty and worth the extra step of roasting, which dramatically reduces its inherent starchiness. Serve with a sprinkling of
gomasio
, a sesame salt condiment very popular in Japanese cuisine. Look for Japanese sesame seeds; they are larger and more flavorful. We also like this with a pickled umeboshi plum or some pickled ginger for a bit of tang.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular/Brown Rice
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
GOMASIO
½ cup unhulled sesame seeds
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 cup short-grain brown rice
2¼ cups cold water
1. Make the
gomasio
. Place the sesame seeds in a dry skillet and cook over medium heat until lightly toasted, 2 to 3 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally. Transfer the seeds to a bowl and let cool. In a blender or using a mortar and pestle, combine the sesame seeds and salt and pulse to grind, or crush until just coarsely ground. Store the
gomasio
in a covered container at room temperature for up to a week, though it is best made fresh.
2. Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
3. Spread the rice out in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake on the center rack until just toasty golden, 10 to 12 minutes, stirring the rice around the edges into the center.
4. Place the roasted rice in the rice cooker bowl. Add the water; swirl to combine. Close the cover and set for the regular/ Brown Rice cycle.
5. 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, sprinkled with the
gomasio
.
Salty miso, a fermented soybean paste that is thick like peanut butter, adds a nice, healthy dimension to plain brown rice (a little dab will do ya, as it is quite strongly flavored). Miso is a traditional Japanese food and there are many types from which to choose, although sometimes finding the one to suit your palate is a challenge. There are the traditional misos, found in Japanese groceries, and unpasteurized misos, geared to health food devotees. The mildest misos are white and a creamy yellow-white, suitable for this recipe (the darker the color of the miso, from red to brown, the stronger the flavor). This rice is really good alongside simple steamed or sautéed vegetables. You can use long,medium-, or short-grain brown rice in this recipe. Top with minced fresh Italian parsley,
mitsuba
(a Japanese herb found fresh in Asian markets), or green onion tops, and some cubed hot or cold tofu.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular/Brown Rice
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
1½ tablespoons white or yellow miso
2¼ cups water or vegetable stock
One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled
Juice of ½ small lemon (about 2 teaspoons)
1 cup brown rice
1. In a small bowl, mash the miso in ¼ cup of the water to dissolve.
2. Place the dissolved miso, the remaining 2 cups water, the ginger, and lemon juice in the rice cooker bowl. Add the rice; 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 15 minutes. Fluff the rice with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. Remove and discard the ginger before serving. This rice will hold on Keep Warm for 1 to 2 hours. Serve hot.
Rice and steamed fresh chestnuts are a classic combination in Japanese cooking, with the chestnuts being treated more like a starchy vegetable than a nut. Fresh chestnuts are available throughout the fall in Japan and are a bit larger than their American counterparts, but our chestnuts are just as tasty in this rice. Known as
kuri gohan
, this recipe comes from food writer Hiroko Shimbo’s book
The Japanese Kitchen
(Harvard Common Press, 2000); it is based on a dish she remembers eating as a child.
Oishii
(delicious)!
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 4
1½ cups (2 rice cooker cups) Japanese-style medium- or short-grain white rice
1¾ cups water
20 to 25 chestnuts in their shells
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
2 tablespoons sake
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
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 in the rice cooker bowl. Add the water, close the cover, and let the rice soak for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
3. While the rice is soaking, peel the chestnuts. Place the whole chestnuts in their shells in a large bowl. Completely cover the chestnuts with boiling water. Let stand for 30 minutes, then drain in a colander. With a paring knife, peel off the brown shell and underlying thin brown skin. Cut each nut into 4 to 6 chunks.
4. Add the salt, mirin, and sake to the rice and its soaking water; swirl to combine. Arrange the raw chestnuts on top of the rice. Close the cover and set for the regular cycle.
5. While the rice is cooking, place the sesame seeds in a small dry skillet over medium-low heat. Shake the skillet to prevent burning and toast the seeds for 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a
suribachi
mortar and pestle and coarsely crush the seeds with the sea salt or pulse in a blender until just coarsely ground.
6. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the rice steam for 10 minutes. Gently but thoroughly stir the rice with a plastic or wooden rice paddle or wooden spoon to distribute the steamed chestnuts. This rice will hold on Keep Warm for up to 1 hour. Serve hot, sprinkled with the sesame salt.
rice with three c’s (currants, coconut, and cashews)
We’re always looking for something else to do with those luscious salted cashews besides snacking. This is a recipe from Beth’s friend Julia Scannel. Be sure to use dried currants, not raisins, which are too big. Julia serves this with simple curries and roasted poultry.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
1 cup white basmati rice
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
¼ cup diced yellow onion
¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
¼ cup dried currants
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cups water
¼ cup salted roasted cashews, chopped
1. Place the rice in a fine strainer or a bowl. Rinse twice and drain twice. Cover the rice with more cold water and allow it to soak for 15 minutes and drain. Place the drained rice in the rice cooker bowl.
CLICK TO SEE TOASTING SEEDS AND NUTS
2. In a medium-size sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion, and cook, stirring, until translucent and softened. Transfer the onion to the rice cooker bowl. Add the coconut to the sauté pan and toast over medium heat until it just begins to turn golden brown, stirring as needed. Add the coconut to the rice bowl, along with the currants, salt, and water; 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 2 to 3 hours.
4. When ready to serve, transfer the rice to a serving bowl and stir in the cashews. Serve immediately.
As guests of the Old ways Food Preservation Society of Boston, a group of food writers and restaurateurs traveled en maze to Morocco a few years ago. The result has been an epiphany regarding North African cuisine, so influenced by the French and Arabs, with the food-loving public reaping the benefit of many excellent articles, travelogues, and exceptional recipes from the little-known land of Casablanca fame.
While couscous is the most prevalent starch in Moroccan cuisine, rice is also made. Serve this slightly spiced rice with an array of plain, separately steamed vegetables—green beans, fava or lima beans, carrots, butternut squash, celery, zucchini—and some chickpeas. Preserved lemons are often available in Middle Eastern markets, or you can easily make your own.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular/Brown Rice
YIELD: Serves 4 to 5
1½ cups aromatic long-grain brown rice, such as Texmati
2¾ cups water or vegetable stock
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
¼ cup minced preserved lemon, for garnish
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, salt, pepper, coriander, and cardamom; swirl just to combine. Close the cover and set for the regular/Brown Rice cycle.
2. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, add the butter. 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 2 hours. Serve hot, sprinkled with a bit of the preserved lemon.
CLICK TO SEE PRESERVED LEMONS
basmati rice with corn and peas
This is a recipe from food writer and restaurateur Jesse Cool. For all her fancy gourmet cooking, this is one of her standbys for dinner at home. During the winter, Jesse uses organic frozen vegetables from Cascadian Farms. We like to use white corn, if it’s available.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
1 cup white basmati rice
1½ cups water
½ teaspoon salt