The Ultimate Rice Cooker
Page 7
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 6 to 8
2 cups Thai jasmine rice
2¼ cups water
¼ teaspoon salt
1. Place the rice in a fine strainer or bowl, rinse with cold water twice, and drain twice.
2. 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 and salt; 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 holds nicely on Keep Warm for up to 3 hours. Serve hot.
note: If the cooked rice seems too dry, add a bit more water (up to 2 to 3 tablespoons) and leave it on the Keep Warm cycle for 15 minutes to continue steaming.
white jasmine blend
Cooked by itself, jasmine rice can be very soft and tender, almost sticky. In combination with a domestic long-grain white rice, it will have a lovely nutty fragrance and drier texture. It’s especially nice with Chinese food; in fact, one restaurateur of our acquaintance says he serves only jasmine rice (made in a 55-cup gas-powered rice cooker!) because he loves the way it makes the restaurant smell. If you use domestic-grown American jasmine rice, increase the water to 1¾ cups.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
½ cup long-grain white rice
½ cup Thai jasmine rice
1½ cups water
¼ teaspoon salt
1. Place the rices in a fine strainer or bowl, rinse with cold water, and drain twice.
2. Coat the rice cooker bowl with nonstick cooking spray or a film of vegetable oil. Place the rices in the rice bowl. Add the water and salt; 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 10 to 15 minutes. Fluff the rice with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. This rice will hold on Keep Warm for hours. Serve hot.
jasmati rice
We thought Jasmati rice was a combination of jasmine and basmati, but that is not the case. Grown in Texas, Jasmati is a combination of Thai jasmine and Carolina long-grain white rice from RiceSelect. The aroma of the uncooked rice is as intoxicating a perfume as the best jasmine, but the aroma becomes muted during cooking. The soft, tender cooked rice is a great alternative to regular bland white rice or one of the imported aromatics. It cooks up snowy white, gets ever so slight a curl on some grains, and tastes like jasmine rice without any of the stickiness. This is rated one of our favorite rices and we think you will agree. Jasmati can be substituted for any long-grain white rice or basmati in the pilaf recipes see and see. Store in the refrigerator.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
1 cup Jasmati rice
1½ cups water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine
⅛ teaspoon salt (optional)
1. Place the rice in the rice cooker bowl. Add the water, butter, and salt, if using; swirl to combine. Close the cover and set for the regular cycle.
2. 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 hours. Serve hot.
kasmati rice
After Texmati, the next rice developed by RiceSelect was their Kasmati, with a stronger aromatic fragrance and firmer center of the grain than the Texmati. Adapted from basmati seedstock in a manner like Della and Louisiana popcorn rice, Texas-grown Kasmati looks exactly like a scaled-down basmati grain with similar opaque viscosity. Kasmati is far more aromatic and is tasty, indeed. Beth originally thought that since Kasmati was similar to Jasmati they would cook and taste the same; not so. It has rather dense grains, so it needs a preliminary soaking to cook properly; without soaking it is very firm (which is okay for fried rice). The needle-like grains elongate considerably, especially with the presoak. Kasmati is a lovely rice that quickly became a dinner favorite and is definitely delightfully unique compared to other American aromatics. Store the raw rice in the refrigerator.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
1 cup Kasmati rice
1¾ cups water
Small pinch of salt (optional)
1. Place the rice and water in the rice cooker bowl. Close the cover and let the rice soak for 30 minutes to 1 hour. At the end of the soaking period, add the salt, if using, swirl to combine, and set for the regular cycle.
2. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the rice steam for 10 minutes. Gently but thoroughly fluff the rice with a plastic or wooden rice paddle or wooden spoon. This rice will hold on Keep Warm for hours. Serve hot.
Medium-Grain White Rice
The right cooking pot has always been a very important issue in cooking rice, and the rice cooker is downright infallible when cooking medium-grain white rices. Medium-grain white rice is perfect for a plain side dish, but expect a moister, more tender grain than with long-grain rice; it should never be mushy. If you’re buying rice labeled for Japanese-American consumers, it may be labeled short-grain. The terms are used interchangeably in Asia; the United States is the only country with a separate class for medium-grain. When you inspect the grain, note that it is shorter and slightly plumper than long-grain. It requires less water to cook than long-grain rice. You may use this rice in pilafs, as well as in paella.
Medium-Grain White Rice
medium-grain white rice
This is the recipe to use for basic steamed rice or the Japanese daily rice, okame, made from the white rice known as seihakumai . Remember, if you bought a bag of rice labeled “new crop,” shinmai (which is fresh every autumn), you will decrease the ratio of water to rice to 1:1 (that will be 1 cup of water here). The method of washing described below is more extensive than what many cooks actually do. If you’re pressed for time, just swish and drain a few times. If your rice is labeled “Musenmai” or “Rinse-free rice,” the washing is optional. (If you don’t wash it, use a bit more water.) This recipe is geared to domestic medium-grain white rice, which is grown either in California or Arkansas. Use brands like Nishiki, Homai, Botan, Konriko, Tamaki Classic, and southern medium-grain brands, not domestic or imported Arborios. These are the same proportions to use for haigamai, partially polished white rice. For 1½ cups rice, use 2 cups water.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
1 cup medium-grain white rice
1⅓ cups water
¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
1. Wash the rice. Place the rice in a bowl and fill the bowl about half-full with cold water. Swirl the rice in the water with your hand. Carefully pour off most of the water, through a mesh strainer or by 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 twice more. 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 and salt, if using; swirl to combine. Let the rice soak for 30 minutes to 1 hour with the cover shut, time permitting. At the end of the soaking period, set for the regular
cycle.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the rice steam for 15 minutes. Gently but thoroughly fluff the rice with a plastic or wooden rice paddle or wooden spoon. This rice will hold on Keep Warm for hours. Serve hot.
japanese white rice with umeboshi and sesame
Tart and salty, pinky red umeboshi pickled plums are an acquired taste to some. To others, it is just another comfort food along with miso. Anyone who has taken a macrobiotic cooking class gets hooked on umeboshi. On a visit to Japantown, our lunch boxes always have a bright, shriveled pickled plum plunked into the mound of fresh white rice. Prepare the condiments while the rice is cooking; you want to be ready to serve as soon as the rice has finished on the Keep Warm cycle. Umeboshi plums are sold in Asian groceries and natural foods stores. This recipe—inspired by Hiroko Shimbo, author of The Japanese Kitchen (Harvard Common Press, 2000)—has quickly become a favorite quick lunch on the run.
YIELD: Serves 2 to 3
2 umeboshi plums, pitted and minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley leaves
1½ tablespoons toasted Japanese sesame seeds
3 cups hot cooked medium-grain white rice
Sesame oil (not toasted), for drizzling Tamari (a thick, strong soy sauce; reduced-sodium, if desired), for drizzling
1. Place the umeboshi, parsley, and sesame seeds in separate small, shallow serving bowls.
2. Place the rice in a medium-size serving bowl, sprinkle it with the condiments, and drizzle with some sesame oil and tamari.
Serve immediately.
note: Japanese sesame seeds are sold toasted; you can toast them again in a dry skillet for more flavor.
riso
Riso is Italian for rice, and Italian rice is domestic or imported Arborio, Carnaroli, or Vialone nano. While these rices are commonly cooked into a risotto, the side dish that is like a creamy savory rice pudding, “everyday” rice is cooked so that the grains are dry and separate, more like a pilaf than a risotto. Home recipes for riso require the cook to measure the same amount of dry rice and water plus ½ cup extra water for the cooking pot. We found the measurements ran true when translating the recipe to the rice cooker. This rice takes a long time to cook for white rice, a full hour. Be prepared for the rice to be ever-so-slightly chewy in a percentage of the grains. One look and you will recognize the perfect example of a plumped medium-sized grain of rice. It is slightly moist, but dry on the tongue, and very tasty without being sweet. Serve with butter and Parmesan cheese as a side like any other rice bowl rice, or as a bed for sautéed meat and onions. This is the rice to make for stuffed peppers, stuffings, rice omelets, fritters, and Italian rice and vegetable salads dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 4 (about 31/ 2 cups)
1¼ cups Arborio, Carnaroli, or Vialone nano rice
1¾ cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
Small pinch of salt
1. Place the rice in the rice cooker bowl. Add the water, olive oil, and salt; swirl to combine. Close the cover and set for the regular cycle.
2. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the rice steam for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice gently with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. This rice will hold on Keep Warm for hours. Serve hot.
CLICK TO SEE TO WASH OR NOT TO WASH
short-grain white rice
Japanese-style short-grain white rice is about 5 percent of the rice grown in the United States. Since half of it is exported, there is not much around. You might say it is a real specialty item. Short-grain rice makes the best sushi. It is also called pearl rice, especially in dessert recipes. Traditional cooking methods require soaking to get a nice soft texture. There is a lot of starch in short-grain rice, so it really sticks together after cooking, but deliciously so. It is a type of rice that tastes better with every bite. Our favorite brand of Japanese-style rice, Tamaki Gold, is labeled short-grain. “What were the proportions to get that Tamaki Gold so perfect?” asked Beth of Julie one day. “Three rice cooker cups and water to the line that says 3 on the bowl, just the way the machine was designed to cook.” This recipe gives measurements in U.S. cups, but if you use the white rice recipe from the manufacturer’s pamphlet, measurements will be in rice cooker cups. This is the recipe to use for imported and domestic Koshi Hikari.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
1½ cups (2 rice cooker cups) short-grain white rice
1⅔ cups cold water
¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
1. Place the rice in a bowl and fill about half-full with cold water. Swirl the rice in the water with your hand. Carefully pour off most of the water, through a mesh strainer or by 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 twice more. 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 (to line 2) and salt, if using; swirl to combine. Let the rice soak for 30 minutes to 1 hour in the bowl with the cover shut, time permitting. When the soaking period is finished, set for the regular cycle.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, gently but thoroughly fluff the rice with a plastic or wooden rice paddle or wooden spoon. Let the rice steam for 10 to 15 minutes. This rice will hold on Keep Warm for hours. Serve hot.
Sticky Rice
Sticky rice, also known as glutinous rice or sweet rice (even though it isn’t sweet at all), is a staple in the Asian culinary repertoire and a frequent ingredient in stuffings and desserts. Japanese cooks combine it with small red adzuki beans for a savory, pink-tinted side dish that is often served at festive meals, topped with sesame seeds and salt. Chinese cooks mix sticky rice with sweet or savory tidbits for stuffings, hearty one-pot meals, or sweet puddings. It is the rice of choice in Thailand, where it is eaten with the fingers.
CLICK TO SEE TO SALT OR NOT TO SALT
Sticky rice must be soaked before cooking, for several hours at least, to cook properly, though overnight soaking is the most common recommendation. During the soaking time, the grains swell and soften, and will crumble easily between your teeth or fingernails.
Once it has soaked, there are three ways to cook sticky rice. There is the traditional method, steaming, and two modern ones: the microwave and the fuzzy logic rice cooker boil/steam method. Since the on/off rice cookers are easy-to-use, reliable steamers, we highly recommend this method. Some fuzzy logic rice cookers also are designed to cook sticky rice and have a cycle or button specifically for it. If your rice cooker is designed to cook sticky rice, it will say so in the booklet that came with it. You will notice that sticky rice takes less water than other types of rice and that the cooker’s sticky rice capacity is somewhat less than for regular white medium- and short-grain rices. (Julie’s medium-size Sanyo fuzzy logic cooker makes 3 rice cooker cups of sticky rice, versus making 5½ rice cooker cups of regular white rice.)
To make sticky rice in a fuzzy logic rice cooker, just follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Sticky rice made in a fuzzy logic machine is fine for some uses, such as when it will be combined with other ingredients, as in Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaves, but overall it is wetter, softer, and not as appealing as steamed sticky rice. You can also mix sticky rice with regular long-grain rice in mixed dishes such as Rainbow Rice in a Pot. To do so, you can substitute one-quarter to one-half sticky rice for long-grain.
Machine-made sticky rice should never be held on the Keep Warm cycle. When the regular cycle completes, turn the rice out into a bowl and fan it (or use an electric fan or a hair dryer set on cool) for a few minutes. Then serve it.
steamed sticky rice
These instructions for steamed sticky rice come courtesy of Hiroko Shimbo, author of the encyclopedic and accessible book The Japanese Kitchen (Harvard Common Press, 2000). Not everyone salts their sticky rice before cooking; feel free to leave out the salt if you wish. Hiroko notes that sticky rice is often served for special occasions, topped with a sprinkle of gomasio, the addictive sesame seed and salt condiment. She explains that you can make your own by toasting 3 tablespoons black sesame seeds in a small skillet over low heat until fragrant. If you wish, you can release more of the seeds’ fragrance and flavor by partly grinding them with a mortar and pestle or the Japanese ridged suribachi, made for precisely that purpose. Add 2 teaspoons sea salt to the sesame seeds and let the mixture cool.
You need an on/off rice cooker with a steamer basket or tray that fits into the top of the cooker. When steaming sticky rice, the steamer basket or tray must be lined with a piece of cloth, which is then folded over to enclose the rice. You can use a double or triple layer of cheesecloth, a square of muslin, or a cloth made especially for this purpose which is sold in Japanese markets. We have also used a clean linen handkerchief with great success. If you love rice, treat yourself to making this rice and enjoy the texture achieved by the steaming.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) or large
(10-cup) rice cooker; on/off o n l y
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 4 to 6
2¼ cups (3 rice cooker cups) sticky rice 1 teaspoon 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.