Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Rice with Vegetables in Cajun Flavor

The first kitchen tool I purchased after I moved to US was a rice cooker. It was around $20. It was cheap but did not work the way I expected. It cooked rice but only the rice on the bottom part of the pot. The rice on the top part was half cooked. I mixed the rice and cooked it again. But it still did not work well. After a few attempts, I gave up and donated it to Salvation Army. Then I purchased a rice cooker made by a Japanese well-known company with around $100. It worked nicely! For more than a decade I used this rice cooker simply for cooking white rice or brown rice. However, recently I discovered this machine gives me more varieties of cooking than I have imagined. Today’s recipe is one of my discoveries. I put rice, vegetables, Cajun seasonings, and olive oil in the rice cooker. Then switch it on. 15 to 20 minutes later, your appetite would be crazy about the aroma of this dish! I use mushrooms, green onions and dills in this recipe. But you can use many kinds of other vegetables, too. If you are health conscious, please use brown rice instead of white rice. Brown rice is rich in fiber, manganese and many kinds of vitamins. Again, the rice cooker saves my energy and hours being in kitchen. This is a MUST kitchen tool. I will introduce other recipes using this machine in another time!
Ingredients:
2 cups rice (I use Nishiki rice, which is a form of Japanese rice. Any other medium-grain rice is fine)
2 cups water (Please note this is based on rice you use. Some rice requires more water to be done well and others are less.)
1 cup chopped mushrooms
½ cup chopped green onions
¼ cup chopped dill
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp Cajun seasoning

Directions:
1. If you use a form of Japanese rice, please the rice wash well.
2. Put all the ingredients in a rice cooker. Mix well.
3. Switch on and wait till the switch is off.
4. Transfer to the plates and sprinkle olive oil. Serve hot!

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