More Rice Cooker Baking

I've continued my experiments with baking in a rice cooker.  So far my results have been mixed, but I wanted to share a couple of successes.  The first was a tarte tatin where the apples caramelized very lightly.  The presentation was also really beautiful, and it tasted even better the next day.

Tarte Tatin

I also baked a loaf of rosemary bread!  So exciting!  Real yeast bread with a wonderful chewy texture made right in my own kitchen.  This one had to cook on each side, but luckily there were no disasters when it came time to flip it over.

It's just begging for butter, isn't it?

And speaking of cooking, I recently made my own ricotta cheese.  Imported food can be so expensive here, a small container is about $9.  I'll even admit that I splurged for some when I figured out how to make a stovetop lasagna.  But, $9 for ricotta just isn't sustainable.  Little did I know that it's unbelievably easy to make your own!  You basically scald some milk, add a little salt, dump some lemon juice in, let it curdle, and then strain it.  Awesome!  Homemade and a quarter of the cost.

It's so easy!

One Dish Rice Cooker Meal

I wrote previously about how I've been baking in my rice cooker.  I tried another recipe, this time for a full meal, earlier this week.  Raku recently introduced me to farro, and I'm in love.  It's a grain, bigger than rice, with a nutty flavor and a great chewy texture.  I bought some at an Italian grocery and when I saw a rice cooker recipe for Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms and Farro I knew I had to try it.

You just combine all the ingredients in the rice cooker (after marinating the chicken), and turn it on.

I was worried I was going to end up with some gross half-cooked chicken, or some other sort of disaster.  But when it finished there was a completely cooked meal waiting for us.

So, here's my final review.  The mushrooms and farro were great, but the chicken was overcooked.  It's possible that this is my fault because I bought really small chicken breasts that were already pounded pretty thin.  A regular one might have come out perfectly.  When I try it again I'll post an update.  Otherwise I think the chicken could do with some garlic and salt in the marinade, but overall I'd recommend it.

Fancy!

Baking in a Rice Cooker

Will I sound crazy if I admit that sometimes I daydream about my old kitchen in America? It's true. Before coming here I was a pretty good cook, and an excellent baker.  It's the baking I miss. It's such a calming process. You start with all these raw ingredients, but when you combine them in just the right way you end up with a beautiful product. And I love to bake for people. Well, it's hard to do that without an oven.

Lately I've been focusing more on cooking, and I've learned a lot. My techniques are improving, and I''m learning a lot of delicious recipes. (Thai peanut noodles for dinner tonight with homemade raspberry sorbet for dessert) One way that my kitchen has improved though, is that I own a rice cooker now. Cooking rice has always been a pain, but now it's so simple, and the rice comes out perfectly every time.  It's amazing!

Rice Cooker Love!

A couple weeks ago I discovered that you can bake in a rice cooker. Crazy! I've got a lot more experimenting to do, but I've already had some pretty exciting results. Some rice cookers have a cake function, but mine doesn't, I've just been doing everything on the regular setting.  

The first thing I tried was a banana bread recipe specifically for rice cookers.  After the first round of baking it wasn't done, so I let it cool for a few minutes and ran it again. (It won't restart when it's too hot) And then a third time. At that point I was afraid the bottom was burning, but the top still wasn't done, so I took a deep breath and flipped it over  I cooked it once more and it came out perfectly. The bottom (now top) had browned a lot, but although it looked burned it didn't taste that way. (This has been my experience with all three baking attempts). The texture and flavor were exactly what you'd hope for with banana bread.

Look!  I baked something in my own house!

For my second attempt I got a little bolder.  I decided to make my regular corn bread recipe (The Pioneer Woman's recipe to be exact). It's a fluffier, buttery corn bread, not a super dense or super sweet recipe - sort of like a corn muffin in texture. I whipped up the batter and put it in, imagining it would take 2 or 3 "sessions" of baking, but it came out perfectly the first time.

Inside the rice cooker bowl

Yum!

My third attempt was the least successful, and honestly I'm not sure what the problem was yet.  (I need to test more recipes. )  I made a lemon yogurt cake (The Barefoot Contessa's recipe), and after the corn bread expected it to be finished after the first round of cooking.  Yeah, nowhere close.  So, I ran it again.  And again.  It was still gooey on top, so I decided to flip it like the banana bread.  Well, the batter was not as solid as the banana bread, so it sort of slopped all over when I flipped it.  I was pretty sure it was going to be a total disaster.  But after that round of cooking it was done.  The middle was probably a little softer than it should have been (though that might have just been the lemon syrup), but we still ate it.

Not too ugly, huh?

I've done some more reading, and now think I might be able to roast potatoes, and even cook full meals in the rice cooker. It must seem a little crazy, but I'm actually really enjoying this new hobby. I'll update you when I've got more successes (or failures) to share.