Rice Cooker Kichari

Yummmmm!!! I just finished making this, and it’s delicious. Much creamier than my normal kichari, because my stove-top pot is too small for a proper batch, and it boils all over.

Well. So did this.

But the end result is worth it, and I didn’t have to stand there and *watch* it boil over. I was in the other room, doing something more productive while it boiled over. 😀 I’ll figure out how to fix the boiling over thing, but in the meantime, if you don’t mind a bit of a mess, this is THE STUFF here.

I took half a cup of mung beans (split and shelled) and half a cup of rice — completely forgot to soak either, but it worked out juuuust fine, except for the oft-mentioned boil over — and put them in the rice cooker with my standard 2 cups of water (for cooking rice). After a moment’s pondering, I added another cup or so of water, just for good measure and so I wouldn’t scorch the pooptarts out of my rice cooker. Plugged it in, turned it on. Left it alone. (My rice cooker only has one setting: “on”, so no complexity here).

In the meantime, I’d put some olive oil (I’m out of ghee) in a saucepan and started it heating, and chopped up a large potato and put that in the microwave to cook. Sautéed sliced onions and some garlic with cumin seeds in the oil,then added a dollop (about 1 Tbsp) of bacon grease from the fridge. If you’re veg, then this is not for you. :} Sorry. I wanted a little more richness than I could get with just olive oil. Added turmeric, curry powder, salt, and some other goodies – what I had on the counter – and let the onions get soft. The potatoes dinged, so I threw those in too, to get the benefit of the spices and oniony-ness and good mojo. Let that finish up for a few more minutes, then turned it off and went to weave in the other room.

Shortly thereafter, I heard the ungentle hissing of an epic boilover, but I really couldn’t be bothered to get up and check… what could I do, other than wring my hands and say “oh, dear, it’s boiling over”? After about 20 minutes, the rice cooker clicked into its warm cycle, and I bustled into the kitchen to move it to another bowl before it could crust to the surface of the rice pan. Put in oil, onions, garlic, and potatoes, and stirred. After I combined the mixtures, I tasted it – needed more spices, so I added them to taste.

The texture is smooth and creamy, unlike the slightly crunchy way it turns out on the stove. It’s pretty bodacious and I am gleefully happy with this recipe. HOORAY!!

Butter/Garlic/Sherry Steak Lunch: because I’m fancy

So yesterday I made a run to Costco and loaded up on paper goods and giant packages of necessities, and one of my purchases was a nice big package of top round steak. It was about the price of a good piece of beef at the grocery store, and I got 7 2-to-3 oz steaks out of it, plus a bunch of beef I ground up and boiled for the dog / made hamburgers out of. Score!!

I froze all the steaks but one, which I left out immediate use, and today lunchtime was the time. (jazz hands) It’s sunny and not cold enough to cause my lips to freeze right off my face, taxes are almost done, and I’m working on creative projects again. So, it’s celebration time.

I looked for a good way to cook this piece of meat, as always, and found this site:
http://www.steakeat.com/how-to-cook-round-steak-on-stove-top.html/3
There were several methods, but I really wanted something pan-seared, so I looked at the stove top method and liked it. So I heated up a pan and added about 1 Tbsp of oil and let that get nice and hot. Put in the steak and let it get a nice brown crust on the first side, then flipped it over. (I have a splatter screen and I use it religiously; I hate getting burned by spitting oil)

In the meantime, I got a Tbsp of butter and a clove of garlic ready to go in the pan for the last minute or so, as recommended by the website above. I crushed the garlic clove, then minced it down nice and small. Pulled out the steak and sliced that into strips to maximize the buttery/garlicky (how do you spell that?) surface area, then threw them all back in for a last finish.

After the steak came out, there was still lots of butter and garlic in the pan, and I hate wasting it. I threw in a bit of rice that was left over from yesterday and stir-fried it for a minute, then finished the whole thing off by pouring in a jot of sherry and cooking off the alcohol. Poured the rice etc. over the top of the steak, added a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, and voila!! Deliciousness!!

The finished dish, partially consumed, because I couldn’t wait until after I’d taken photos to start eating it.

My dog, sulking because he didn’t get any of it. lol

Grilled cheese sandwich fried in mayonnaise? INCONCEIVABLE. Or, wait, sounds delicious. :D

Was researching another recipe — it’s been a long couple weeks of frozen homemade soup here, as I fight a cold — and saw this. My first reaction was horror; my second fascination. It sounds delicious, when you read the article. Mmmmmmmm… need to get some good GF bread and some nice tangy cheese soon and try this!!