The Ultimate Rice Cooker (73 page)
Is there anyone who doesn’t love cherries? While the season for fresh cherries is, sadly, very short and the large orchards of the past are on the wane, cherries still are the most coveted of fruits, whether in jam, pies, or this compote, because of their exceptionally flavorful pulp.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic only
CYCLE: Porridge
YIELD: 4 cups
3 cups cranberry-raspberry or unsweetened cherry juice
1 cup water
⅔ cup sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 pounds sweet cherries, stems removed and pitted
1. Place all the ingredients in the rice cooker bowl. Close the cover and set for the Porridge cycle. Set a timer for 30 minutes. Check the consistency of the cherries at 30 minutes by piercing their flesh with the tip of a small knife; you want them firm, but slightly tender. Remember, they will soften a bit more as they cool.
2. When the cherries are the desired consistency, remove the bowl from the cooker. Transfer the cherries and their poaching liquid to a storage container and let cool. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to overnight. Serve chilled, with some of the liquid. Keeps for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
Alexander the Great supposedly introduced the apricot, along with the peach, to the Greco-Roman world after one of his military forays into the East, although it was centuries before cultivating the beautiful flowering tree became popular. Apricots make the best preserves and canned fruit, so with these easy-to-make poached fruits, you delightfully have a cross between the two. You will poach these apricots whole with their pits still in and store them in their lovely syrup, giving credence to their Eastern name, Moon of the Faithful, a reference to their fragrant, perfect moon shape.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic only
CYCLE: Porridge
YIELD: Serves 3
3 cups water
1 cup sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
1 pound (8 to 10) small, firm fresh apricots
1. Place all the ingredients in the rice cooker bowl. Close the cover and set for the Porridge cycle. Set a timer for 30 minutes. Check the consistency of the apricots at 30 minutes by piercing their flesh with the tip of a small knife; you want them firm, but slightly soft. Remember, they will soften a bit more as they cool.
2. When the apricots are the desired consistency, remove the bowl from the cooker. Transfer the apricots and their poaching liquid to a storage container and let cool. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to overnight. Serve chilled, with some of the liquid.
Yellow-green and shaped like a knobby apple, the quince is an elusive fruit. It lives in old-fashioned backyards, where once it was a staple fruit in the autumn kitchen for poaching and jams. Although now a specialty item, the quince has lost none of its delightful flavor. With its hard, rather dry flesh, it must be slow cooked with plenty of sugar to transform it into the haunting apricot-orange hue. Quince is fruit that takes well to poaching. Here it is cooked in a spiced wine syrup made with slightly sweet blush wine (formerly rosé), which is a luscious pink. Perfect with sponge cake.
MACHINE: Medium (6-cup) rice cooker ;
fuzzy logic only
CYCLE: Porridge
YIELD: About 6 cups
4 cups fruity blush wine, such as White Zinfandel or Blanc de Pinot Noir, or imported rosé from Portugal, such as Lancer’s or Mateus
¼ cup fresh lime juice
1¾ cups sugar
5 cloves
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Two 4-inch cinnamon sticks
2 slices candied ginger
3 medium-size quinces (about 1½ pounds)
1. Place the wine, lime juice, sugar, spices, and ginger in the rice cooker bowl.
2. Quarter and peel the quinces with a sharp paring knife. With a melon baller or knife, remove the entire core area, cleaning out all the hard bits. Cut each quarter into 4 slices. Place the quince slices in the wine mixture. Close the cover and set for the Porridge cycle. Carefully open the cover twice during the cooking to allow a burst of steam to be released from the wine burning off its alcohol.
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, carefully open the cover, allowing the steam to escape. The fruit should be very tender; if it is not, reset for a second Porridge cycle and check every 15 minutes until the desired texture is achieved.
4. Remove the bowl from the cooker and let cool. Pour the quinces into a storage container, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Keeps for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.
English Pudding with Cranberries and Walnuts
Persimmon Pudding with Brandy Sauce
CUSTARDS
A custard is probably one of the most comforting and luscious of desserts. It is a combination of milk, sugar, eggs, and flavoring, cooked with very low heat until the eggs thicken the mixture and create the creamy texture as it sets.
There are two categories in the custard world. One is the small individual dish of custard called a
petit pot de crème
, or little pot of cream, with lots of egg yolks. The second is a custard, like a flan, that is turned out of its mold. The first type of custard is represented here.
Custards are either cooked on the stovetop in a double boiler or baked in a water bath in the oven. The rice cooker steamer tray or baskets meld both methods. The slow cooking ensures that the custards cook slowly and evenly, without giving the eggs a chance to curdle or get rubbery. They don’t dry out either. These individual desserts look so pretty in their beautifully made ceramic dishes. Steamed custards are a real joy. You can steam them one day, chill overnight, and then have them ready and perfect to serve ice-cold the next day. Test to see if the custard is finished cooking by piercing close to the edge; you want the center to be quite moist or else it will be overcooked.
Custards can be kept, covered, in the refrigerator for up to three days before serving.
Please note that these custards can be made
only
in on/off machines fitted with a steamer tray or baskets, not in the fuzzy logic machines. Because the machine will always contain boiling water, it will not automatically turn off. You must set a timer for cooking, then unplug the machine to turn it off after the custards are done.
CLICK TO SEE WHAT IS THE BEST DESSERT CUSTARD CUP?
This is a wonderful home-style, nurturing dessert adapted from a recipe by Jesse Cool in her book,
Your Organic Kitchen
(Rodale, 2000). Kids go nuts!
Machine: Large (10-cup) rice cooker ;
on/off only
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 4
2 medium-size ripe bananas, peeled and cut into thick slices
½ cup whole milk
½ cup half-and-half or heavy cream
¼ cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon pure coconut extract
1. Coat the inside of 4 custard cups or ramekins with butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray. Divide the banana chunks among the cups.
2. In a medium-size bowl, beat together the milk, half-and-half, sugar, whole eggs, egg yolk, and extracts with a whisk or handheld immersion blender until smooth. Pour the custard over the bananas, filling the prepared custard cups three-quarters full. Cover each cup with a small square of aluminum foil and crimp the edges to seal airtight.
3. Add 4 cups hot water to the rice cooker bowl, close the cover, and set for the regular cycle. When the water comes to a boil, arrange the cups in the tray or baskets (this works best steaming a double rack of custards at one time). Place the tray or baskets in the cooker and close the cover. Steam until the custards are just set and slightly wobbly in the center, 35 to 40 minutes. Unplug the machine to turn it off.
4. Remove the custards from the rice cooker with metal tongs. Remove the foil covers. Let cool, then refrigerate until ready to serve.
We love this custard! Use an organic heavy cream, if you can, for a taste sensation you thought might not exist ever again—just like your grandma might have made, only better. Use the sumptuous pure citrus oils from Boyajian; the flavors are the edible perfume of the food world. You can find them in large supermarkets and gourmet stores.
MACHINE: Large (10-cup) rice cooker ;
on/off only
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 4
1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon lemon oil or pure lemon extract
1. Coat the inside of 4 custard cups or ramekins with butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a small, deep bowl, beat together all the ingredients with a whisk or handheld immersion blender until well blended. Pour the custard into the prepared custard cups. Cover each cup with a small square of aluminum foil and crimp the edges to seal airtight.
3. Add 4 cups hot water to the rice cooker bowl, close the cover, and set for the regular cycle. When the water comes to a boil, arrange the cups in the tray or baskets (this works best steaming a double rack of custards at one time). Place the tray or baskets in the cooker and close the cover. Steam until the custards are just set and slightly wobbly in the center, 35 to 40 minutes. Unplug the machine to turn it off.
4. Remove each pudding from the rice cooker with metal tongs. Remove the foil covers. Let cool, then refrigerate until ready to serve.
A delectable chocolate custard that begs for some whipped cream on top.
MACHINE: Large (10-cup) rice cooker ;
on/off only
CYCLE: Regular
YIELD: Serves 4
1½ cups whole milk
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder, such as Droste
¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
Pinch of salt
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1. Coat the inside of 4 custard cups or ramekins with butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a small saucepan, whisk together the milk, chocolate chips, and cocoa over medium heat just until the chocolate melts, stirring occasionally.
3. In a medium-size bowl, combine the brown sugar and salt. Whisk in the whole egg, egg yolks, and vanilla until smooth. Whisk in about a quarter of the chocolate mixture, beating vigorously. Slowly pour in the remaining chocolate mixture in a steady stream, whisking constantly to avoid curdling. Pour the custard into the prepared custard cups. Cover each cup with a small square of aluminum foil and crimp the edges to seal airtight.
4. Add 4 cups hot water to the rice cooker bowl, close the cover, and set for the regular cycle. When the water comes to a boil, arrange the cups in the tray or baskets (this works best steaming a double rack of custards at one time). Place the tray or baskets in the cooker and close the cover. Steam until the custards are just set and slightly wobbly in the center, 35 to 40 minutes. Unplug the machine to turn it off.
