The school year starts for us on Monday. Summer just went by much too fast. I enjoyed the time I got to spend with our kids, amazed by the things they are learning…and even teaching me a few things!
I know that along with the start of school comes a hectic schedule. With my daughter starting junior high this year, we’ll have two school schedules to adjust to, more homework, more activities, and our normal sports practices and games. Life is about to get busy again.
I’m a big believer in having family dinners together. I believe they help to center us, reminding us about the importance of family and being interested in each other’s day. It’s like a huddle, where we can all get on the same page again.
In the busiest of weeks, finding the time to make dinner is no easy task. While I’m a big fan of crockpots, using them everyday is a bit much. One appliance I use almost as much as my crockpot is my rice cooker.
My family LOVES white rice. I have found that I could put almost anything over rice and they are happy. And with today’s rice cookers, you can program your rice cooker to cook at a later time of day, so it’s ready when you are.
A Word About Rice Cookers
Rice cookers come in all sorts of sizes, looks, and price ranges. I have always heard that a Japanese rice cooker is the best, as the Japanese have been improving their technology for cooking rice over many decades.
For this article, I used the Tiger JBAT10UW Rice Cooker, a Japanese rice cooker priced at $149.
Basically, there are two different types of rice cookers…
The cheaper ones are larger and typically can cook more cups of rice, but they are based on a timed system. It will always take the same amount of time to cook white rice, brown rice, etc., dependent upon the number of cups of rice you cook.
The second, more advanced rice cooker is smaller and uses fuzzy logic, or in Tiger’s case, they call it the Automatic Cooking Logic system, making it a “smart” rice cooker. The built-in microprocessor constantly measures the temperature and humidity to sense when the rice is complete.
Cooking rice can vary dependent upon the exact amount of rice or water put in…as well as the type of rice. The built-in cooking logic can help create the best fluffiest rice for your meal.
Once cooking is done with either type of rice cooker, the rice cooker heating level will be switched to Warm and will continue to keep the rice moist until served.
Although both types of rice cookers typically give you a streaming tray to steam vegetables or meat along with the rice, Tiger’s Automatic Cooking rice cookers also include settings for making soups, stews, and other slow cook type meals.
I have used the lower cost rice cooker before and found that when the rice warmed for a while before serving, it tended to crust up a bit and the top layer became dry. This did not happen with the Tiger Rice Cooker.
A Little Taste of Thai
I have always enjoyed the exotic flavors of the East. Thai food is particularly one of my favorites. Here’s a recipe for Creamy Thai Chicken Over Rice I created over 15 years ago. It’s so easy, I have never had to write it down, I just wing it.
For the first time, I have created a recipe card to make it easier to share with you. It’s not spicy, as my kids prefer it that way, but you can add a little red chile spice to it if you’d like.
- 2 chicken breasts, cubed
- 3 cups uncooked rice
- 1 red pepper cut into slices (or sliced carrots)
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 can pineapple chunks, include all but 1/2 c. of the pineapple juice
- 1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
- 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
- 1 tsp Chinese 5 Spice
- Pour in the 3 cups of rice and add water as determined by your rice cooker.
- Cube chicken breasts and cook over Med. heat in a pan with 1 Tbls of oil.
- Cook chicken until the pink is nearly gone, now turn the stove to Med. Low.
- In a separate bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients. Blend well with a whisk so most of the spice clumps have disappeared.
- Pour sauce over mostly-cooked chicken. Add any vegetables like red peppers, carrots, corn, etc. and cook for 8-10 minutes.
- Add cornstarch if needed to thicken sauce.
- Once rice is ready, scoop into bowls and pour Creamy Thai sauce on top and serve.
- Add a medley of vegetables to the pan with the chicken ts o make it your own. Consider adding 1/3 cup of coconut flakes to the sauce for a subtle crunch.
I added 3 cups of Jasmine rice to my JBAT10UW Rice Cooker, using the measurement cup that came with the cooker. I then added water to the 3 cup measurement line visible from inside the pan. I placed the setting on Plain rice. Due to the fuzzy logic of the Automatic Cooking system, I never know when it will be done, but it usually takes around 25 minutes.
I used smaller red peppers that we grow in our garden, but you can use large red peppers from the store. I placed them in the steamer tray which came with the rice cooker. The peppers steamed above the rice as it cooked. Try to think of different vegetables to add here like carrots, green peppers, baby corn, water chestnuts, etc. to add color to your meal.
While the rice is cooking, begin cubing up your chicken. Pour some oil in a pan and begin cooking over Medium heat.
In a bowl I poured in the coconut milk. Here I am adding freshly grated ginger. Next I will add the ground ginger, 5 Chinese spice, and can of pineapple chunks.
The rice came out beautiful and I just LOVE the smell of cooked Jasmine rice. Jasmine rice…and brown rice…is all I ever buy.
If the sauce is a bit runny, just add cornstarch to thicken it up. You can see the chicken and pineapple looks great…but it needs a little color!
Ahhh, here’s the color. This savory sauce soaks into the rice, giving it a creamy sweet taste. My kids went back for seconds. They particularly like the Asian influenced pineapples!
Now doesn’t this look good? This is a great meal to add variety and spice to your traditional enchiladas, spaghetti, tacos, stew, etc. And if you wanted to save some extra time, you can add your chicken and your veggies to the streaming tray while the rice is cooking. After it’s done cooking, whip together your sauce and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Bon Appetit!
The Tiger JBAT10UW Rice Cooker can be found at Amazon for $109.45 plus free shipping.
A Mom’s Perspective
I’m sure that my schedule is similar to yours…unrelenting at times. Technology gives us an opportunity to rise to the occasion of nightly family dinners…it just takes a little planning and remembering to use the appliance in the first place!
There are tons of recipes you can make using your rice cooker. Check out this Pinterest search for rice cooker recipes to give you a lot of variety for family dinners. And with the automatic cooking logic on the Tiger Japanese rice cooker, you can feel comfortable that dinner won’t be overcooked even if you get home for dinner later than you planned.
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