awkwafina is tapping into a very authentic New York and American sensibility. Thanks NY Times - good to see you still have a finger on the pulse of your hometown.
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I use the rice cooker for just about everything except rice. I make chai in it. I reheat soups and stews. I make oatmeal it is really more than a steamer it is more like a pot. Any thing that you can cook in a pot on the stove can be cooked in the rice cooker. The best thing is that it needs so little attention and if you are cooking grains it will automatically shut off. The rice cooker brings foods to a very fast and then can keep them warm. I also use the vita clay slow cooer a lot which is interesting because it is faster than a slow cooker but makes great food because it actually seems to have a bit of pressure added to the cooking process.
I laughed reading this article now that my son moved to east Seattle in Brooklyn. Vegan markets call for desperate measures! Jjajangmien!
Rice cooker became my second most used cooking device when I had a small child around the house and burned anything that didn't shut off itself (including a teakettle). Zojirushi, Cuckoo or Tiger have several models. My advice: get a smallish one and make rice more often til you get the hang of it. We eat rice everyday, mostly brown. If you enjoy and use the cooker, get a bigger one with varied settings and make other grains, ogokbap (5 grain rice), or porridge (congee). You can reheat quickly if you make big batches. I have a high pressure one because it's not aluminum, but am rethinking it. Despite the good deal, and healthier outcome, it isn't as easy to use.
Rice cooker became my second most used cooking device when I had a small child around the house and burned anything that didn't shut off itself (including a teakettle). Zojirushi, Cuckoo or Tiger have several models. My advice: get a smallish one and make rice more often til you get the hang of it. We eat rice everyday, mostly brown. If you enjoy and use the cooker, get a bigger one with varied settings and make other grains, ogokbap (5 grain rice), or porridge (congee). You can reheat quickly if you make big batches. I have a high pressure one because it's not aluminum, but am rethinking it. Despite the good deal, and healthier outcome, it isn't as easy to use.
can someone recommend a book for preparing entire meals in a rice cooker and possibly recommend a specific brand of rice cooker? As a very disabled person who is unable to use a stove and have been using ONLY a microwave oven for ALL my meals with mostly mediocre results (note: i did find The Fasta Pasta microwave cooker to be a great device as is the Lekue microwave steamer ), another accessible alternative cooking method would be great. Roger Ebert wrote a book on it but i found it to be very unsatisfactory.
The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook has worked well for me, as have the recipes that came with our machine. I have a little three cup Zojirushi, but any Asian brand is a good choice. I particularly know Tiger, Zojirushi, and Panasonic are supposed to be reliable. If you're ever making full meals for more than one, I'd suggest a larger model, because I've found the three cup pot a little small for preparing full meals for two.
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As far as a rice cooker, you could visit (Chicago's ) Chinatown and pick out a Japanese cooker at one of the many interesting variety stores.
the rice cooker is a steaming device so the possibilities for making cooked meals with it are easy and almost endless. You can cook with all kinds of broth instead of water to flavor the rice, you can add pieces of meat, chicken, vegetables, mushrooms, shrimp, etc. to the rice, you can add spices and herbs as well. You can also steam something inside the cooker by putting it in a bowl small enough to fit on top of the cooked rice as soon as it goes to the warming mode. I recommend getting a rice cooker that has stainless steel inserts, like Oyama or Tatung, it's safer and healthier. If you have a computer or smartphone you can go to YouTube and check out videos there of cooking meals with rice cookers. The Tatung videos are very helpful.
Uncle Ben's Ready Rice. Open the top, microwave for ninety seconds, done. Perfect rice.
Uncle Ben's is fine for people that are used to eating poor quality rice. For me, it's tasteless.
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My 23 year old daughter, in grad schools swears by rice cooker. She makes everything in it, rice and lentils, quinoa, bulgar wheat, couscous, basmati rice, brown rice, jasmine rice. She can't do without it. The rice cooker and the slow cooker have kept her fed and health.
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Rice can be made perfectly well in a pan without a rice cooker. You can turn left over rice into a new dish by taking some garlic in warm oil in a frying pan (big size - sweat the garlic) and adding the left over rice with some salt and red paprika over it . Saute the rice for 5-7 minutes by sprinkling some water over it . Nice change
Over you can add some green chutney to some rice once the garlic sweats . Follow the same procedure.
Over you can add some green chutney to some rice once the garlic sweats . Follow the same procedure.
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True, but the main benefit of a rice cooker is it's press a button and leave it alone. It turns off by itself when the excess water is evaporated and the rice is done.
Lum's! That and Joy Wah were the Chinese restaurants of my youth.
But . . . I thought this was supposed to be a piece about the rice cooker. Harrumph.
But . . . I thought this was supposed to be a piece about the rice cooker. Harrumph.
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All you need on a rice cooker is an on-button. For water level, put in just enough to come up to your finger joint just above the nail. Do these things, and you will be Master Rice Cooker.
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Which finger?
My rule of thumb is leave one inch of water above the rice surface. Adjust more or less if you want fluffier or firmer rice.
I just adore Awkwafina!
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I won't leave out any steps. 1) You don't need a rice cooker. 2) Bring two cups of water with a pinch of salt and dollop of cooking oil (sesame, olive, veg, whatever) to a boil in a pan with a lid. 3) dump in one cup rice (I use basmati with every dish no matter the genre). 4) Immediately turn burner to low and cook for 20 minutes with no lifting the lid during the cooking process. Perfect rice every time. Bam ! If you need more than a cup of cooked rice just make sure the water is always twice as much as the rice. Ie, 2 cups of raw rice requires 4 cups of water to cook in.
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My friend, I do understand. Truly. And I am an ex-chef who considered himself not only a minimalist (therefore not very welcomed as a chef) and more or less a minimalist in terms of equipment: good knives and my skills.
Oh, but a rice cooker. It does not need to get used to the new burners on the new stove in the place you just moved into. It does not need to depend on my setting the pan a bit to one side to get that exact cooking temperature because the electric burner is a bit hot/cold in that one spot. It does not need me to eye the pot once or twice during the first 5 minutes to make sure the gods have not messed with my gas line (different apartment). It does not need me to remember to set the timer so I don't burn the rice.
Rice in; water in; press button. Rice done.
That is what technology is supposed to be like. (I am fairly certain it is the only thing in existence today that actually does work As It Should.)
Oh, but a rice cooker. It does not need to get used to the new burners on the new stove in the place you just moved into. It does not need to depend on my setting the pan a bit to one side to get that exact cooking temperature because the electric burner is a bit hot/cold in that one spot. It does not need me to eye the pot once or twice during the first 5 minutes to make sure the gods have not messed with my gas line (different apartment). It does not need me to remember to set the timer so I don't burn the rice.
Rice in; water in; press button. Rice done.
That is what technology is supposed to be like. (I am fairly certain it is the only thing in existence today that actually does work As It Should.)
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This is very strange. I came here to comment that, although I enjoyed learning about Ms. Lum, I would have liked to have learned more regarding the secret of successfully cooking rice in a rice cooker. Mine leaves the rice too soggy; I'm experimenting with less and less water but still haven't gotten the mix right. So, what do I find at the comments page? The one other person who's commented has my identical name! Not the most unusual name in the world, I realize but still...! Hello, Doug Hill, of Norman, Oklahoma. I'm Doug Hill, originally from Wichita, Kansas. (BTW, I like your rice recipe, but as I'm sure you know, the appeal of the rice cooker is you don't have to watch it. But watching it is not that big a deal, I admit, and probably worth it to get rice that isn't overcooked.)
I teach cooking classes and teach my students how to cook perfect rice in a pot because most of them do not own nor have the desire to spend money on a rice cooker. That being said, I know my stove so there are no variable factors. Nothing beats a rice cooker for consistency. Ms. Lum should reconsider reading the instructions.