Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The benefits of a rice cooker

My family got me a rice cooker for Christmas last year. (Prior to that the only place I'd ever seen one before was at a Chinese restaurant.)

To be honest, when I first opened the present I wondered if I'd use it very much since I really don't eat rice that often. Boy was I wrong--a rice cooker works for way more than just rice! I probably use it 2-3 times a week.

Basically a rice cooker cooks rice, beans, barley, or most any other grain just until the liquid is about gone. Then the cooker automatically switches to 'warm' mode which means, unlike cooking in a regular pot, that you don't have to stand guard to prevent boiling over or be there at the exact time that it's done. That's the beauty of the device--put your stuff in, turn it on, and go about your life without being tied to the clock.

Here's how I usually use mine:
At night I try to decide what I'm going to make to eat the next day. If my concoction is going to include dry beans, I'll put some in a regular pot and let them soak overnight. I'll also figure out how much water I'll need to cook with the next day and put that in the cooker so it's ready. If I'm going to mix the beans with rice or barley or quinoa or some other grain, I'll measure that stuff out and have it in a bowl ready to pour into the cooker the next morning. Same goes for any spices that I want to add. If I'm going to add any veggies, I'll have them measured out as well and perhaps stored in the frige. If you do this stuff the night before, the next morning is a breeze

Whem morning comes I'll rinse and drain the beans, pour them and the other ingredients in the cooker, and turn the cooker on. Then I'll go about my morning routine which, after drinking a large glass of water first thing, usually includes breakfast, exercise, devotions, shower, and dress for work.

By that time the cooker will no doubt be done. So I just unplug it, pour the meal into plastic containers to take to work, give the cooker a quick wash, rinse, and dry (< than 5 minutes, tops) and put it away. Healthy meal, simple process.

Tip--My rice-cooker has a steaming tray as well. I seldom use it to actually steam vegetables because that tends to require watching it or else they tend to over-cook. Nevertheless I do keep the steam tray on when cooking anything because the holes in the tray act as a buffer for the steaming bubbles from the cooking process. Without the steaming tray I've noticed that the cooker can boil over a bit, not like a pot on the stove, but just enough to make a little mess.

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