Cooking Rice

Probably like you, many of the meals I cook, involve serving them with rice and if you own a thermal cooker there are two way to deal with this.
As my Shuttle Chef has only one inner pot (some thermal cooker have two) I can either put a trivet in the bottom (its legs in the food) and put something like my cake tin containing part boiled rice on the trivet or I can cook my rice about 30 minutes before I want to eat in a separate saucepan.
In the past I have tried many methods of cooking rice. These include Jamie Oliver's rice cooking method from his book "Ministry of Food" and Madhur Jaffrey's methods from her book "Illustrated Indian Cookery". All of these work but take far more time than my method and do not seem to be any better.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of rice per person. I always use Basmati rice except for when I am cooking Thai food. With Thai I prefer Jasmine rice.
• 1 cup of water for each 1/2 cup of rice.
• Salt to taste.

Method:

1. Add the water to a saucepan.
2. Add salt tasting the water until you can taste the salt. Vary the amount to your taste but remember if you can't taste the salt in the water your rice will tend to be bland.
3. Bring the water to the boil.
4. Pour the rice into the boiling water and bring it back to the boil.
5. Boil it gently (a rolling boil) for 5 minutes.
6. Turn off the heat and put a lid on the pan.
7. Leave for about 30 minutes and you then will have perfectly cooked rice.
8. Before serving fluff up with a fork.

Useful guide to cooking times

I though that today I would post this useful little chart from The Thermal Cooker site. It will give you a basic idea of cooking times for your own menues. Most slow cooker recipes can be used in the thermal cooker and by using either the times in a similar recipe or the times below you should end up with a perfectly cooked meal.

Food:	Simmer time after bringing to the boil:	Thermal cooking time:
Rice	5 mins	1 to 1.5 hours
Potatoes	5 mins	1 to 2 hours
Soup & Stock	10 mins	2 to 3 hours
Green Lentils	10 mins	3 to 4 hours
Pintos	10 mins	3 hours
Split Peas	10 mins	2 hours
Quinoa	5 mins	1.5 hours
Millet	5 mins	1 hours
Polenta	1 mins	1 hours
Winter Squash	5 mins	1 to 2 hours
Steamed bread	30 mins	3 hours
Chicken	6 mins	2 to 3 hours
Beef	13 mins	3 to 4 hours

Useful Tip 1 - How to cook for two people.

I was looking at Thermal Cookware site this morning and found this question and answer which I though may be of use to many who use a thermal cooker to cook for only two people.

Question:
Is it possible to cook a small meal as sometimes I do not have enough ingredients to fill a whole pot or I may just want to have enough for one or two people?

Answer:
If you are using the one pot Shuttle Chef you can certainly cook a smaller meal however it would only retain it's core temperature above 60 degrees (food safety standards) for less than 6 to 8 hours, therefore you could prepare a smaller meal in the morning to eat at lunch time or at lunch time to eat at dinner (say 4 hours later). Or you can bring the inner pot back up to the boil 4 hours later so that it would have another 4 hours before dropping below food safety standards.

When I have been cooking a small amount I have often put this in my cake tin which I cover with baking parchment and then put this on a trivet in the inner pot filled with enough water to come 3/4 of the way up the side of the tin. This system seems to work well. This is the same method that is used to cook cakes.

Poached Guinea Fowl with Vegetables - from Mr D's cookbook.

Last night we wanted something light so I put together this delightful dish of poached guinea fowl with vegetables. I served it with the perfectly cooked vegetables and drizzled over the light stock created from the poaching liquid. By poaching the guinea fowl it is moist and takes on the wonderful flavours of the fennel and other vegetables.
There was enough for 3 people but as there was only two I saved the stock we had left over, shredded the remaining Guinea fowl into it and will have it as a soup today. You could use the same recipe with chicken.

Ingredients:

• 1.5kg Guinea fowl


• 6 carrots peeled and cut into 5cm chunks.


• 2 medium leeks cleaned and cut into 5cm lengths.


• 20 small potatoes washed but not peeled.


• 1 fennel bulb sliced.


• 4 celery sticks halved.


• 1 bay leaf.


• Water.


• 2 Vegetable stock cubes or my preferred way of making stock is to use Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon Powder (obtainable from most supermarkets) . If using this add 1 tablespoon.


• Salt and freshly ground pepper.

Method:

1. Wash the guinea fowl.


2. Place the guinea fowl into the inner pot of the thermal cooker.


3. Add the carrots and leeks into the pot.


4. Add the sliced fennel bulb, celery and the potatoes.


5. Put enough water to cover all the ingredients in the pot.


6. Add the stock cubes or powder.


7. Bring to the boil.


8. Turn down the heat to a simmer and put the lid on the pot.


9. Simmer for 10 minutes then put the inner pot into the outer pot.


10. Shut the leave and leave for a minimum of 2 hours to cook..


11. Once cooked adjust the stock for seasoning.


12. Serve spooning some of the stock over the guinea fowl.
    

Julia & Julia - A new movie with Meryl Streep

Julia Child (born Julia Carolyn McWilliams August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author and television personality, who introduced French cuisine and cooking techniques to the American mainstream, through her many cookbooks and television programs. Her most famous works are the 1961 cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and, showcasing her sui generis television persona, the series The French Chef, which premiered in 1963.

In a new film due to be released in August this year Meryl Streep plays Julia child in this film writen and directed by Nora Ephron. The film intertwines the lives of Julia Child and Julia Powel (played by Amy Adams) and is based on her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

This is certainly a film I will add to must list.

Christchurch Food & Wine Festival 9th & 10th of May

The weekend weather was really kind to and it definitely brought out the crowds. The streets were filled with over 100 stalls selling a great selection of food. Our stall, Mr D's Kitchen had a Chinese take away one side and man selling vodka the other. Behind us was Maguire's probably the smartest fish and chip shop I have every been in. All the fish is cooked to order and although this means a wait it was really worth it. This is fish and chips at their best.

We were very busy both days showing people the principles of thermal cooking and letting them taste the fruit cakes we made each night in our Shuttle Chef. I did not have time to have a really good look around the festival. I had intended to attend the demonstration by the Tanner brothers on Sunday but this never happened.

On Saturday Gary Rhodes and Lesley Walters were there demonstrating cooking in the Rangemaster Theatre while a friend of ours Ester Davis ran a Kid's Kitchen for children aged between 5 to 11.

The food and wine festival started on the 8th of May and goes on to the 17th. Although the street market is just the first weekend there are many activities going on the rest of the time.

The Shuttle Chef was as usual very well received in this time of credit cruntch and many people remembered using a hay box on which our thermal cooker is based. I did some demonstrating of cooking which was watched with interest and encouraged many questions as people tried to underrstand the principle of cooking without power.