Let’s talk about the often ignored and usually overlooked when it comes to versatility in the kitchen, ever powerful rice cooker or electric steamer if you prefer to call it. By it’s own admission and the lack of foreward thinking that was put it to naming this kitchen appliance as simply the rice cooker. Oh no my cooking friends the lowly rice cooker is capable of way more than it’s name would indicate, so let us examine this further!
Rice cooker or electric steamer is actually one of the more healthy cooking devices you may have in your kitchen. The obvious of course is rice, white, brown, spanish but wait do you just cook the rice? Have you ever tried adding some seasoning into the rice to get steamed with some flavor. Try adding some of your favorite spices as the rice is coming to completion to give it a little extra zip.
Did you know that you can easily cook a beef stew in your rice cooker? Simply add some of your favorite ingredients for a beef stew set it on warm and a few hours later you will have a yummy beef stew. Some other things that you can cook in a rice cooker that you may not have realized are pilafs and rice puddings. Love having a nice warm bowl of freshly steamed tapioca pudding, good stuff!
The last food item I will bring to your attention which I hope you already knew about were those fresh and frozen vegetables. The beauty of the rice cooker is that most of them come with a seperate container that will sit on top but seperate from the rice so you can do your rice and vegetables at the same time. A great healthy cooking time saver that often overlooked rice cooker.
So now you know a little bit more about how the rice cooker rocks the kitchen and deserves some attention now and again. Especially if you are looking to cook healthy cook fast and cook easy. Do you have any rice cooker ideas to share? Perhaps a rice cooker cookbook you would like to recommend? Please share your opinions with a few comments and thanks for reading!
