Rice Cooker: The All-Purpose Pot

Roger Ebert loves to cook everything in a Rice Cooker and loves to tell stories about it. His blog has a following of enthusiastic fans. There is even a book.. The Pot and How to Use It.

He calls The Pot the only one you will ever need. Well, I have to disagree a little because there is the problem of overflow or spatter.. at least for the many people who buy a Rice Cooker and don't read the instructions on every bag of rice. Unprocessed rice has a starchy residue which remains when the grains are separated from the plant. The rice must be washed away before cooking otherwise the starch floating atop the water will form bubbles which then spatter around the lid and out the steam hole. You can minimize this problem by putting rice and water in an old pot, then pouring away most of the water. Finally, dump the wet rice in a sieve before putting it in the cooker. So you need an old pot and a sieve in addition to the cooker.

There are too many Rice Cookers to choose from. Fortunately, you can create a short list by visiting Cooker Guide. Rice Cooker fans tend to favour the Zojirushi models. I found a Rival model with a steel steaming tray just like the Zojirushi 30 percent discounted at my neighborhood Kitchen Stuff. Although you can find small Cookers starting at $10, a larger unit with steaming tray is worth the extra dollars for multi-use operation.

My first cook-up had one measure of rice in the bowl plus the steamer tray had small red potatoes, carrots, frozen broccoli, and mushrooms. I discarded the poorly cooked rice but the steaming tray items were delicious. The potatoes and carrots were perfect but the other items were overcooked. Obviously, the non-root vegetables need to be added last.

Next times I was careful to prewash and added more rice to cover the bottom of the cooker. Basmatic rice has a subtle aroma when cooking that reminds me of popcorn. Brown rice has a chewy texture and interesting flavor. Both are delightful when a dab of faux-butter is mixed in while the rice is still warm from The Pot. Do not add butter and oils during rice cooking. The Pot is very hot and may damage the oils.

Some folks create recipies with exact measurements for all the items. Others just throw food in the pot and see what happens. Enjoy The Pot.