PrintRice Cooker Cooking: More Than Just Rice
I am going to share my mom's recipe for chicken in the rice cooker - it's delicious and simple, and great for you homesick college kids! Please also post your own suggestions for other stuff you can cook in the rice cooker.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
13 Comments:
Well, if you are going to have a rice cooker, you are probably cooking rice too. And you would want to cook the rice to be as tasty as possible, so, in my book, you have got to add a sheet or two of dried Japanese kombu (kelp). Also, a handful of barley adds to immensely to the flavor complexity and nutritional value or white rice. Also, don't use stinking tap water for cooking rice if you want it to be tasty!
KFPEKOPEKO at 3:21PM on 11/06/07
RICE COOKER CHICKEN
Ingredients
1 whole chicken (about 3 lbs — just get the ones from Safeway)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1/4 cup or so of soy sauce (I used Kikkoman's — please note that there is a difference in taste in soy sauces — mine is dark soy sauce I think. I'm also approximating on the measurement — you need enough to just cover the chicken with it.)
A little salt
A little sugar
Procedure
1. Carve out the breasts. (My mom uses the breasts for soup.)
2. Marinate the chicken in the garlic, ginger, and soy sauce, salt, and sugar. Of course if you marinate longer, you get better flavor, but it's ok to cook straight away too. If you don't have fresh ginger, ginger powder will do.
3. Stick it in the rice cooker on its back. Turn rice cooker on.
Done when your rice cooker button pops up!
I wanted to post this because it's such a simple recipe, and your chicken will come out very tender and flavorful. I tried to find a similar recipe online, but the closest one I could find was Kylie Kwong's, and she recommended poaching a chicken for 3 hours. Please let me know if you guys tried it and what you thought!
toastykitten at 3:21PM on 11/06/07
There it is! I love the idea of hacking the rice cooker and using it for things beyond rice. This is great! Thanks so much for sharing, ToastyK!
Adam Kuban at 3:38PM on 11/06/07
Also: What size and type of cooker do you use? Do you use the kind that seals tight (like this) or the small cheapo kind like I have (this)?
Adam Kuban at 3:44PM on 11/06/07
I have the cheapo kind. It does two things only - turn on, and keep warm. So yours should work just fine!
toastykitten at 3:50PM on 11/06/07
Cool. Yours does one more thing than mine! Mine does not "keep warm." It only turns on and then pops off.
My other question is: You're sure it cooks the chicken enough? How does it know?!? (I'm always nervous about underdone chicken.)
Also: Hope you don't mind that I added some formatting to yr recipe. ;)
Adam Kuban at 3:59PM on 11/06/07
Adam, thanks for adding formatting! And yes, it does cook the chicken enough - remember, you're not cooking the breasts because you carved that out. That's a huge chunk of meat you don't have to cook. And cook the chicken on its back for more even cooking, so that the body's cavity is facing outwards. I always test my chicken by cutting into it - as long as the juices run clear, even though right near the bone it's a very faint faint pink color, it's done.
toastykitten at 4:24PM on 11/06/07
Nice. Thanks again, TK.
Adam Kuban at 4:28PM on 11/06/07
i'm korean and i think my mother used to put a whole slab of pork belly in there and when it came out it was the perfect texture.
vinnyger at 10:49PM on 11/06/07
I guess you can always take a temp of the thigh when it's done. I really want to try this, but the manual of my new rice cooker explicitly warns not to cook anything but rice in there. Dare I defy the manual gods and bugger up my new rice pot? Adam, you go first, and let us know :)
i8alot at 11:22PM on 11/06/07
I like steel cut oatmeal cooked in the rice cooker. I use the same water:rice ratio, and sometimes even throw in some dried fruit before I turn on the switch.
mlt43 at 7:53AM on 11/07/07
I look forward to reading the responses here. This page will be flagged for watching.
I recently started cooking steel cut oats in the rice cooker, making steel cut oats my news favourite breakfast. I make it similar to the way mlt43 does. The idea to use the rice cooker for oats likely came from a Serious Eats post.
My roommate bought our rice cooker the day after she moved in. I might have to fight her for it when the living arrangement ends. :)
(She's Chinese, so rice is a staple in her diet. She claims that she burns rice when she cooks it stove top.)
CanadianFoodieGirl at 11:29AM on 11/07/07
That Rice Cooker Chicken sounds wonderful.
But (to those of you who have tried it), do you just marinade the chicken, or put the marinade (along with the chicken) in the cooker, too? Thanks, JJ
jjinyancey at 3:35PM on 11/13/07