Rice Cooker: Chicken and Rice

The Chicken and Rice dish has millions of recipes (maybe I am exaggerating) but anyway has many recipes. Mine is different, of course, and I am asking you to try it. This recipes does not require a rice cooker if you are an expert cooking rice without the modern age rice cooker that makes everything so easy. I make my chicken and rice dish using a rice cooker, otherwise I would not be able to eat rice at all. I added some vegetables together with rice and chicken and came out delicious every time. Even my teenage daughter likes it!

Ingredients: 

• 2 chicken breast cut into 1' squares (cubes)
• 1 cup Mahatma white enriched long grain rice
• 2 medium size carrots coarsely chopped
• 2-3 stalks celery coarsely chopped
• 1 small can sweet peas
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth (I like my rice moist -- you use as much as normally use for cooking rice)

Preparation: I brown the chicken pieces before I put them into the rice. You don't have to. Now this is the hard part with the rice cooker: drop everything in the rice cooker, close the lid and choose cooking level for white rice. Immediately start watching a movie or something on TV or even go to the movies. The rice cooker will take care of the rest. If you don't have a rice cooker ... good luck! I don't know how to cook rice. But I guess that you start cooking the rice, then cook the chicken pieces and then at some point mix everything together and keep simmering till is all done. Enjoy!

Chinese Sweet-and-Sour Fish

For this dish you need to use fresh fish. I guess you have to go fishing! Fresh fish is better than the one sold in the grocery store, but if you can't get any fresh, ask your local grocery store to sell you the freshest one. The fish could be a sea bass, porgies or any other salt water fish in this category (not Mahi Mahi or any bill fish or tuna). This dish will be good for four servings.

Ingredients: To cook the fish:

• 4 sea bass about 3/4 lbs each cleaned 
• 1 tsp salt
• Flour
• Vegetable oil

Ingredients for the sauce:

• 1 cup pineapple juice
• 2 tbls tomato ketchup
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 4 1/4 tsp cornstarch 

Cooking the fish: After washing and drying the fish with a paper towel, sprinkle evenly with salt and dust with the flour. Shake of any excess of flour. Pour vegetable oil about 1"  deep in a frying pan and heat the oil to about 350 F. Deep the fish in the hot oil and cook about 5 min on each side or until golden brown. Transfer the cooked fish in a oven safe bowl or plate lined with paper towel to absorb the grease. Place the plate in the oven set to keep warm.

Prepare the sauce: Mix the 3/4 cup pineapple juice with ketchup, sugar, vinegar and soy sauce in a heat resistan bowl. Bring to a boil over high heat. In a small bowl dissolve the cornstarch in the remaining pineapple juice and stir in the boiling sauce. Stirring constantly keep boiling the sauce until it is clear and thick enough to coat a spoon heavily.

Place the fish on a serving plate and pour the sauce over them. Enjoy!
 

Romania: Oriental Salad

The Oriental Salad is a very refreshing dish especially during hot summer months. Makes an excellent lunch or just a snack. Very easy to prepare. You may replace the radishes with a vegetable you like or experiment with different kind of vegetables.

Ingredients: Boiling potatoes (1 1/2 lbs.), olive oil (6 tbs.), ground black pepper (1/4 tsp), salt (4 1/2 tsp), one regular can of green beans, 1 tsp finely chopped garlic, 4 tbs finely chopped fresh parsley, 1/2 cup thin sliced radishes, 1/2 cup thin sliced scallions, 1/4 red wind vinegar (or cider).

Preparation: Boil potatoes in slightly salted water till potatoes are cooked but tender so they can be cut in slices. Drain the potatoes and let them cool, then peel and slice into 1/4 inch thick round slices. Place the sliced potatoes into a large bowl. Add the olive oil, 1 1/2 tsp salt, pepper and vinegar (cider) and gently toss together till potatoes are evenly coated with the mixture. Cook the green beans as directed by the package together with the remaining salt (if you are sensitive to salt, you may skip it). After cooking, drain the green beans and keep them under running cold water to cool them. Dry the beans with a paper towel, cut them in half crosswise and place them over the potatoes. Add the garlic, parsley, radishes and scallions and gently toss together. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours before serving. Enjoy!

South Pacific: Marinated Pork Kabob

Again, with this dish feel free to use your own imagination in adding some vegetables, mix with other kind of meat, serve over rice or whatever you would like. The marinade I took it from an old South Pacific recipe that required some kind of meat we do not normally eat or buy. But the marinade is excellent on the spicy side.

Ingredients: One fresh hot chili, small onion, ginger root, fresh lime juice, salt, vegetable oil, about 2 lbs boneless pork butt.

Hot chili should be washed, stemmed and seeded and chopped coarsely. Same with the onion. Fine grate the ginger root about 2 teaspoons. The pork butt should be trimmed of excess fat, cut into 1" thick slices and then into 1/2" squares.

Preparation: Put the coarsely chopped chili and onion together with ginger, 2 tbs lime juice, 2 tbs salt and 2 tbs of water in a blender and blend at high speed until the mixture becomes smooth. You have to turn the blender off a couple of times and scrape the sides with a flexible (rubber) spatula. Pour the smooth mixture into a mixing bowl and add the pork meat. Mix so the meat is all covered with the marinade. Cover and let sit for at least one hour or refrigerate for 2-3 hours. Remove the pieces of pork and thread them on wooden or bamboo skewers. If you would like you can add some vegetables like mushrooms, green pepper, tomatoes, squash, onion, garlic or whatever you prefer. Brush with vegetable oil and cook them in your favorite way: hibachi, grill, stove broiler, camp fire. Cook for about 8-10 min or until the pork is crisp and brown and there is no read meat showing when poked with a sharp knife.

You can serve as an appetizer or as a main course with rice and green salad.

Bon Apetite!