Mashed potatoes are nice and easy. Just cut the potato up into cubes and drop them in a rice cooker then fill it with enough water to cover them. Turn the rice cooker onto quick cook and let it go until it beeps.
When you take the potatoes out they should be so soft that you can just mash them directly in your bowl with a fork. I recommend using some kind of spoon to get the potatoes out of your rice cooker though so as to not scratch the bowl and because the potatoes will fall apart if you try to stab them. I used a spaghetti spoon since it has a straining hole in the center which means you get just potato and no water.
Once mashed you can add butter / margarine / substitute, sour cream / substitute, etc.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Tofu, Curry, Rice, Rice Cooker, Microwave
Tofu: Why tofu instead of some other source of protein? Because it keeps well which means I don't have to go to the store all the time and it's priced well compared to a lot of prepared meats. You can buy a bunch of 14oz packs of firm tofu at the grocery store, stack them up in the refrigerator, and not have to worry about Salmonella or any other nasty problem associated with "meats" being left too long unused. Also, tofu is pre-cooked, which means you only need to heat it up, not actually cook it (in some dishes it is even eaten cold).
Curry: Why curry sauce? It is nice because you can buy it in jar form and, just like pasta sauce, dump it in a bowl with some other ingredients and you have a meal.
Rice: Well, it's a good source of complex carbohydrates and has no flavor of it's own, so it is edible with anything.
First, cook some rice. Any rice cooker will do and any type of rice. I don't recommend moving on until the rice is done.
Second, cube the tofu. This just means opening it's packet, and cutting it into little cubes. If you don't mind long "cubes" you can do this in it's container without having to dirty a cutting board or plate.
Third, put all the cubes in some kind of microwaveable dish along with the curry sauce. You want enough curry sauce to coat all of the tofu cubes since they will absorb the flavor of the tofu during heating and you don't want the tofu to dry out.
Fourth, microwave the curry / tofu covered for 3-4 minutes, until it's warm enough for you. You can't really overcook curry sauce or tofu in a microwave if the dish is covered well (so the water can't easily evaporate out).
Fifth, add in rice (or if you want to dirty another dish, put the rice onto a plate / bowl and then put the sauce / tofu on top).
For those who haven't had tofu before it is virtually tasteless when mixed with anything that does have a taste to it. This means that whatever it is soaked in is what the tofu will taste like. As long as you are OK with the texture (texture is similar to the white part of a hard boiled egg) then it's a fine source of protein.
Curry: Why curry sauce? It is nice because you can buy it in jar form and, just like pasta sauce, dump it in a bowl with some other ingredients and you have a meal.
Rice: Well, it's a good source of complex carbohydrates and has no flavor of it's own, so it is edible with anything.
First, cook some rice. Any rice cooker will do and any type of rice. I don't recommend moving on until the rice is done.
Second, cube the tofu. This just means opening it's packet, and cutting it into little cubes. If you don't mind long "cubes" you can do this in it's container without having to dirty a cutting board or plate.
Third, put all the cubes in some kind of microwaveable dish along with the curry sauce. You want enough curry sauce to coat all of the tofu cubes since they will absorb the flavor of the tofu during heating and you don't want the tofu to dry out.
Fourth, microwave the curry / tofu covered for 3-4 minutes, until it's warm enough for you. You can't really overcook curry sauce or tofu in a microwave if the dish is covered well (so the water can't easily evaporate out).
Fifth, add in rice (or if you want to dirty another dish, put the rice onto a plate / bowl and then put the sauce / tofu on top).
For those who haven't had tofu before it is virtually tasteless when mixed with anything that does have a taste to it. This means that whatever it is soaked in is what the tofu will taste like. As long as you are OK with the texture (texture is similar to the white part of a hard boiled egg) then it's a fine source of protein.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Zojirushi Rice Cooker Pasta Take 2
Tried again with 1 cup pasta and 1.5 cups water. This time the pasta turned out a little softer than before (oddly, since I cooked with more water) but there was no water left needing to be strained. Pasta was still edible, though some people don't like their pasta soft. Next time I'll try with 1.75 cups water to try and find a nice medium.
Zojirushi Rice Cooker Pasta
I am a proud owner of a Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker & Warmer. This brilliant work of art allows me to put water and rice into a Teflon (ie: easy to clean) pot, press a button, and have perfectly cooked rice some time later (I am not sure exactly how long it takes, I leave it and go do other things then come back when it beeps, if not later).
The nice thing about a rice cooker is that all of the water you put in it is contained within the device. This means that as the water boils, it doesn't evaporate off but instead sticks around to cool near the top and fall back into the pot. What this does is allows you to put exactly as much water into the pot as will be absorbed by the rice so when it's done the rice is the exact texture you want it and there is nothing to strain.
Enter Pasta. I like pasta but I always hate having to stir it (so the noodles on top don't get dry) and having to strain it afterwards (dirty a strainer, or straining lid). So I thought to myself, why not just dump some pasta into the rice cooker with some water and see what happens? Which is exactly what I did.
For my first experiment I put in 1-cup medium shells and 2 cups water. I really had no idea going into this how much water is absorbed by pasta but more is better since worst case scenario I end up with a complex carbohydrate soup / mush that I can mix in with some pasta sauce for flavoring and call a meal. Once the ingredients were added I closed the lid, set the rice cooker to "quick cook", and pressed go.
Some time later (not sure how long) it played it's little song to me and I went to find out what I had created. Amazingly, the noodles were just right in terms of hard/softness (at least for my taste) but it still had some water in the pot which I had to strain. At this point I transferred the noodles & water into a dinner bowl, strained the little water left with a spoon holding the noodles back (I later used the spoon to eat with, so no extra dish here) and added some pasta sauce from a jar in the refrigerator.
I will be trying this again later today with 1.5 cups water to see if I can get similar results without the need of straining and I will post my results here.
The nice thing about a rice cooker is that all of the water you put in it is contained within the device. This means that as the water boils, it doesn't evaporate off but instead sticks around to cool near the top and fall back into the pot. What this does is allows you to put exactly as much water into the pot as will be absorbed by the rice so when it's done the rice is the exact texture you want it and there is nothing to strain.
Enter Pasta. I like pasta but I always hate having to stir it (so the noodles on top don't get dry) and having to strain it afterwards (dirty a strainer, or straining lid). So I thought to myself, why not just dump some pasta into the rice cooker with some water and see what happens? Which is exactly what I did.
For my first experiment I put in 1-cup medium shells and 2 cups water. I really had no idea going into this how much water is absorbed by pasta but more is better since worst case scenario I end up with a complex carbohydrate soup / mush that I can mix in with some pasta sauce for flavoring and call a meal. Once the ingredients were added I closed the lid, set the rice cooker to "quick cook", and pressed go.
Some time later (not sure how long) it played it's little song to me and I went to find out what I had created. Amazingly, the noodles were just right in terms of hard/softness (at least for my taste) but it still had some water in the pot which I had to strain. At this point I transferred the noodles & water into a dinner bowl, strained the little water left with a spoon holding the noodles back (I later used the spoon to eat with, so no extra dish here) and added some pasta sauce from a jar in the refrigerator.
I will be trying this again later today with 1.5 cups water to see if I can get similar results without the need of straining and I will post my results here.
Why?
When it comes to cooking, I am pretty lazy. The best meal is one that I can eat strait out of the fridge without utensils or dishes. However, I also live on a tight budget and try to eat relatively healthily so no-utensils and no-dishes is often not an option.
I have recently taken up experimenting with new, lazier, ways of cooking fairly common dishes like rice, pasta, potatoes, etc. You may notice a trend of food types here and if you are interested in a "low carb" diet this is likely not the site for you. On the other hand, if you are an active, poor, college student with a rice cooker and a microwave this may be exactly what you need to stay competitive!
I have recently taken up experimenting with new, lazier, ways of cooking fairly common dishes like rice, pasta, potatoes, etc. You may notice a trend of food types here and if you are interested in a "low carb" diet this is likely not the site for you. On the other hand, if you are an active, poor, college student with a rice cooker and a microwave this may be exactly what you need to stay competitive!
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