The Ultimate Rice Cooker (46 page)
We love Grape-Nuts, but, well, sometimes they are just too hard on the teeth to eat cold. So, inspired by food writer Barbara Grunes, we put them in with oatmeal and ended up with a nice oat and wheat breakfast cereal.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic only
CYCLE: Porridge
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
1 ¼ cups steel-cut oats
¼ cup Grape-Nuts cereal
2 ¾ cups water
Pinch of fine sea salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon or cardamom
Cold milk and brown sugar, for serving
1. Coat the rice cooker bowl with butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray. Place the oats, Grape-Nuts, water, salt, and spice in the rice bowl; stir gently to combine. Close the cover and set for the Porridge cycle.
2. At the end of the cycle, the cereal will be thick and will hold on Keep Warm for 1 to 2 hours. Spoon into bowls and serve hot, with a moat of milk and brown sugar.
As you can surmise, just like the Scots, we love oatmeal in its many guises. It is the most heartwarming and nutritious of grains. This is the perfect place to use old-fashioned rolled oats (the ones that take longer to cook and are chewier) or thick-cut rolled oats (there is a brand packaged by The Silver Palate), rather than the quick-cooking variety, as the rice cooker lets them cook nice and slow with some fresh fruit.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic only
CYCLE: Porridge
YIELD: Serves 4
2 cups rolled (old-fashioned) oats (not quick-cooking) or Four-Grain Flakes
2 cups milk or buttermilk, plus more for serving, if desired
2 cups water
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 apples or pears, peeled, cored, and chopped, or 4 fresh apricots, pitted and chopped
¼ cup slivered almonds, chopped walnuts, or shelled sunflower seeds
1. Place the oats, milk, water, salt, and fruit in the rice cooker bowl. Close the cover and set for the Porridge cycle.
2. At the end of the cycle, stir in the nuts. Let the oatmeal steam on Keep Warm for 5 minutes. This cereal will hold on Keep Warm for up to 1 hour. Spoon into bowls and serve hot, with more milk, if desired.
CLICK TO SEE OATMEAL AND ROLLED OATS
Barley flakes seem like a cereal relegated to the aisles of the health food store, but in early history barley was as central to the human diet as rice. When wheat became the dominant grain, barley became more of a specialty grain. It has a sweet, nurturing flavor as a porridge; it makes a good alternative to oatmeal, especially nice for children. Please note that barley does not break down and dissolve into a traditional mush like oatmeal; the grains will be very soft, but stay distinct.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic only
CYCLE: Porridge
YIELD: Serves 2
1 cup barley flakes or
Four-Grain Flakes
2 ¼ cups water
2 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon apple pie spice or ground cinnamon
Pinch of fine sea salt
Cold milk or soy milk, for serving
1. Place the barley, water, brown sugar, spice, and salt in the rice cooker bowl; stir gently to combine. Close the cover and set for the Porridge cycle.
2. At the end of the cycle, the cereal will be thick; let it steam on Keep Warm for 10 minutes. This cereal will hold on Keep Warm for 1 to 2 hours. Spoon into bowls and serve hot, with milk.
Granola, which is primarily lightly baked rolled oats, is excellent served as a hot cereal. Use your favorite brand of granola or one of our mixtures in the Custom Cereal Blends section. We favor one packaged by Cafe Fanny in Berkeley—it is sumptuous—but one of the lowfat versions will also work.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic only
CYCLE: Porridge
YIELD: Serves 4
1 cup rolled (old-fashioned) oats (not quick-cooking)
¾ cup granola, store-bought or homemade
1 tablespoon millet meal or farina
2 ½ cups water
8 dried apple rings
Pure maple syrup and cold milk, for serving
1. Place the oats, granola, millet meal, and water in the rice cooker bowl; stir to combine. Lay the apple rings on top of the cereal mixture. Close the cover and set for the Porridge cycle.
2. At the end of the cycle, the cereal will be thick; let it steam on Keep Warm for 10 minutes. This cereal will hold on Keep Warm for 1 to 2 hours. Spoon into bowls and place 2 apple rings on each. Drizzle with maple syrup and serve with milk.
old-fashioned steel-cut oatmeal
Steel-cut oats are much chewier than regular rolled oats and the cooking time is considerably longer, but the rice cooker is perfect for cooking the hearty, old-fashioned grain, especially after an overnight soak. If you like your oatmeal creamy, substitute 1 cup of milk for 1 cup of the water.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic only
CYCLE: Porridge
YIELD: Serves 3
1¼ cups steel-cut oats
3 cups cold water
Pinch of sea salt
Pure maple syrup and cold milk, for serving
1. The night before serving, place the oats, water, and salt in a lidded bowl or the rice cooker bowl. Cover and set aside at room temperature until morning.
2. In the morning, pour the mixture with its liquid into the rice cooker bowl, if necessary; stir gently to combine. Close the cover and set for the Porridge cycle. At the end of the cycle, the cereal will be thick and will hold on Keep Warm for 1 to 2 hours.
3. Spoon into bowls and serve hot, with a drizzle of maple syrup and the milk.
Oats have a reputation for contributing to health similar to a homeopathic cure. Oats and milk are said to ward off the worst of chills, as well as making a great poultice-like mask for the face. With maple syrup and sweet dried dates, plain old oatmeal is a morning feast that raises its status above that of a humble grain. Note that this recipe calls for steel-cut oats rather than rolled oats, making an exceptionally creamy porridge.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic only
CYCLE: Porridge
YIELD: Serves 2
⅔ cup steel-cut oats
1¾ cups milk mixed with 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, or 1¾ cups vanilla soy milk
1¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
Pinch of fine sea salt
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
¼ cup chopped dates
1. Place the oats, vanilla milk, cinnamon, salt, and maple syrup in the rice cooker bowl; stir gently to combine. Sprinkle with the dates. Close the cover and set for the Porridge cycle.
2. At the end of the cycle, the cereal will be thick and will hold on Keep Warm for up to 1 hour. Spoon into bowls and serve hot.
This hearty grain and fruit blend cooks up into a flavorful and sustaining breakfast cereal.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic only
CYCLE: Porridge
YIELD: Serves 2
1 cup
Apple Granola
2½ cups water
Pinch of fine sea salt
Cold milk or soy milk, for serving
1. Place the granola, water, and salt in the rice cooker bowl; stir gently to combine. Close the cover and set for the Porridge cycle.
2. At the end of the cycle, the cereal will be thick and will hold on Keep Warm for 1 to 2 hours. Spoon into bowls and serve hot, with a moat of milk.
This porridge, with almost more grains than you can count, is anything but dull. The farina and couscous give texture and an extra dimension of flavor.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic only
CYCLE: Porridge
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
½ cup Apple Granola or store-bought cracked seven-grain cereal
½ cup quick-cooking Irish oats (McCann’s)
¼ cup farina (such as Cream of Wheat or Arrowhead Mills’ Bear Mush)
¼ cup barley grits (Arrowhead Mills) or couscous
2 tablespoons millet meal
Pinch of fine sea salt
3¼ cups water
Cold milk and brown sugar, for serving
1. Place the granola, grains, salt, and water in the rice cooker bowl; stir gently to combine. Close the cover and set for the Porridge cycle.
2. At the end of the cycle, the cereal will be thick and will hold on Keep Warm for 1 to 2 hours. Spoon into bowls and serve hot, with the milk and a bit of brown sugar.
Adapted from one of our favorite food writers, Deborah Madison, this is old-fashioned cornmeal mush laced with vanilla. Look for Cook’s Cookie vanilla at the supermarket; it is a combination of Bourbon and Tahitian vanilla beans and has a distinctly floral quality you will find positively addicting. It sweetens the mush, so to speak.