Cook’s notes
College kids popularized the use of the rice cooker to make dorm meals. But, seriously, the rice cooker can do way better than dorm meals.
Fascinating, really. Of course, I’ve known for a while that rice cookers these days are more multi-cookers that plain rice cookers. The one we’ve had for the past few years is also a slow cooker and has a separate setting for cooking congee.
But I didn’t know it was possible to cook with oil using some models. Saute in the rice cooker? Brown meat in it? That’s a game changer for me.
Pork, tofu and dumpling soup
Ingredients
- 300 grams thinly sliced pork
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- ¼ teaspoon sesame seed oil
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 small onion peeled and thinly sliced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 small carrot peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 cake silken tofu about 300 grams (10.5 oz), cut into small squares
- 1 small Chinese cabbage wombok, cut vertically into quarters
- salt
- pepper
- 12 frozen dumplings store bought
Instructions
- Place the pork in a mixing bowl, add the soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame seed oil. Mix well.
- Switch the rice cooker on (if yours have LOW and HIGH setting, stay on LOW for now) and pour in the cooking oil.
- Saute the onion until just a bit softened.
- Spread the pork on the hot oil, do not disturb for about half a minute then stir to separate the slices. Cook until the edges are starting to brown.
- Turn up the heat to HIGH, pour in the broth, add the carrot slices, tofu, Chinese cabbage and a few generous pinches of salt and pepper.
- Arrange the frozen dumplings in the steamer basket, put the basket in place and cover. Turn down the heat to LOW. Cook the soup and steam the dumplings at the same time. Ten to 12 minutes should be enough.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and drop in dumplings on the side. Optionally, sprinkle in sliced scallions before serving.
Beef tendon braised in soy chili sauce