Now Accepting Rice Cooker Recipes, if you've got any

[laceblade]

I AM SO EXCITED to have received a rice cooker for Christmas! I am hopeful that this will help me a lot.

Parameters
1) I'll accept recipes of any skill level, but it might be helpful to know that my cooking skills are pretty rudimentary thus far. This means incredibly basic recipes would be very welcome!

2) I have a 3-cup pot.

3) Please DO keep in my eating restrictions! If you have a recipe that calls for any of the items below, feel free to post it in your journal or a cooking community. It won't be useful to me, though, so please keep it out of the comments.

Things I cannot have:
-Chocolate [carob chocolate is okay as a substitute]
-Mint
-Caffeine of all amounts, this includes decaf coffee
-Carbonated beverages
-Citrus, citric acid, asorbic acid
-Milk, sour cream, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, a few other "real" cheeses (vegan substitutes = fine)
-Fried food, particularly greasy food (lo mein, fried eggs)
-Tomatoes, prepared in any fashion
-Raw onions, garlic, shallots, scallions
-Raw/undercooked meats
-Red meat, even if it's well-done (i.e., hamburgers, steaks, etc.)
-Most raw vegetables, especially broccoli, cauliflower
-Spicy food
-Certain spices, regardless of "spiciness," i.e., lots of pepper, any amount of curry, cardamom/etc. Indian food, for example, is generally a "no."
-Sourdough/fermented breads (still questionable, but for sure "strong" sourdough = no. Probably won't matter for rice cooker recipes!)

4) Yes jesse_the_k, I did put The Pot and How to Use It by Roger Ebert on hold at the library.

Comments

[wrdnrd]

Andy's been half-assedly working on a guide to making onigiri for you. I'll go make him finish that.

OMG, you gotta try the porridge setting!!! RICE PORRIDGE SO GOOD. It's one of my migraine foods because the amount of time it takes is just enough time for a migraine nap, and then i wake up to food all ready to eat.

HAVE YOU SEEN THAT YOU CAN MAKE CAKES IN YOUR RICE COOKER??? I love our rice cooker. It's in a tie for 2nd place (with the fridge) in my love affair with household appliances (#1 is the washing machine).

[laceblade]

!!! Oooh, I should figure out if I can eat umeboshi or not. The co-op sells it but only a bunch at a time ($10-17), and I really just want to eat ONE to make sure that I can lol.

!!!!! PORRIDGE?! I COULD EAT THAT?!

WHAT?! CAKES?! LIKE A CAKE OF RICE OR A CAKE-CAKE?!

[kalmn]

Whoa. I have the crappy target rice cooker, which has on and off. What sort do you gave with a porridge setting?

[laceblade]

*looks at box* Mine doesn't appear to have that setting either, just "Cook" and "Warm."

[wrdnrd]

For both kalmn and laceblade: Would it be possible for you guys to either post pics of your rice cookers or post links to the product online (e.g., Amazon)? Our rice cooker actually has a "porridge" setting.

Edit: And apologies in advance if i've gotten everyone's hopes up about porridge in a rice cooker. I'd gotten the impression that Andy picked out the cheapest rice cooker that Uwajimaya had, and thus that this was a pretty basic version. Perhaps not?

Tho' the porridge setting seems to maybe just be a really long cooking time? So i wonder if anyone's figured out how to make porridge by, say, running the "on/cook" setting twice.

Still, curious to see what rice cookers you 2 have.

[laceblade]

This is the one I got!

[kalmn]

Check out this item at Target: Rival 6-Cup Rice Cooker - Red (RC61).

Darn it, it didn't take the link. But that's it. I think the difference is rice cooker made for ppl who eat rice a lot, vs rice cooker for ppl who see it as a side dish.

[wrdnrd]

I think you're probably exactly right in your last sentence, from having chatted a bit with friends who DO eat a lot of rice.

This is our rice cooker. While we have used almost all the settings (porridge is a favorite, cake has also been used a time or two, we've never bought rinse-free rice), for me the killer feature is the timer. It's great to wake up to rice ready to go into my lunch, or to come home to rice ready to start supper with.

I feel i owe you and laceblade an apology for my exuberance about cake-making and porridge. I am a doofus who didn't know anything about rice cookers until i started looking at them at Uwajimaya, which is Seattle's giant pan-Asian supermarket. So i think i have a, uhhh, skewed notion of what features are standard on a rice cooker. I'm sorry. I live in a bubble. :(

[laceblade]

I should note that I looked around online, and some people have posted recipes for rice cookers like mine, saying the key is that cake = denser than rice, so the "cook" button will pop up before it's actually done, and you need to hold the button down to keep it cooking 'til it's actually done.

OR, IDK, I COULD PUT CAKE MIX IN THAT MEATLOAF PAN I NEVER USE?!

We will see!

[wrdnrd]

I often eat my onigiri just plain with nothing in the middle -- just wrap a piece of seaweed on the bottom (i think of it as the handle) and dunk in soy sauce. Andy's experimented with other things in the middle, too, like various other pickles, meat, god knows what.

I do mean cake-cake. Our rice cooker manual has instructions/recipes for a couple of cakes.

[laceblade]

Huh! I just opened my manual and it just tells how to cook different varieties/amounts of rice. I WILL ATTEMPT TO INVESTIGATE?!

[littlebutfierce]

Rice & beans baby! I kind of just make shit up, but when I am on a non-poky keyboard/connection again after I'm home, I will try to locate some actual recipes!

[laceblade]

WHAT KINDS OF BEANS ARE YOUR FAVES?!

[lileyo]

Cayz and I eat tons of black beans and brown rice. Does avocado count as a raw veggie for you? If not, a few slices of that on top and you've got an awesome pile o protein. Plain beans and rice would be a little dry otherwise, but any other saucy-type-options you know work for you on top would fix that.

[laceblade]

I feel like I have made it through 2012 solely due to avocados and boiled eggs, lol (yes, I can eat them!).

[djkittycat]

I cook brown rice and dry brown lentils in mine together and it tastes awesome even w/o seasoning. You could also boil some plantains (if you want to know how to do that, let me know, they taste yummy and no need to fry) and make some dark leafy greens to go with (neither in the rice cooker). Possibly also make some fish, maybe with coconut milk, if you can have it. Then you have like a seasoning free Caribbean/Latino meal.