The start of the school year is upon us and in its wake comes soccer practice, piano lessons, dark nights and a burning need for comfort food. Even health conscious vegetarians crave rich tasting, filling dinners to cap off these busy autumn days and the common rice cooker can be a life preserver for busy families floundering in a sea of over-scheduling.
A Rice Cooker Cooks More Than Rice!
Seriously. Rice cookers are the lazy cook’s dream. Like its cousin, the slow cooker or crock pot, all a rice cooker requires is some tasty ingredients, herbs and spices, a little salt and some liquid. The added benefit of the rice cooker is that it only takes about an hour to cook a stew or chili, where the slow cooker demands the chef to think ahead and let things simmer for four to eight hours.
Rice Cookers and Vegetarians Were Meant To Be
So many vegetarian recipes call for cooked brown rice. The rice cooker allows vegetarian chefs to kill two birds with one stone, cooking protein, vegetables and grain in one fell swoop.
And rice cookers know rice. No more checking the clock every few seconds, only to be left with mushy, sticky, or crunchy rice. In the time it takes to produce exquisitely tender grains of rice, beans are cooked to perfection, veggies are infused with flavor and a stew is born that tastes infinitely more complex than its cooking process would indicate.
Rice Cooker Chili
This recipe is a jump-off point for expanding the lowly rice cooker’s responsibility in the kitchen. Substitute all sorts of vegetables, spices and beans for an infinite number of tasty, hearty and healthy dinner creations. Be creative! Enjoy!
This recipe requires a large (6-8 cup) rice cooker, available at most department or specialty stores.
Ingredients
- 1 small (or half large) Red Onion, chopped
- 3 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
- 2-3 stalks Celery, chopped
- 1 med-large Sweet Potato or Yam, diced
- 2 Carrots, chopped
- 1 Bell Pepper (any color), chopped
- 1 small Zucchini or Summer Squash, diced
- 1 can Peaches and Cream Corn
- 1 can Chili Style Stewed Tomatoes (canned plum tomatoes work, simply adjust seasoning accordingly)
- 1 can Chickpeas (or black beans, mixed beans, kidney beans, white beans)
- 2 T Chili Powder
- 1 t Cumin
- 1 t Coriander
- 1/2 t sea salt (add more at the end if you see fit, add less if your chilli powder is particularly salty)
- 1/2 C (or more) Bottled Salsa (such as Pace Garlic Lime Piquant or other favorite)
- 1 diced japepeno or 1 t dried red chile or hot pepper to taste (optional)
- 1 C Brown Rice
- 2 C Veggie Broth or Water
- Juice of 1 Lime
- 1/2 C Cilantro, chopped
Method
- Turn on rice cooker. Add onions and garlic to rice cooker with a bit of water, broth or juice from canned ingredients. Let cooker heat up and allow to simmer until onions start to soften.
- Add celery, carrots, and sweet potato, adding a bit more liquid if necessary.
- Add zucchini, corn, beans, spices and salt.
- Add tomatoes and salsa and peppers (if using). Add brown rice and broth or water. Cover and let cook until rice cooker shuts off or rice is tender (approximately 45 min-1 hr).
- Remove from heat. Stir in lime juice and cilantro and adjust seasonings as necessary.
Enjoy!
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