The Ultimate Rice Cooker (26 page)
If you like to cook, sooner or later you will experiment with growing your own herb garden, whether in a corner of the yard or in pots. In lieu of this, head on down to the supermarket or farmer’s market, where an astounding array of nice fresh herbs in little bundles awaits your impulse to cook this rice. Summer or winter, beef stock or chicken stock, each time you make this rice, it will taste just a little bit different. If you find a favorite combination, be sure to jot it down in the margins so that you are able to re-create it at a moment’s notice.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Quick Cook and/or regular
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup diced shallots
1 cup long-grain white rice
1¾ cups chicken, beef, fish, or vegetable stock
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup minced mixed fresh herb leaves (any combination of tarragon, dill, chives, Italian parsley, thyme, savory, oregano, marjoram, chervil, and watercress)
1 large clove garlic, peeled
1. Set the rice cooker for the Quick Cook or regular cycle. Place the oil in the rice bowl. When hot, add the shallots. Cook, stirring a few times, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring a few times, until the rice turns opaque, about 5 minutes. Add the stock, salt, and herbs; stir just to combine. Place the garlic clove in the center of the rice, close the cover, and reset for the regular cycle or let the regular cycle complete.
2. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, remove and discard the garlic. 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 pilaf will hold on Keep Warm for up to 1 hour. Serve hot.
From a recipe in Jacquie McMahan’s self-published book,
Healthy Mexican
, comes what we consider the original dirty rice. It uses leftover black bean liquid, slightly viscous and protein rich. As Jacquie describes it, be prepared for a delicious surprise. Use the liquid from cooking black turtle beans (with an extra cup of water added to the cooking pot) or the liquid drained from canned beans, thinned with a bit of water, although, as usual, homemade is best.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Quick Cook and/or regular
YIELD: Serves 4
1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ cup finely chopped onion
1 large clove garlic, minced 1 cup long-grain white rice
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1¾ cups black bean liquid
3 tablespoons cooked black beans
½ teaspoon salt
1. Set the rice cooker for the Quick Cook or regular cycle. Place the oil in the rice bowl. When hot, add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring a few times, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring a few times, until it turns ever-so-slightly golden, about 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste, black bean liquid, beans, and salt; stir just to combine. Close the cover and reset for the regular cycle or let the regular cycle complete.
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 pilaf will hold on Keep Warm for up to 1 hour. Serve hot.
green pilaf with baby spinach and endive
The baby spinach that is available now in super markets is tender and sweet—and nice and clean. Belgian endive is a small, tightly packed head of pale, elongated leaves with green tips; it has a slightly bitter quality. If you can’t find it, use watercress, with the stems removed. Gently cooked at the end of the cycle, the greens make a bright-colored, fresh-tasting pilaf.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Quick Cook and/or regular
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup long-grain white rice
1¾ cups chicken or vegetable stock
½ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup packed chopped spinach leaves
¼ cup chopped endive
3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
Extra virgin olive oil
1. Set the rice cooker for the Quick Cook or regular cycle. Place the butter in the rice bowl. When melted, add the rice. Cook, stirring a few times, until all the grains are evenly coated and hot, about 10 minutes. Add the stock and salt; stir just to combine. Close the cover and reset for the regular cycle or let the regular cycle complete.
2. About 10 minutes before the rice finishes cooking, arrange the spinach, endive, and parsley on top of the rice to steam.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, stir the greens into the rice using a plastic or wooden rice paddle or wooden spoon. Close the cover and let the rice steam for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice with the rice paddle or wooden spoon. Serve immediately, drizzled with a bit of the olive oil.
We don’t know anyone who doesn’t like the colorful, flavorful array of Indian food. The basis of the aromatic kitchen is spice blends, or masalas, selected and ground fresh for every dish. In the West, we have curry powder, a shortcut that evokes but does not equal real Indian spicing. Curry powder contains a blend of nine standard ingredients: turmeric, ginger, cardamom, coriander, cumin, nutmeg, cloves, black pepper, and cinnamon. This is a nice pilaf to serve with the simplest of roast poultry preparations and egg dishes.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Quick Cook and/or regular
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 tablespoon mild or hot curry powder
⅔ cup peeled, cored, and chopped apple
1¾ cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
Pinch of salt
1 small bay leaf
1. Set the rice cooker for the Quick Cook or regular cycle. Place the butter in the rice bowl. When melted, add the shallots. Cook, stirring a few times, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and curry powder and cook, stirring a few times, until all the grains are evenly coated and hot, about 10 minutes. You will be able to smell the curry. Stir in the apple. Add the stock, parsley, and salt; stir just to combine, then tuck in the bay leaf. Close the cover and reset for the regular cycle or let the regular cycle complete.
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. Remove the bay leaf. This pilaf will hold on Keep Warm for up to 1 hour. Serve hot.
brown butter apricot and pinenut pilaf
“Oh phooey, an extra step!” you say when you read through this recipe. But we assure you that taking the time to sauté the nuts and letting the butter get a bit brown will make a big difference in the final flavor. This pilaf, dotted with scrumptious dried apricots, is positively addictive and a real favorite.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Quick Cook and/or regular
YIELD: Serves 4
1 tablespoon walnut or vegetable oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup diced shallots
1 cup long-grain white rice
1¾ cups chicken stock
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup pine nuts
½ cup chopped dried apricots
1. Set the rice cooker for the Quick Cook or regular cycle. Place the oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in the rice bowl. When the butter is melted, add the shallots. Cook, stirring a few times, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring a few times, until it turns opaque, about 5 minutes. Add the stock and salt; stir just to combine. Close the cover and reset for the regular cycle or let the regular cycle complete.
2. While the rice is cooking, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a small sauté pan. Add the pine nuts and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until evenly browned. The butter should be richly browned but not burnt. Set aside.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, add the pine nuts in their butter and the apricots. Close the cover and let the rice steam for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. Serve immediately.
note:
If need be, this pilaf will hold on Keep Warm for 1 to 2 hours, but do not add the pine nuts and apricots until 10 minutes before serving.
Riz Oriental is a favorite in the Provence region of france. It takes its name from the faraway countries of the Orient, but also from the dictionary definition of
oriental
, namely, something of superior value or the method of cooking rice from the East. Everything goes in the cooker at once, the way we like it.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Quick Cook and/or regular
YIELD: Serves 4
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 heaping tablespoons finely chopped shallots or onion
1 cup long-grain white rice
1¾ cups chicken stock
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon dried currants or golden raisins
¼ cup slivered blanched almonds
1. Set the rice cooker for the Quick Cook or regular cycle. Place the butter in the rice bowl. When melted, add the shallots. Cook, stirring a few times, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring a few times, until it turns opaque, about 5 minutes. Add the stock, salt, currants, and almonds; stir just to combine. Close the cover and reset for the regular cycle or let the regular cycle complete.
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 pilaf will hold on Keep Warm for 1 to 2 hours. Serve hot.
Tomato-based Spanish rice,
arroz a la
Mexicana
, is a real standard in every Mexican home or restaurant kitchen. There are as many recipes as there are cooks, so Beth went to Jacquie McMahan for advice. “Always fresh tomato,” she canted, “and not too much.” She uses pure ground New Mexico chile for a kick; in lieu of that, you can use a mixed chili powder, which also includes cumin and a few other spices. In central Mexico, this rice would be served with a topping of finely diced potato, carrot, and peas that have been tossed in a bit of vinegar and oil.