This past Christmas, I was gifted quite a few amazing items (see that post HERE). I've talked about a few of them already (see my iPhone 6s review HERE), but one item I haven't discussed yet is my brand new rice cooker/steamer. I've been wanting a rice cooker for quite a while for a numerous amount of reasons - to cook rice, make my own rice milk, and steam my vegetables to perfection - so when I ripped open a package to find that I indeed was gifted one, I immediately knew what I was going to do for this Friday food feature!
Of course I could've done it last Friday, but I didn't because this post actually plays off of last week's grocery store adventure (see it HERE). I used a few of my purchased items to help create today's dish.
Before I get into the actual recipe, let's do a quick review of my new rice cooker/steamer, shall we?
The brand of my rice cooker/steamer is called "Chefman"and it comes with a steamer tray, a paddle for the rice, a measuring cup (I suggest you specifically use this cup for both water AND rice portions to have the best experience), the rice cooker itself, a lid, and instructions.
Every part seems to be of really good quality and it's relatively light weight. I did have a minor confusing moment, because it's asks you to turn the big pot inside the cooker, "clockwise" to have it set. The bigger pot seems to very light lay on top of the cooker, but I think this is to keep it from heating before you actually have food inside.
Once you add rice into the big pot, it stays steady and pressed down.
This model is relatively easy, as you simply measure the amount of rice and use the necessary amount of water (inside the directions pamphlet, you'll find a portions "table"). Be sure to clean all the parts of your rice cooker/steamer, that will come into contact with food, prior to usage.
Once you've placed the water and CLEAN rice inside of the big pot, evenly "flatten" the rice around the bottom of the pot, which will help to cook the rice evenly. Plug in your rice cooker/steamer, flip the switch on the front from "Warm" to "Cook" and wait.
When the rice is done cooking, the switch will automatically turn back to "Warm" and you should be left with a batch of perfectly scrumptious rice. Of course, you don't have to just do white rice like I did, but I was using this for the first time and didn't want to go to extravagant. In case things went south.
The entire process took about 15 to 20 minutes (I got distracted by my padawan's story he was telling me) for approximately 2 cups of rice. The end result was excellent and once I was confident with the entire process, I proceeded to steaming.
I used the steamer - pour some water into the big pot WITHOUT anything else inside and place the steamer tray on top (where you put the item you're steaming) - to steam my vegetables.
I was going to attempt steaming my chicken - which is actually an option with this steamer, as it specifically says you can steam meats - but again, I didn't want things to go south.
After an additional 15 to 20 minutes, my vegetables were complete. Same process as the rice: flip the switch and wait for it to click back to "Warm".
- rainbow carrots
- chicken
- poultry spices
- white rice
- garden vegetable pasta sauce
It was a simple dish, but still delectably satisfying. My padawan agreed as well: we've already established his "strangely" developed sense of taste. But hey, I'm not complaining!
The rice cooker was a HUGE success and next time I want to steam meat as well - I'm thinking fish to start - to have the entire dish be created with just the rice cooker.
I'm also debating if I should include the "rice cooker recipes" for my "food feature Friday's" or if I should make it an entirely new thing? I still enjoy "food feature Friday's" and don't intend on stopping, which would mean I'd use a separate day to do "rice cooker recipes". I probably wouldn't do a new recipe every week though.
Perhaps I just do it on Friday's whenever I do complete a meal? What are you guys' thoughts?
I truly recommend this rice cooker/steamer! Of course if something changes - like it breaks soon or something - then I will definitely update this post and change my recommendation.
As for the foods, I really loved the finds I got from Baron's Market. They weren't anything too different than what you might find at a Trader Joe's or even a Vons. Today's entire post was mainly to test out the rice cooker/steamer and to provide a review, for a potential alternative option to cook healthier. So far so good and if things stay working, I'll do more intricate recipes and specific food items!
Have an amazing weekend Jedi's and stay safe! California is supposed to get an intense storm and winter in general hasn't been too kind to other parts of the world. Be sure to stock up on food, stay prepared, keep warm, and share with me how you're spending these winter days on social media! Use #TWRC or @thewhiterockingchair, for a chance to be featured on my social media! If you want to share your pics with me, but don't want to be featured, that's totally cool too. Just let me know and I will still like - and comment - on your pics! I love hearing from you guys.
Happy weekend!
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