Have you considered getting a rice cooker, but you don’t want it taking up precious space in your kitchen, just for the luxury of cooking rice once in a while?
Well, you don’t have to worry anymore, because not only can you get some top-quality small rice cookers, but we’ve also put together a list of 8 things you can accomplish with a rice cooker – that aren’t just cooked rice.
The rice cooker has many features and functionalities that are quite useful for people in many culinary applications. Right from just boiling meat to making some exquisite dessert items, the rice cooker seems to be so capable of managing all recipes.
There are also some brands of rice cookers that are prominently used for many other recipes. They have the ability to cook and give a texture to any item that is cooked in it.
It makes the dish delicious because of the kind of temperature and heats it induces on the food item.
You can use this list as a guideline and think up new recipes along the way, but we’re here to provide the basics and sometimes necessary inspiration.
Make Delicious Chicken
That’s right; you can use the rice cooker you have to prepare chicken as well. Not only is this method great for preparing chicken in general, but you can also prepare it with your rice, which will soak up all the juices from the meat and be delicious.
And it’s quite simple, really, just add the seasoned chicken and the rice, throw in some chicken stock in there, and let the cooker do its thing until the rice is done, and the chicken is as tender as it could ever get.
Spice Up Your Regular Rice
Rice is already so nutritious and has many qualities, but it’s the best when mixed with something else.
If you prefer the vegetarian or vegan option, of course, this isn’t limited to just chicken alone, you can add in any vegetables you like and make your rice less boring. Anything goes, from broccoli and carrots to corn, and most importantly – tomatoes.
Just adding a tomato or two to your rice makes the dish very versatile. Depending on how you season it, it can be your main course or a side dish, and it mixes well with practically everything.
Soak And Simmer Ingredients
Nobody has the time to soak dried beans the whole night before being prepared. There’s a simple solution to that – stick them in your rice cooker and close the lid.
After a while, you can turn it on, and you will have the beans to add to your salad or dish in no time. And it certainly beats using canned beans.
Make Your Rice Cooker – A Steamer
We’ve already discussed adding vegetables to your rice, but let’s think outside the box for a moment – you can do the vegetables even without the rice.
It’s, without a doubt, the easiest method you could think of to steam your vegetables with almost no effort. It’s quick, easy, and healthy for you.
Beans aren’t, of course, the only ingredient you can soak, that goes for any and all dried ingredients out there; putting them in the rice cooker where they’re going to be prepared saves you both the time and room in the kitchen.
Make Amazing Fluffy Eggs
It may sound strange, but yes, you can make egg dishes in your rice cooker – and it’s straightforward.
You just need a couple of eggs, depending on your taste and how many people you’re feeding. Beat them in good, and add them with the rest of your ingredients to the rice cooker.
What are the other ingredients, you may wonder? Well, that’s easy – practically anything you have ready to go in the kitchen. It can be your favorite omelet combination or the vegetables you have leftover from making something else.
Just leave it in the rice cooker for about 10 minutes, and come back to the fluffiest egg dish you’ve ever tried.
Make Desserts
Desserts sound like a long shot for a rice cooker, but there’s a way to do it. You can make some fantastic sweet dishes by using them, like a soft and fluffy banana cake that will not only be delicious but also have the texture of a cloud.
And it’s a reasonably simple method that results in sweets in much less time than it would take to bake them. Give it a shot, and it’s a guarantee that you will be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.
Make Unique Sauces And Dips
You can use your rice cooker to prepare sauces without having to watch over them constantly.
From classics, like applesauce, to any pasta sauce you want to make quickly, you can mix up the ingredients and spices and let them cook in the rice cooker until done. It might feel like cheating, but it gets the job done.
Make Gravies And Stews
Rice cookers have wide enough containers to cook for a bunch of people or even host a party with multiple servings.
Gravies and stews prepared in a rice cooker can have a good consistency for the heat would be circulated fulsomely so that the whole gravy is equally smooth and proper.
The vegetables and ingredients will blend in the stew very well if it is cooked in the rice cooker and it can be time-adjusted to preparation.
This will minimize the effort and you can be relieved from constant monitoring of the gravy to check whether it is done perfectly. The stew is also hot enough and can retain the temperature until it is taken out for servings.
There is a get-warm mode in the rice cooker that keeps any dish hot enough until it is taken out to be consumed.
Conclusion
As you can see, rice cookers aren’t just for rice – they offer various options that you can try out, experiment with, and improve upon.
Make new recipes, try adapting an old one to this new way of thinking, and share the results with your friends and family for maximum enjoyment.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do you make delicious chicken in a rice cooker?
You can use the rice cooker you have to prepare chicken as well. Not only is this method great for preparing chicken in general, but you can also prepare it with your rice, which will soak up all the juices from the meat and be delicious.
How do you spice up your regular rice in a rice cooker?
Rice is already so nutritious and has many qualities, but it’s the best when mixed with something else. If you prefer the vegetarian or vegan option, of course, this isn’t limited to just chicken alone, you can add in any vegetables you like and make your rice less boring.
How do you use the rice cooker using a steamer?
The easiest method you could think of is to steam your vegetables with almost no effort. It’s quick, easy, and healthy for you.
