Use the rice cooker much?

It seems that lately I'm all about the appliances. Maybe because I painted my kitchen over Labor Day and during the prep process, I cleaned out some of my shelves and put smaller appliances in a visible area. It got cold and I started up my slow cooker. I will be using my immersion blender when I prepare the butternut squash bisque.



In between the two sizes of my slow cookers is the rice cooker in which I've only made rice. And, funny enough, not even basmati rice because for some reason I'm better at this on the stove. Someone said to me once before I owned a rice cooker "What kind of Asian are you that you don't own a rice cooker?" All I could think of in response was "I'm the kind that makes good rice without a rice cooker." And to this day, I still can't make basmati rice in the infallible, ever-perfect rice cooker. Cooking basmati is just in my genes, my muscle memory, perhaps. And almost always includes running into my kitchen to turn off the rice because each and every time I forget I have it on the stove. But, regardless of all the running, sometime from the backyard, I'm not kidding, it always turn out perfect. But, I digress. [And, I'm still not liking the yellow on the kitchen walls.]

Anyway, I do cook other rice that I'm not very familiar with, that is why I eventually did buy a rice cooker, a small one (a 3-cup), only $10 from Wallgreens. That's right. $10! Just the right price for me. It has two settings: cook and warm.

The other night I was cruising around cyberia and stumbled upon this book which intrigued the heck out of me: The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook. And, wouldn't you know it, my library had it! I went and picked it up and it opened my eyes to the possibilities of cooking with my rice cooker. Now, I'm not talking about cooking dinner although there seem to be plenty of people who do this. I was thinking this would be a great way to cook up a hot lunch without taking too much time to cook up that hot lunch.

Today, I tried it. I had some leftover CSA vegetable that I needed to use because I'm picking up another box tonight. I chopped up the little bell peppers, broccoli, bok choy and (non-CSA) mushrooms. Threw in some brown rice, some sesame oil and soy sauce and it all cooked up in about 40 minutes.



Truthfully, it wasn't nearly as good as last night's food fantasy. I'm not ready to give up yet.

Here's some stuff I found on the web:
Robert Ebert: The pot and how to use it.
Recipezaar's Rice recipes
NY Times: Making Meals in a Rice Cooker
Teczcape: an escape to food: Bibimbop

It's the last one that sparked a lot of food fantasies last night. Gotta make up some bulgogi!

Anyone out there, reading this, who's used their rice cooker for more than just rice? Anyway? Hello? Tell me about it, please, and help me make my dreams come true. Or at the very least, help me make my lunch more interesting.