Boiled Eggs In The Rice Cooker!

So, I was able to replace my rice cooker with an older model, National Brand 10 c. cooker ($4.99 at Goodwill - it took almost a dozen thrift store trips to find a decent one). It works pretty well, although the rice seems to get darker on the bottom than it did in my last cooker.

As I was looking around on the internet for information on National (a division of Panasonic) rice cookers, I came across an interesting hint. When you're cooking rice, or whatever, you can add eggs along with it, right on top, to get hard boiled eggs. I tried an egg and it worked. I think I'll like this trick especially for when I make oatmeal in the rice cooker, and want to have some added protein along with it.

Rice Cooker Fiasco

So, I guess you can't make rice pudding in the rice cooker using brown rice. It must not be able to absorb the milk.

How do I know that, you ask? A couple of weeks ago, I used the same recipe for rice pudding that I had earlier posted. Except, I used brown rice. (And I used regular whole milk, but since that's what the original recipe called for, it shouldn't have been a problem) About halfway through the cooking time, it started smelling a little funny in the kitchen. I opened up the rice cooker, and milk exploded everywhere. Plus, the outer grains of the rice (endosperm?) were caked on the inside top of the rice cooker.

After it had cooled, I cleaned it for about 1/2 hour. Then, a little later, I spent another 20 minutes cleaning some parts on the bottom that had burned. If you know me, you know that's an awful lot of time for me to spend cleaning an appliance. It looked pretty good, so I tried another batch of plain rice. The rice turned out okay, but the cooker smelled pretty bad. I noticed when I tipped it that there were some drops of milk stil coming out.

My ever-patient husband took it apart and noticed that the insulation was pretty soaked with milk. It's been hanging on the clothesline since then, and has been rained on a few times, so hopefully the smell is gone. I don't want to make him have to put it all back together, so I'm hoping I'll be able to find one at a thrift store before school starts.

I'm pretty tough on appliances, and they turn up fairly often at thrift stores, so I can't really justify buying a new one. This is the one that I just broke. I had purchased it, still in the box, at Goodwill for about $10 a couple of years ago.

Camping With a Rice Cooker

So, we went camping again last weekend. I really don't like to spend much time cooking or cleaning up while camping. Since I knew we were going to have a campsite with electricity, I decided to take our rice cooker along to do the majority of the cooking. We still used our cookstove to heat up water, but I didn't get out any other pans.

The food was a hit with everyone.

Here were our breakfasts:

RICE COOKER SCRAMBLED EGGS

I had mixed 6 eggs together before we went camping, and froze them flat in a ziploc bag. I had also put some ham cubes in ziploc, maybe 1/2 c. cheese in a baggie, and 2 T. butter in a little sandwich bag. When it was time to cook, I put the butter in and let it melt a little, then I added the ham to mix it with the butter a little. I poured the eggs in and stirred. It cooked pretty fast, maybe about 5 minutes, with me stirring it every couple of minutes. Then I added the cheese, stirred and let it all mix together. (This would have been great by itself, but I had about 1 1/2 c. leftover shrimp and rice that I stirred in until it was warm. Very good.)

RICE COOKER COCONUT RICE PUDDING

3/4 c. rice
1 1/2 c. water
1/4 t. salt
2 cans coconut milk
1/2 c. sugar
Cinnamon

Cook the rice, water and salt in the rice cooker. When rice is done, stir in the coconut milk and the sugar. Cover and turn the cooker back on. After maybe 15 minutes, start checking and stirring the rice every 5 minutes or so until it has the right consistency. I don't remember how long this took, but it didn't seem too long. It was a big hit and very filling.

RICE COOKER OATMEAL

The day before we left home, I soaked 2 c. oatmeal with 2 cups water and 2 T. yogurt in a bowl on the cupboard. Before we left, I put it in a ziploc, and then into the cooler. We used it 3 days later. When it was time to cook it, I emptied the oatmeal ziploc into the rice cooker and then added a can of coconut milk. It did not take very long to cook at all, maybe 5 minutes, and I liked the consistency. I served it with dried cranberries and some half and half. (I had planned on having it just plain, but I happened to be in a grocery store the day before we had it and I splurged on a small container of half & half)

I like this method of making oatmeal. I think during the school year, I'll set it up in the rice cooker (using water instead of coconut milk) the night before so Dave can turn it on when he gets his coffee. That way, he can have fresh oatmeal without having to work for it, and it will stay warm for the rest of us.

BONUS RECIPES:

SHRIMP & RICE

Before we had left home, I'd cut up a green pepper and onion and placed them in a baggie. We also had a quart sized baggie of cut up broccoli.

Put in rice cooker:
1 stick of butter
onion and pepper - let it cook for a minute or two.
Add:
1 1/2 c. rice
1 can broth
Bag of broccoli
1 lb shrimp
Old Bay Seasoning

Turn cooker on, stir, and let it cook. You might want to add the shrimp close to the end so it doesn't get too chewy.


RICE COOKER MACARONI AND CHEESE

In rice cooker, add:

2 c. uncooked macaroni
1 c. broth
1 c. milk or cream
Ham cubes (optional)
Broccoli (optional)

Cook until the macaroni is done. Then, add:

1 1/2 c. shredded cheese
2 T. butter
Salt & pepper

Stir and keep warm until ready to serve.