The Ultimate Rice Cooker (39 page)
½ cup unsweetened prune juice
2 teaspoons dried mixed herb blend, such as Italian seasoning
1 cup couscous, refined or whole wheat
3 green onions, white parts and an inch of the green parts, chopped, for garnish
1. Set the rice cooker for the Quick Cook or regular cycle. Place the butter in the rice bowl. When melted, add the almonds and yellow onion. Cook, stirring a few times, until the onion and nuts are soft and just starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the prunes, stock, prune juice, herb blend, and couscous; swirl to combine. Close the cover and reset for the regular cycle or let the regular cycle complete.
2. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the couscous steam for 5 minutes. Fluff with a plastic or wooden rice paddle or wooden spoon. This couscous will hold on Keep Warm for up to 1 hour.
3. Mound the couscous on a serving platter, garnish with the green onions, and serve hot or warm.
Another quick and filling couscous to whip up for dinner. Chickpeas have a natural affinity for couscous; wait until you taste them together.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Quick Cook and/or regular
YIELD: Serves 4
2 tablespoons olive oil
1½ pounds zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
½ teapoon ground cumin
1 cup water
1 cup couscous, refined or whole wheat
1 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1. Set the machine for the Quick Cook or regular cycle. Place the oil in the rice bowl. When hot, add the zucchini and cumin. Cook, stirring a few times, just to take the raw edge off of the cumin, about 2 minutes. Add the water, couscous, and chickpeas; swirl to combine. Close the cover and reset for the regular cycle or let the regular cycle complete.
2. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the couscous steam for 5 minutes. Fluff with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. This couscous will hold on Keep Warm for up to 1 hour. Serve hot.
CLICK TO SEE ABOUT COUSCOUS
Israeli couscous is larger than regular couscous, and the little pasta bits are perfectly round. It is a type of couscous growing in popularity in the United States, and no wonder. It is tender, with a slightly toasty taste, and it takes happily to almost any kind of herb or seasoning. It cooks up beautifully in the rice cooker. The brand we found is Osem, which is imported from Israel. This savory dish is positively addicting.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Quick Cook and/or regular
YIELD: Serves 4
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 medium-size shallot, minced
1 cup Israeli couscous
2 cups chicken stock
½ teaspoon salt, if unsalted stock is used
½ teaspoon grated orange zest
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1. Set the rice cooker for the Quick Cook or regular cycle. Place the oil in the rice bowl. When hot, add the shallot, and let soften in the oil, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the couscous and cook until aromatic and lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the stock and salt, if needed. Close the cover and reset for the regular cycle or let the regular cycle complete.
2. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the couscous steam for 10 minutes. Open the cover and add the orange zest and parsley. Fluff with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon to loosen the grains and blend in the zest and parsley. This couscous will hold on Keep Warm for up to 1 hour. Serve hot or warm.
israeli couscous with orange and olives:
Omit the parsley. Stir in 2 tablespoons sliced pitted Kalamata olives with the orange zest.
israeli couscous with orange and almonds:
Omit the parsley. Stir in 2 tablespoons toasted slivered almonds with the orange zest.
israeli couscous with mushrooms:
Omit orange zest. Increase the oil to 2 tablespoons. Sauté ½ cup sliced fresh mushrooms along with the shallot.
Our agent, Martha Casselman, sent Beth a bag offarro imported from Italy by Bartolini, with the label “Farro Semiperlato,” which looked just like regular wheat berries. What should we do with them, we wondered? Farro is a different strain of wheat than the one that gives us plain wheat berries; the grains are larger and redder. It is descended from emmer, one of the earliest wheats in the Middle East, and the grain of choice in ancient Egypt and the highlands of Abyssinia, at the source of the Nile. This was the wheat the Egyptians were using when they discovered wild yeasts and made their first breads; it was the wheat the Romans ate. Over time, emmer evolved naturally into durum wheat, the same large-grained, amber-colored grain we use today ground into flour for pasta.
At the same time, showing up in the Bronze Age in alpine southern Germany and Switzerland, was spelt, a natural mating of the same durum with the Egyptian pedigree and another early common wild European grass like weed. A pure European grain that never grew east of Iran, spelt is a bread wheat. That means it has lots of protein, or gluten. The French word for spelt,
epeautre
, means “sticky hull.” Spelt, known as
farro
in northern Italy and
Dinkel
in Germany, Switzer land, and Austria, is the delicious wheat that was grown and eaten during the Middle Ages. Now an heirloom grain, farro may seem old-fashioned, but it is still grown in areas along the Rhine and Danube Rivers, and has found an escalating market with travelers from America who have visited these areas and had a taste. Farro is a softer wheat than regular wheat berries, so it cooks faster, needs less water, and is more digestible. Use it exactly like regular wheat berries. These same proportions can be used for another ancient wheat berry, kamut.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular/Brown Rice
YIELD: About 2 cups; serves 3 to 4
1 cup farro
1½ cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of salt
1. Place the farro in a dry skillet over medium-high heat. Toast, stirring constantly, until the grains pop and deepen in color, about 4 minutes.
2. Place the toasted farro and water in the rice cooker bowl and cover with the water; let soak in the machine for 1 hour. Add the oil and salt; swirl to combine. Close the cover and set for the regular/Brown Rice cycle.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the farro steam for 10 minutes. Fluff with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. This farro will hold on Keep Warm for up to 1 hour. Serve hot.
The rich, meaty flavor and texture of fresh shiitake mushrooms is a great foil to the chewy whole-grain Italian spelt. Serve with roast chicken or beef dishes.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Quick Cook and/or regular
YIELD: Serves 3 to 4
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large or 2 small shallots, finely chopped
6 ounces (2 medium-large) fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps chopped
1 cup farro
1½ cups water
Pinch of salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Small sprig fresh savory, marjoram, or oregano
1. Set the rice cooker for the Quick Cook or regular cycle. Place the butter in the rice bowl. When melted, add the shallots and stir to coat with the butter. Add the mushrooms and close the cover. Let the shallots and mushrooms cook, stirring occasionally, until completely soft, about 7 minutes.
2. Open the cover, add the farro, and stir to combine. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the farro smells toasty, about 3 minutes. Add the water, salt, pepper to taste, and herb sprig. Close the cover and reset for the regular cycle or let the regular cycle complete.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, remove the herb sprig and let the farro steam for 10 minutes. Fluff with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. This farro will hold on Keep Warm for 1 hour. Serve hot.
Unroasted buckwheat groats, also called white buckwheat, have a much milder flavor than the roasted kasha. You can immediately tell them apart—the toasted groats (another name for kasha) are russet colored. Kasha is a very old and traditional cereal grain in the Russian hinterlands; the word
kasha
can also mean “meal.” The Russians feel about kasha the way the Japanese feel about rice. While normally coated with egg to keep the grains separate, this version is from natural foods writer Rebecca Wood and has no egg. Buck wheat is an acquired taste to the uninitiated. Use fresh groats; we mail-order them from Birkett Mills in New York. If you use the delicious Japanese heirloom miniature buckwheat called
soba gome
, follow this recipe but reduce the liquid by ½ cup and omit the sunflower seeds or nuts.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Regular/Brown Rice
YIELD: About 21/ 2 cups; serves 3 to 4
1 cup unroasted white buckwheat groats
2 cups water or chicken stock
1 tablespoon unsalted butter or walnut oil
Pinch of salt, if unsalted sunflower seeds are used
½ cup shelled sunflower seeds or walnuts, toasted
1. Place the groats in a dry skillet over medium-high heat. Toast, stirring constantly, until the color deepens a few shades, about 4 minutes. You can toast groats light or dark, to your own preference.
2. Place the groats in the rice cooker bowl. Add the water, butter, salt, if using, and sunflower seeds; swirl to combine. Close the cover and set for the regular/Brown Rice cycle.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, let the groats steam for 15 minutes. Fluff the grains with a wooden or plastic rice paddle or wooden spoon. These groats will hold on Keep Warm for up to 1 hour. Serve hot.
This is a very basic recipe for an old Jewish favorite, the nutritious and nutty roasted buckwheat called kasha mixed with tiny egg pasta bows. Cooked conventionally, the pasta must be prepared separately. But the gentle action of the rice cooker allows the pasta to cook perfectly perched right on top of the kasha.
MACHINE: Large (10-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic or on/off
CYCLE: Quick Cook and/or regular/Brown
Rice
YIELD: Serves 6 to 8
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1½ cups whole kasha (roasted buckwheat)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium-size yellow onion, chopped
4 cups water
¾ cup tiny egg pasta bows
1. Beat the eggs in a medium-size bowl with ½ teaspoon of the salt and the pepper. Add the kasha and stir to coat with egg. Set aside at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes to air-dry.
2. Set the rice cooker for the Quick Cook or regular/Brown Rice cycle. Place the butter in the rice cooker bowl. When melted, add the onion, stir to coat with the butter, and close the cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is completely soft, about 10 minutes.
3. Open the cover and add the kasha. Stir to combine and continue to cook, stirring a few times, until the kasha appears dry and smells toasty, about 5 minutes. Add the water and remaining ½ teaspoon salt; stir to combine. Carefully sprinkle the pasta bows on top of the kasha, spreading them out as evenly as possible over the surface. Close the cover and reset for the regular/Brown Rice cycle or let the regular/Brown Rice cycle complete (or let it cook for about 30 minutes, until the kasha is puffed and tender and the pasta is cooked through).
