The Ultimate Rice Cooker (67 page)
½ cup slivered blanched almonds
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint leaves or 1 teaspoon dried mint leaves, crumbled
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
DOLMAS
1 jar (8 to 10 ounces) preserved grape leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 to 3 sprigs fresh mint (optional)
Cold plain yogurt, for serving
1.
Make the filling:
In a large bowl, gently blend the lamb, rice, onion, raisins, almonds, mint, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and pepper. You can do this with your hands or with a fork or mixing spoon, but take care not to mash the meat.
2. Remove the grape leaves from the jar and carefully unroll the stack. Gently rinse the grape leaves with cool water and allow them to drain. Cover the bottom of the rice cooker bowl with 1 or 2 grape leaves. This is a good use for any leaves that tore as you removed them from the jar.
3.
Make the dolmas:
To stuff the grape leaves, put 1 leaf on a plate, vein side up, stem end nearest you. Place about 1 tablespoon of filling on the center of the leaf and use your fingers to gently shape it into a little log, arranged horizontally across the leaf. Fold both sides of the leaf in over the filling, then roll up the leaf. Place the rolled leaf, seam side down, in the bottom of the rice cooker bowl. Continue to stuff and roll leaves until you run out of filling. Arrange the dolmas in neat layers in the rice bowl. Top with the olive oil, garlic, and mint sprigs, if using.
4. Cover the dolmas with a small, heavy, heatproof plate to keep them from unrolling during the cooking. Add water to the rice cooker bowl, pouring around the plate to cover. Close the cover and set for the regular cycle. Set a timer for 45 minutes. Add more water as necessary to keep the dolmas covered during the cooking time. Test for doneness, the dolmas should be tender; cook a bit longer if they are not.
5. When the timer sounds, turn off the cooker and allow the leaves to cool somewhat in the liquid before removing them.
6. Serve the dolmas warm or at room temperature, with plain yogurt for dipping.
dolmas with figs and sun-dried tomatoes
These are the most intensely flavored dolmas we have ever eaten. Five cups sounds like a lot of chopped onion, but don’t skimp. Their long simmer in fragrant olive oil leaves the onion soft and mild—a perfect complement to the tang of the tomatoes and gritty sweetness of the figs. This recipe is from Washington, D.C., freelance writer Joyce Gemperlein, a friend from her days at the
San Jose Mercury
News
, where she was both food editor and the author of a wildly popular food column in the Sunday magazine.
MACHINE: Large (10-cup) rice cooker ;
on/off or fuzzy logic
CYCLE: Quick Cook and/or regular
YIELD: Serves 10 to 12
FILLING
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
5 cups finely chopped onion (about 5 or 6 large onions)
3 tablespoons pine nuts
1 cup long-grain white rice
½ cup minced dehydrated sun-dried tomatoes (not marinated)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
3 tablespoons chopped dried figs
¾ cup hot water
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Salt
1 jar (8 to 10 ounces) preserved grape leaves, rinsed and drained
1. Make the filling. Set the cooker for the Quick Cook or regular cycle. Place 3.4 cup of the olive oil in the rice cooker bowl. When hot, add the onion and pine nuts, stirring to combine with a plastic or wooden rice paddle or wooden spoon. Close the cover and cook for about 20 minutes.
Stir in the rice, close the cover, and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, close the cover, and cook for a few more minutes. Stir in the herbs, spices, and figs. Add the hot water, 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice, and salt to taste; stir to combine. Close the cover and let the cycle complete.
2. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the rice steam for 10 minutes. Open the cover and fluff the rice with a plastic or wooden rice paddle or wooden spoon. Transfer the filling to a bowl and let cool. Meanwhile, wash the rice cooker bowl and set aside.
3. Stuff the grape leaves as directed in the
recipe
until you have used up all of the filling. Place some unused leaves on the bottom of the rice cooker bowl and arrange the stuffed dolmas side by side in layers. Mix 1 cup water, a little salt, and the remaining ¼ cup olive oil and pour over the dolmas. Place a small heatproof plate over them to keep them in place. Close the cover and set the cooker for the Quick Cook or regular cycle. Set a timer for 45 minutes. Check for doneness; the leaves should be tender. You may have to add water if it cooks away.
4. When the dolmas are done, open the rice cooker and transfer the rice bowl to a heatproof surface. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons lemon juice and let the dolmas cool, uncovered, in their liquid. Drain off the liquid and refrigerate. These will keep up to 1 week, if tightly covered. Serve at room temperature.
TAMALES
Tamales are the epitome of Mexican food and one of the classic tastes of the Hispanic kitchen. Tamales are “mother” food. The dough is made from masa harina or masa flour, ground corn that has been soaked in lime to make the corn kernel softer and more cohesive than regular cornmeal. It is the flour used to give tortillas and tamales that wonderful strong corn flavor that is so characteristic. The dough is made by kneading the masa harina with fat into a dough called masa.
Fillings for tamales are often made from shredded chicken or pork flavored with chile and spices, but once you become familiar with tamales, or have traveled in Mexico, you can find as many meat or vegetable fillings as there are cooks. One of the most luscious and satisfying fillings is made from fresh corn, green chiles, and cheese, but other fillings include beans, pumpkin, quinoa, diced cooked potatoes, mushrooms, roasted peppers, and shrimp. There are versions with fruit, coconut, and nuts, although savory ones are the most common. Tamales are little individual packages of filling and dough wrapped in dried corn husks, then steamed. You can also use fresh banana leaves or fresh corn husks for wrapping, if available. Your choice of wrapping contributes to the flavor of the tamale, serves as part of the covering during storage, and keeps the tamale warm while serving. Tamales can be perfectly steamed by laying them down tightly side by side (not standing up; the insides of the tamale will drain out during the steaming into the water) in the steamer baskets of the large 10-inch rice cooker, well above the simmering water bath.
Tamales were made by the Aztec Indians and served for religious celebrations, but most of the North and South American Indians have steamed cornmeal breads. Today, tamales are an essential food for Christmas holiday parties, weddings, fiestas, and family gatherings among Mexican-Americans. One of Beth’s favorite feasting memories is of a Christmas Day brunch at her friend chef Oscar Mariscal’s house. Home made tamales, guacamole, and fresh salsa were laid out picnic style on the living room floor, complete with lace tablecloth and silver candelabra. Consider it an honor being invited to a
tamalada
, the tamale fest where a group of family and friends make tamales together.
Tamales have a reputation for being tricky and time-consuming. The tricky part is mastering the technique for rolling and tying them, and the time-consuming part is that everything is accomplished in a logical sequence over a few days. Making tamales is a task often done by groups of seasoned tamale veterans, where the atmosphere is spontaneous and jocular. It is an opportunity to make dozens of tamales, which keep well in the freezer.
The Tamale Schedule
1. Assemble the ingredients and purchase pure masa (wet masa dough) or dried masa harina (the flour) from a Mexican grocery or tortilla factory.
2. The day before making the tamales, make the meat filling and sauce. If you are making a vegetable filling, the filling and assembly can happen on the same day. Prepare the desired tamale filling according to your recipe. Place the filling in a container, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.
3. The day of making the tamales, start by soaking the corn husks. These come in plastic packages available in specialty food stores or the Latin food section of your super market. Carefully remove the brittle husks from their packages and separate the individual husks; there may be dust and grit. You will usually be using 2 husks per tamale (plan on 3 to 5 tamales per person, depending on the size), so plan on a few extra in case some are too small. Place the husks in a large bowl or the sink and cover with hot water; put a plate on top to keep the husks submerged. Soak for 1 to 3 hours, until the husks have absorbed the water and are pliable. Drain in a colander and lay out on layers of clean tea towels or paper towels. Tear a few of the husks into long, thin strips for use as ties if you’re not using twine.
4. Prepare the masa dough according to your recipe. While masa tamale dough is best used the day it is made, it can also rest overnight, covered, in the refrigerator, then be resoftened by whipping it in a food processor or electric mixer. Use home-rendered or top-quality lard, never hydrogenated
manteca
, the lard sold in red boxes in the supermarket; it has no flavor. In place of lard, you can use a combination of butter and vegetable shortening.
5. Fill and roll the tamales according to your recipe.
6. Steam the tamales. If using a metal rack instead of steaming baskets, place the rack in the rice cooker bowl. Fill the bowl with at least 2 inches and no more than 5 inches of water. If using the rack, the water should come to just below the rack; you do not want the rack submerged in the boiling water. Close the cover and set for the regular cycle. Place the tamales in single layers in the top and bottom steamer baskets, or on the rack. It is important that the tamales do not touch the water during steaming, or they will be soggy. There should be some space between the rack or baskets and the water to provide enough room to create the steam for cooking.
Lay the tamales, seam side down, tightly side by side (rather than standing them up-right) to prevent them from absorbing too much steam and getting soggy. If there is a lot of extra space around the sides, pack with extra corn husks. Cover the tamales with a layer of 4 or 5 corn husks. Set the second steamer basket on top, filled in the same manner. When the water comes to a boil, place the baskets in the rice cooker and close the cover. Set a timer for 1 hour; the tamales will steam for 1 to 1½ hours, depending on their size. Make sure to check the water level periodically and refill as necessary by pouring in hot water on the sides of the tamales, never directly over them. This is important since the tamales will taste scorched if the water evaporates.
After 1 hour, remove a tamale with metal tongs and peel back the husk to check for doneness. Or you can pierce the tamale with a bamboo skewer. The dough should be firm and no longer sticky or mushy, and separate easily from the husk wrapping. Break off a section of dough to check the filling. Using metal tongs, remove the tamales from the basket. Let fresh tamales rest for 15 minutes at room temperature before serving to set the dough and meld the flavors.
7. The tamales can be cooled in the steamer baskets, then stored in zipper-top plastic bags in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can freeze the cooked tamales or even freeze the raw tamales for up to 1 month and steam later before serving (after thawing them overnight in the refrigerator in their wrappings).
8. To reheat cooked tamales, fill the rice cooker bowl with 5 inches of hot water and bring to a boil. Place the tamales in the steamer basket, close the cover, and steam for 15 to 20 minutes. You can also micro wave individual tamales in their wrappers for 1 minute on high.
CLICK TO SEE FILLING VARIATIONS
This exceptional recipe for tamales comes from food writer and California rancho cooking expert Jacquie McMahan, our very own tamale princess. Rancho tamales are the
grandes
of the genre—nice and big. You will be buying freshly ground masa, which is a wet dough, rather than masa harina, the flour that needs to be reconstituted before making it into dough. Be sure to buy your masa as fresh as you can get it, not
masa preparada
—the already prepared tamale dough, which is often in similar packaging, as it already has cheap lard and seasonings added; read the label carefully. You can get fresh masa in a specialty market, but some supermarkets carry fresh masa during the Christmas holidays. Set aside two days for preparation so that all you have to do is cook the tamales when you want to serve them. You will be using the rice cooker to steam the dried chiles for the sauce, as well as for cooking the finished tamales.