Some girls pine for jewels and status bags (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but I’ve had my heart set on a rice cooker for as long as I can remember. I’m terrible at making rice, it’s just not in my DNA ( I can also blame a riceless childhood because my father literally banned any form of rice from being made or consumed in our household…and no, I’ve never been to therapy for this). Most of the time I can make an adequate bowl of rice but it’s never great, rarely fluffy or delicious, which is a shame when I’m craving a big bowl of rice for a bed of roasted vegetables, or sticky sushi rice for making homemade sushi rolls.
Then the other night I was at a friend’s house and she gave me a little bowl filled with the most delicious steamed quinoa from her rice cooker. She rolled some inside of a sheet of Korean-brand roasted seaweed and then I popped it all into my mouth. I couldn’t stop eating them. I went home with my own sack of Korean seaweed (better than a potato chip) and swore I would immediately order my very own rice cooker. Which I did. Finally.
For my maiden batch of rice I decided to use up some sushi rice I had–seemed appropriate since my rice cooker is from Japan (and it plays a little song every time the rice is finished…am I a little too into this thing?). It was by far the best looking sushi rice I had ever made. I scooped the rice into a bowl and mixed in some rice wine vinegar. I then spread it on one side of a sheet of the seaweed, sprinkled chopped cilantro on top, peeled a carrot into long ribbons and put that on as well. Rolled it all up into a very rough version of a sushi roll, sliced it in half, put a little soy sauce on the side, and lunch was done.
I feel like I now have a whole new world of meals available to me: sushi rolls with salmon, cream cheese, and green onion; bowls of fluffy quinoa topped with a piece of steamed fish; oatmeal in the morning; brown rice with roasted vegetables. Will this prove to be the best gadget I ever purchased? We’ll see.
