Not much to this thread, really:
I live alone.
I’m not a particularly good cook.
I’m trying to lose weight, partly by cutting back on the fat.
For some reason I bought myself a rice cooker a while ago.
I’d like to get more use out of the rice cooker, but don’t know how to cook anything that goes good with rice. Any ideas for fairly quick and simple recipes, preferably without a lot of fat?
Really basic one is tomatos and rice.
Make rice, heat up can of diced tomatos with a little butter, garlic, salt and pepper. Put rice in bowl, put tomatos on top.
If you don’t mind a little fat, brown up some hamburger or italian sausage to go with it. Green peppers and onions also make a nice touch.
I make chicken’n’rice’n’corn’n’corn. One can corn, one or two chicken breasts cooked to taste and diced, rice to suit. Mix together. Eat what you want, fridge the rest. My mother adds peas, as well. The basic mix of one can corn, one chicken breast per person eating the meal (or 1/2 chicken breast per serving), and as much rice as you want can serve anywhere from one person to a whole family. I’m not sure how healthy it is, though.
Rice with a can of tuna fish (drained) and whatever suitable canned vegetables you have lying around (black-eyed peas, corn, beets, whatever). Add soy sauce and hot sauce to taste, and, if you’re really feeling like a culinary maverick, top it off with a fried egg; that’s living. Stir everything together and eat it.
You can make this exquisite entree during halftime of a football game, if you start the rice a little early.
Not to be a naysayer but rice isn’t really the best thing to eat on a diet. It’s loaded with carbs and has almost no nutritional value at all.
You want simple, eh? Go buy a sack of frozen mixed veggies. Pick one with some veggies you like. Get a packet of insta-mix oriental sauce of some sort, too. Teriyaki is popular.
Mix up the sauce. Stick some veggies in a Tupperware containter, with a lil’ bit of sauce. Throw it in the microwave; nuke until hot. Dump it on top of rice. Eat.
Another dead simple one:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup Italian salad dressing
1 package chicken breasts
a squirt of lemon juice
Throw everything in a glass pan and let the chicken breasts marinate for an hour or so, turning them over once. Then put the pan in a 375-degree oven and let the chicken bake for about 20 minutes on each side. Serve over rice.
Using brown rice will make rice a much better part of a healthy diet. And for some recipes it tastes even better than the other kind.
One very easy way to use rice in a meal is to put canned chili over it. Health Valley makes several varieties of tasty vegetarian chili.
Here’s some rice recipes. While they may look complex, they’re actually pretty easy.
Spanish Rice
Seasoned Rice
Preparation time: 45 Minutes
Serves: 4-8 People
Ingredients:
1-2 Cups White rice
1-2 Pints Chicken Broth
1-2 Tomatoes
1/4 Cup Oil
1/2 Tsp Salt
Dash of powdered cumin
Preparation:
Wash the rice thoroughly for at least 15 minutes. Warm a skillet over low heat. Drain the rice completely. Add the oil to the skillet and increase the heat to medium high. Add the washed rice to the pan. Stir occasionally to ensure that all of the rice grains are coated with oil. If needed, add a little more oil. Reduce the heat to medium low and continue to fry the rice. The rice should eventually take on a golden brown color.
Once the rice is fried, increase the heat to high. Once the pan is really hot, pour in ~1 cup of the broth and quickly cover the pan tightly. Wait for about one or two minutes and uncover the pan and stir the rice. Repeat the process with another cup of broth. At this point reduce the heat to medium and if the pan is dry add some more broth. Peel, seed and chop the tomatoes. Strain the seeds and reserve the juice. Continue to stir the rice occasionally and add more broth if the pan goes dry. Sprinkle some salt over the rice and keep the pan covered tightly.
Once the rice has begun to soften add the chopped tomatoes, their juice and the rest of the broth. Reduce the heat to low, stir occasionally. Cover the pan and continue to cook until the rice is tender.
Note: This recipe is essentially like an Italian risotto without any dairy product. For extra color feel free to add some chopped roasted green chiles. For a more intense red color you may add some tomato juice and reduce the amount of broth.
Shrimp Fried Rice
Chinese Rice Dish
Preparation time: 45 Minutes
Serves: 4-8 People
Ingredients:
2-3 Cups of leftover cooked long grain white rice
3 Green onions
3 Eggs
2 Carrots
1 Clove garlic
2-3 Tsp Soy sauce
1-2 Tsp Oil
½-¾ Cup Small bay shrimp
½ Tsp Roasted sesame oil
½ Cup Chicken stock
¼ Cup fresh peas (or frozen)
¼ Tsp Five spice powder
¼ Tsp Ground white pepper
Preparation:
Please refer to the recipe thread on the correct preparation of rice. You will want to cook the rice needed for this recipe the day before.
Warm a large dry skillet over low heat. Separate three yolks and one egg white into a bowl and add one or two spoonfuls of water. Beat the eggs well. Add a small amount of oil into the pan and add the eggs. Stir often but avoid breaking up the mass into too small pieces. Cook until firm and reserve for later use.
Peel and dice the carrots into small (3-5mm) pieces. Warm another large dry pan over medium heat. Add a small amount of chicken stock and begin to heat through the diced carrots. Once the stock has evaporated and the carrots are almost tender, add a teaspoon of oil and the chopped clove of garlic. Do not brown the garlic. Once the garlic has sweated, add the remaining oil, the roasted sesame oil and the cold cooked rice. Stir and heat the rice through. Add the five spice powder and the white pepper while the rice heats through. If the pan begins to dry out too much add some of the chicken stock. Stir in the soy sauce and evenly coat the rice.
Chop the green onions finely. Reserve half (both the green and white parts) for garnish and add the remaining amount to the rice along with the peas and shrimp. At the last minute mix in the scrambled egg and remove from the heat.
To make an elegant service place a teaspoon of green onion in the bottom of a small one cup bowl. Fill the bowl with rice and gently tamp the rice flat, even with the rim of the bowl. Cover the top of the bowl with the service plate. Hold the two together tightly and invert in one swift motion. A glistening dome of scented rice studded with shrimp and vegetables will be your reward.
Note: Avoid using too much roasted sesame oil as its flavor can overpower the other ingredients. The rice should day old and not too wet or oily. It should fluff apart into separate grains easily.
Sopa de Pollo con Arroz
Mexican chicken and rice soup
Ingredients:
1 Whole chicken
1 Large Russet potato
2 Carrots
1 Large tomato
2 Ribs of celery (with leaves)
2 Cloves of garlic
1 Tbs. of salt (or more)
1/2 White onion (do not use red onion)
1/2 Cup of washed rice
1/4 Head of Cannonball cabbage
1/8 Cup of chopped cilantro
1/8 Tsp. of ground cumin
1/8 Tsp. of ground white pepper
Dash of Crystal hot sauce
Preparation:
Extract giblets from chicken and remove the liver. Place chicken in a pot of water just large enough to hold it. Cover with 1-2 quarts of water and add the giblets. Add salt and bring to a boil, skimming off any foam. Reduce heat, cover pot, and simmer for 2 or more hours. Chicken should fall apart after cooking. Completely bone out the cooked chicken. Separate white meat for use in the finished soup. Crack the bones and return them to the stock with the skin. Add all other non-meat parts of the chicken back to the stock. Bring stock and giblets back to a fast simmer. Cook stock for 1/2-1 hour longer. Begin washing rice. Strain stock and remove most, but not all of the fat. Peel the potato, tomato and carrots. Bring stock to a boil and reduce heat. Cut carrots into coins and add. Dice potato into 1/2" cubes and add to pot. Cut cabbage into 1" chunks and add. Chop onion coarsely and add. Press or finely mince the garlic and add. Slice celery into medium pieces and add. Peel and seed tomato and add. Strain tomato juice from seeds and add. Chop cilantro leaves and add. Chop some of the celery leaves and add. Dice chicken white meat into 1/2" chunks and add. Finish washing rice and add to soup. During last half hour of cooking add all other spices. Adjust salt to taste (this recipe can take a lot of salt. Avoid adding too much cumin, it will spoil the flavor.
DO NOT let the soup boil, it will turn to mush
DO NOT let the chicken liver cook in the soup
When the rice begins to “bloom” turn off the heat
Elbow macaroni, stars or alphabet pasta may be used
If using pasta, omit or reduce the amount of rice
If the stock is made right it will gel when chilled
This recipe cheerfully stolen from:
Mario’s La Fiesta Mexican restaurant in Berkeley, CA
Man, what a thread. I am an extremely snooty gourmet cook; I watch The Iron Chef for the cooking. And I lived with nothing but a rice cooker for two whole years.
Get some egg noodles. Put em in, dry, with a few frozen veggies, a little frozen meat if you want. Splosh in some soy sauce, some water, and some beer (very important). Turn on. Cook. Eat.
For ramen, keep some rice vinegar and some chili oil on hand. Boil the noodles about halfway done, then splosh in a little vinegar, a little oil, and drop in an egg. Simmer till egg is ready.
Bottom line, keep these on hand: Rice vinegar, soy sauce (preferably Tamari style), and some hotness; keep also a good palette of frozen veggies, and buy a small piece of fresh meat or fish–or frozen shrimp–for variety.