I needed something quick and easy for dinner and this fit the bill. I was able to toss everything in the InstantPot and set it to cook while I went out to pick up the Kidlet from school. Next time I think I'd add a bay leaf to the pot (and hopefully actually remember to serve it with lemon wedges), but other than that it was pretty good. I know it might be veering away from the "Spanish" theme a bit, but I also think a cinnamon stick would be nice in this.

The original recipe calls for artichoke hearts, but since I didn't have any on hand and TF finds them completely inedible anyway, I swapped them out for Brussels sprouts instead. I think the Brussels sprouts work decently well here, but they ended up overcooked and much softer than I would've liked. Next time I might steam them separately and then just toss them in at the end.

Spanish Rice with Chickpeas

Slightly adapted from Budget Byte$

Ingredients

• 1 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. smoked paprika¹
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried onion
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder²
• black pepper, ~20 grinds
• 1 bay leaf (optional)
• 1 cinnamon stick (optional)
• 2 c. cooked chickpeas
• 400mL diced tomatoes
• 1 c. vegetable broth
• 12 Brussels sprouts, trimmed and quartered
• 1/4 c. fresh (flat-leaf) parsley
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Directions

1. Add rice, oil, paprika, cayenne, cumin, oregano, onion, garlic, pepper, and any optional spices to InstantPot or rice cooker and stir to coat.
2. Drain and rinse chickpeas if necessary and add them to the pot.
3. Add tomatoes, broth, and Brussels sprouts.
4. Cover and cook. Use normal cooking cycle for rice cooker and allow to steam for 5-10 minutes after cook cycle ends or 18 minutes on high pressure with a 10 minute natural release for the InstantPot.
5. Fluff rice and sprinkle with parsley.
6. Serve with lemon wedges.

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¹ I actually ended up using some hot paprika I had on hand instead of the smoked paprika. Instead of adding cayenne as well as hot paprika, I just tossed in a little sweet paprika. I think smoked paprika would've been good if I'd had any easily to hand. Next time (since I probably still won't have any smoked paprika) I'd use a mix of hot paprika and ground Kashmiri chilies instead of the sweet paprika. ^Back
2 Next time I think I'd add a clove or two of fresh garlic either instead of or as well as the powder. ^Back

Rice with Chinese Sausage and Greens

This dish has been our go to on many nights when we didn't have the energy to cook anything remotely complicated. It's a true one-pot dish, and takes barely more time to make than a pot of plain rice.

It is very easy to experiment with; the "basic" version just uses the rice, sausages, greens, and soy sauce, and you can add different greens or other seasonings or the like as you see fit. The version recorded here is the most recent one we made.

Ingredients

• 350mL long grain white or brown rice
• 1 package chinese sausages
• 1 package bok choi or head of broccolli (or other greens as you see fit; spinach, mustard greens, or black kale would probably work alright too)
• 1 large onion
• dark soy sauce
• roasted garlic paste
• black pepper

Procedure

1. Put the rice and an appropriate amount of water in your rice cooker or pressure cooker.
2. Slice the sausages into rounds and toss those in.
3. Add the greens.
4. Chop the onion and add that, too.
5. Add a generous splash of soy sauce, a tablespoon or so of roasted garlic paste and some black pepper.
6. Cook using the same settings you'd use to cook plain rice.

"Mitty" Chawal

Made this to go with Kashmiri Batak. Might try grinding spices next time rather than just bruising.

"Mitty" Chawal
From 660 Curries
2 c. basmati rice
1 tsp. black peppercorns
8 green cardamom pods
12 whole cloves
4 cinnamon sticks (3" each)
1/4 c. ghee
2 onions, chopped
2 tsp. granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt

1. Rinse the rice three or four times in cold water. Cover with fresh water and let stand 20-30 minutes.
2. Bruise spices in mortar and pestle.
3. Heat ghee over medium heat. Add onion, sugar, and spices. Stir-fry 10-15 minutes.
4. Drain rice. Stir rice and onion mixture together in rice cooker. Add salt and 3 c. water. Turn on rice cooker.
5. Allow rice to steam on "warm" setting (without lifting lid) for 10 minutes after cook cycle completes.
6. Fluff with rice paddle and serve.

Seared Scallops with Couscous Salad

I've been leaning pretty heavily on the Cook's Country "30 minute supper" recipe cards lately. The original version of this recipe came off of one of them. That said, I changed it pretty significantly. The original recipe called for making a very simple couscous side/salad using instant couscous, tomatoes, parsley, and olive oil. That was then served with scallops seared in olive oil and topped with a pickled pepper-orange-scallion salsa/chutney. I changed things up a little bit when I put mine together.

Couscous Salad
Adapted from Cook's Country August/September 2015 and The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert
1 lb. instant couscous
4 c. vegetable stock (or vegetable trimmings/peels + water)
1 tsp. coarse sea salt
4 Tbsp. butter
1 (375mL) jar pickled pepperoncini peppers, minced
1/4 c. pickled pepper juice, or more to taste
1/4 c. + 1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
juice and grated rind of one orange
4-5 tomatoes, chopped
8 scallions, sliced thin
1 c. fresh cilantro (or parsley), chopped
1/2 tsp. pepper

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (optional)

1. Put stock on to boil. Set a colander on top of the pot and seal the edges so that steam only rises through the colander. Line colander with cheesecloth.
2. Add 2 c. of cold water to couscous. Stir it around to break up any clumps, let stand for a minute or two, then drain.
3. Dump couscous into cheesecloth lined colander and steam for 20 minutes.
4. Lift cloth out of colander and dump into large shallow plate/pan. Rake and break up any clumps with a whisk. Stir in 1 c. of water and a tsp. each of salt and oil. Allow to stand 10 minutes.
5. Rake again and break up any clumps. Place cheesecloth back in colander and dump the couscous back in. Steam for another 20 minutes.
6. Lift cloth back out of colander and rake couscous again. Stir in another cup of water, but do not add any more salt or oil. Let stand 10 minutes.
7. Rake and put couscous and cheesecloth back in colander and steam for a final 10 minutes.
8. Remove couscous from colander, break up any lumps and stir in 1 c. of broth and 4 Tbsp. of butter.
9. Combine cooked couscous with remaining ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy warm or chilled.

Seared Scallops
400g large sea scallops
1 Tbsp. garlic butter
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Pat scallops dry with a paper towel and melt butter in pan.
2. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on scallops and sear in butter over medium-high heat. They should only need about 1 1/2 minutes per side, two minutes at the absolute maximum.
3. If desired, deglaze the pan with a little broth and pour over the scallops.
4. Serve immediately over warm couscous salad.

I realize that the multiple couscous steamings may seem a bit labour-intensive and daunting, but it really does make a huge difference to the texture and final result! I can't stand instant couscous prepared according to the box (pour hot/boiling water over and let stand for a few minutes). But properly steamed couscous? I can't get enough of it! It's delicious! Seriously. I promise that it's worth every minute of extra time it takes to do it this way. Besides, waiting for it to steam gave me time to do all the chopping and other prep work for the recipe, so it didn't really add that much to the overhead. If you've never tried steamed couscous before, definitely give it a try. You're in for a treat!

Mexican Rice

It's been a while since I last used my rice cooker cookbook, so I figured I'd flip through it again and see if anything caught my eye.

Most of the recipes in the chapter I was looking at seem to be recommended for a medium (5-6 cup) rice cooker, but they do note that they can be scaled up or down to fit other sizes. I have a 10 cup rice cooker, so I figured I'd just double the recipe to fit the larger pot. (10 cup cookers don't tend to do so well with small quantities of rice. Two "rice cooker cups" is about the the minimum that they can do a good job on.) This worked out well in the sense that the rice cooked up nicely and we got a tasty lunch out of it. However, once all the other ingredients were added, I was left with a huge quantity of "Mexican rice"! I will probably just make half the amount next time and deal with the less-than-perfectly-cooked rice.

Mexican Rice
1 c. long-grain white rice
1 c. stock (chicken, vegetable, pork... whatever you prefer)
1 Tbsp. canola oil
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
5 grinds black pepper
2 Tbsp. capers
1 (15 oz.) tin diced tomatoes
1 (15 oz.) tin beans (black or pinto work well), drained and rinsed
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped
1 tsp. dried oregano
3 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
sour cream, for serving
feta, for serving

1. Add rice and stock to the rice cooker and turn it on. (If you have a fancy-pants fuzzy logic rice cooker a regular, quick cook, or mixed cycle should be appropriate here.)
2. Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the onion until it begins to brown. Add the bell pepper and cook until it just begins to soften.
3. Add the onion, bell pepper, black pepper, capers, diced tomatoes, beans, chiles, oregano, and cilantro to the rice cooker. Stir and replace the lid. If the cooking cycle hasn't yet finished allow it to complete.
4. Serve topped with sour cream and feta.

If you have a large rice cooker, the small quantity of rice called for in this recipe may not cook up as nicely as larger volumes usually do. Double the recipe if you're worried about this, but be aware that the finished product will fill your rice cooker! I doubled the quantities called for above and ended up with my 10 cup cooker filled to the brim. I actually only put in half the amount of beans called for because the rice cooker was already so full!

This is how much was left after TF dished his lunch up!

I think this would also be nice with brown rice and/or garnished with lime juice in place of the sour cream. I think I'd also try adding a couple cloves of garlic next time. In fact, I may sauté up a little garlic tomorrow and add it to whatever's left in the pot.

This makes for an extremely easy meal. And quite quick as well if you stick with white rice! Quick, easy, and tasty... what more can you ask for out of a meal? It does fall just short of being a one-pot meal since you have to sauté the onion and peppers (and optional garlic) separately, but there really isn't much to do in the way of clean-up after making this. It's pretty great.

One-Pot Rice Cooker Dinner

Everyone was pretty tired last night, so I was glad that I'd planned an easy, throw-together meal for Thursday evening. The basic concept is pretty simple: toss some rice and water into your rice cooker, add some meat and vegetables along with whatever seasonings you want, turn the rice cooker on and you're all set. Once the rice is done, just give it a stir and dish it up!

Here's what went into mine last night:
2 "rice cooker cups" brown jasmine rice
water (up to the 2 cup line)
5 dried Chinese black mushrooms
1/4 of a whole star anise
1 pkg. Chinese sausages, sliced thin
bok choy (as much as would fit in the cooker)
a couple splashes of light soy sauce
a dash of hoisin sauce
a pinch of white pepper
a splash of black vinegar
served with sweet chile sauce

If I think of it next time, I might try to sauté an onion in the bottom of the rice cooker before I add the other ingredients. Or, if I happen to have any green onions on hand, it might be nice to chop a few and toss them in with the bok choy. I think I'll also try adding a splash of Shaoxing wine next time too. I would've thrown some in this time if I'd thought of it but, as I said, we were all pretty tired last night, so I wasn't as on top of the seasonings as I might've otherwise been. Still, it came out tolerably tasty and, most importantly, was very, very easy!