Rice cookers are perfect for how we cook today: Versatile and convenient, they have one-button technology, don’t take up too much counter space, and are a breeze to clean. And they can do so much more than produce foolproof rice, beans, and grains. This new edition takes note of the whole-grain revolution in U.S. kitchens and offers recipes for a host of new (and rediscovered) grains, like quinoa, millet, couscous, kamut, and spelt, whose popularity is rising fast. It focuses on a wider variety of rices, too, with lots of ideas for red, black, basmati, jasmine, and Arborio rices, as well as partially milled white rice, which looks and cooks like white rice but has the nutritional value of brown rice. The authors have also added a complete guide to the newer rice cookers that have come to the market since the original edition, including induction-cooking and pressure-cooking rice cookers and models that replace the old buttons-and-dials approach with more complex digital displays. Alongside many favorites from the first edition, from Carrot Basmati Pilaf and Italian Sausage Risotto to French Polenta and Maple-Cinnamon Rice Pudding, the 10th anniversary edition serves up more than 50 tempting new recipes, from a rich and soothing Sweet Brown Rice with Curry, Carrots, and Raisins to a warm and satisfying Millet, Winter Squash, and Sweet Pea Pilaf.
Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann's
The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook offers 250 timesaving, convenient, and healthy recipes for making everything from simple white rice to full-course meals. This cookbook proves the rice cooker--which tends to have a bad rap as a never-opened or oft-neglected wedding gift--can be surprisingly versatile: not only does it prepare your rice, it can be used for every dinner course--salad, soup, vegetable, entree, and even dessert.
There is a complete buying and cooking guide for the many rice varieties, as well as other whole grains such as barley, millet, wheat berry, and quinoa. Many of the recipes provide convenient alternative cooking methods for traditional dishes like Italian risottos (the Italian Sausage Risotto is wonderful). Hensperger and Kaufmann show the rice cooker can also work miracles for hot breakfast cereals and porridges with such recipes as Hot Fruited Oatmeal. Delightful main courses include Steamed Ginger Salmon and Asparagus in Black Bean Sauce, and the meal is done almost exclusively within the rice cooker for simple preparation and cleanup. The dessert section has many ideas beyond the expected Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding--the Poached Pears with Grand Marnier Custard Sauce is one elegant and sophisticated example. Both authors of this cookbook are seasoned food writers and this combined effort gives tasty, easy, and healthy recipes that will motivate you to use what has been, until now, an underutilized appliance. --Teresa Simanton