Batch Cooking Rice in a PC!!!!

**momof2boys2005** · 02-22-2011, 08:17 PM

I don't do minute rice (unless a recipe calls for it specifically) so this

SOUNDS LIKE HEAVEN!!!!

**mndtrp** · 02-22-2011, 08:37 PM

For what it's worth, unless you need the large quantities worth that a pressure cooker would provide, a rice cooker would do the same with less work.

It seems that the whole process will take you 15-20 minutes, and that's with monitoring the pressure, cooling, etc. A rice cooker takes 15-20 minutes, but all you have to do is add the rice and walk off.

However, making an extremely large batch of rice, especially Spanish rice, would be handy for future meals.

**mauimagic** · 02-22-2011, 10:23 PM

We have two rice cookers - a 4 cup which we use almost daily for white/brown rice. Then for bigger parties, we have a 10 cup rice cooker. My guess is every local family has at least the same.

**Palooka** · 02-22-2011, 10:33 PM

Yeah, I'm with the crowd that would rather use my rice cooker and walk away. One great kitchen gadget for sure.

**momof2boys2005** · 02-26-2011, 08:09 AM

LOL I'm a rare one I guess LOL...I have a pressure cooker (love it) but no rice cooker so it's PC or stovetop!

I hope you all realize that I'm sooo gonna pick up a RC now.

**Spirit Deer** · 02-26-2011, 08:38 AM

I have a steamer, a rice cooker, and a microwave. I've been thinking of getting rid of my rice cooker because it spews a mess all over the counter when it makes rice. Every other one I've had with a vent on the lid has done the same. But mostly I'm thinking I should dump it because when it gets right down to it, I almost always use my steamer to make rice.

I also use the microwave to make rice. It cooks up great in Corningware or Pyrex.

I've been working hard to declutter our kitchen during this winter's complete remodel, so getting rid of the rice cooker would be one less thing in my way.

If a recipe calls for instant rice, I ALWAYS use instant brown rice. I can't stand the white version. It has no substance it doesn't stay with you, so you're hungry again right away. Brown rice just seems to taste better and is more filling, IMO.

**MsMarieH** · 02-27-2011, 08:39 AM

I used to use the minute rice, but in my ongoing quest to eat healthier and reduce my costs, I had purchased a bag of brown rice. I cooked some up this week to go with a ginger beef and carrots crockpot recipe I had and was quite surprised at how much more tasty it was than the minute rice.

My understanding (and someone PLEASE correct me if I am wrong) is that you can precook the rice in a big batch and then freeze it in one or two cup packets and use the frozen packets as a substitute for minute rice.

**Lady_V** · 02-27-2011, 09:05 AM

Interesting -- I know the manual to my PC said not to use it for rice (and a few other things) because it 'foams' and blocks the vent

**Spirit Deer** · 02-27-2011, 09:06 AM

Rice freezes very well, including wild rice which isn't really a rice. If you've ever priced a can of wild rice in the store, then you know it's well worth making it yourself and freezing it. Here, a can of it is almost $4. That ain't happ'nin'!

I don't see why you couldn't use cooked, frozen rice in place of minute rice in a recipe. I freeze rice in canning jars so it's easy to remove the lid and nuke it for a minute or so, just to thaw it a little so it's not in a big hard chunk.

**Spirit Deer** · 02-27-2011, 09:08 AM

Lady V, you can cook starchy foods in a pressure cooker, but you have to allow extra space in it for the foaming, so it reduces the capacity.

**Darlene** · 02-27-2011, 09:24 AM

My rice cooker directions tell you to rinse rice first (I just put it in a fine mesh strainer & rinse until it runs clear) and I haven't had a problem with it blubbing over.
Great word "blubbing"

**momof2boys2005** · 02-27-2011, 09:59 AM

Originally Posted by Darlene

My rice cooker directions tell you to rinse rice first (I just put it in a fine mesh strainer & rinse until it runs clear) and I haven't had a problem with it blubbing over.
Great word "blubbing"

I was wondering about batch cooking rice using a pressure cooker but with so many replies going back to being so easy using a rice cooker I think I need to get one!

**Darlene** · 02-27-2011, 10:23 AM

I should have quoted the post I was answering and that was Spirit Deer mentioning she wants to get rid of her rice cooker because it blubbs over.
I hope you do get a rice cooker, we love ours but it's a more expensive model, I hear lots of good things about more reasonably priced cookers too. I've never tried making rice in our pressure cooker so I'm no help there.

**Spirit Deer** · 02-27-2011, 10:41 AM

The easiest way to make rice is in the microwave, and then you don't need to have an extra appliance to store *says the small kitchen appliance junkie*. Just make sure the container you use is big enough for the accompanying 'blubbing'

or you'll have a mess to clean up. I don't like heating up plastic in the micro, so I use either a Corningware dish with glass lid or a Pyrex glass casserole dish with lid.

I had a rice cooker I actually did love. My mom bought it for our family when we had eight kids at home. I recently donated it to my mom's church since I no longer need a thirty-cup rice cooker but I did need space in the pantry. It did make wonderful rice.

Maybe I should play around with my rice cooker before I get rid of it and see if I can get to like it. I did figure out if I flip the base of a tea ball over the hole in the lid, it doesn't make such a mess. The holes in the tea ball allow the steam to escape without letting the starchy water splatter all over.

There are different kinds of rice cookers. Some have a sensor on the bottom below the bowl that shuts the cooker off when the water cooks off and the temp starts to rise. Those are the splattery kind. Others are steamers that you put water into the bottom of, below a bowl that contains the rice and more water. They work on the same principle, they shut off when the water boils away, causing the temp to rise.

The thing I don't like about the kind without the water below the rice bowl is they form a crust on the bottom of the bowl that's prized in some cultures, but for me is a pain in the neck to clean up. Hmmm... Two strikes against my rice cooker. Maybe I'll donate it after all and forget about trying to learn to like it.