Sunday, April 11, 2010

Oh how I love my rice cooker!

First, a brief note about the title change to this blog... I was discussing my blog with my mama and my son last night over strawberry pound cake, and my son just didn't get the title of the blog, "Learning to Fry".
"You know", I explained, "Learning to Fry... like learning to FLY, only with a clever cooking pun."
He then pointed out tha tnot everyone might make that connection, and that instead, he would have called it "I Believe I can Fry", like the song by R Kelly. (He used to love the movie Space Jams by the way.. so he knows the song backwards and forwards)
I thought that was a great idea, hence the name change... thanks son!!

OK, so I will admit, I never really saw the sense in having a rice cooker. Rice isn't hard.. 1 cup water.. 1 cup dry rice, a little salt and butter, voila! Rice! Well, I will now admit openly that I was WRONG! Sure, if you want to cook Minute Rice or Uncle Bens for the rest of your life, not having a rice cooker is OK... but if you want to explore the joys of short grain, medium grain, Basmati, Jasmine rice, and even couscous... well, I would highly recommend a rice cooker!


So here is how my love affair began...

I decided to give this whole rice cooker thing a try.. mainly after reading up on sushi rice, and how it's much easier to prepare properly in a rice cooker. I didn't go top of the line.. $14 for an AROMA 6 cup rice cooker at Target. (It's cute and red and will look great in my kitchen) It also has a wonderful little steamer basket for steaming veggies and meats.
Off to the grocery store I go... chicken stock, fresh asparagus, baby carrots, and thin sliced rib-eye steaks.
At home, I actually read the rice cooker instructions, and dive right in. Now my rice cooker comes with a special measuring cup, which I read "meets rice industry standards of measurement", so 1 cup here refers to that cup, not 1 cup as you would measure with a traditional measuring cup.
2 cups of Minute Rice (not such a good choice, but we'll cover more on that later)
2 1/2 cups of chicken stock
Now all I have to do is press the handi-dandy cook button, and the rice cooker does the rest.

I prepared my steaks using some sea salt, and a little onion and garlic powder. For my veggies, I cut my asparagus to fit in the steamer basket, and added my baby carrots. The asparagus I seasoned with Asian sea salt (sea salt seasoned with ginger, sesame seeds and garlic). For the carrots, a nice dusting of fresh ground sugar and cinnamon. About half-way through the 20 minute rice "cycle", I added the steamer basket, and waited. With about 5 minutes left to go, I put the steaks in to broil (I haven't bought a new grill yet, so I had to go with the stove.. sigh) I oiled my pan with a little sesame oil, to tie the steaks in with the Asian flavors I was using for the asparagus.

It all smelled wonderful as I plated for my son and I. Here's a breakdown of how it turned out...

The rice had a wonderful flavor, but was a little gummy, owning to the fact that I used Minute Rice instead of traditional long grain rice.. 20 minutes in a rice cooker is too long for Minute Rice. But the chicken stock instead of water really gave it a nice flavor.
The asparagus was a little too steamed, but tasted fantastic. Next time I will wait a little longer before adding the steamer basket.
The carrots were spot on, with just enough cinnamon to give them a nice sweet flavor.
The steaks were just a tad under-done. We prefer a medium rare, rather than a rare steak. A few more minutes in a low broiler would have been nice, or a wonderful grilled rib-eye like God intended. I have GOT to get a new grill!!

My son actually enjoyed the entire meal, and even congratulated me on actually cooking an entire meal from scratch!
I was pleased with the meal, and with the lessons I learned in the process.

Next time.... Teriyaki chicken with fried rice. Yum!

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