It wasn't exactly a roaring success. I had big plans for my electric kettle. I was going to make complete meals without batting an eye using just my electric kettle and a swiss army knife. I thought, I will publish a cookbook for all those sad graduate students who have to live in hotel rooms with no kitchen in sight. Yeah right. Apparently, doing anything other than boiling water with an electric kettle takes a bit more planning than what I had done. It took me three weeks to get to trying it out because I was convinced that cooking regular pasta (i.e. the kind that takes 10 minutes to cook) wouldn't work, plus I was feeling lazy. The kettle heats up, boils and then shuts off. Not exactly conducive to maintaining a moderate boil during 8-10 minutes. So I found some somen noodles thinking that they would cook in 3-4 minutes. Much more friendly to the kettle's ways. Alas, I did not count on overflow or spillage. Soon after I submerged the somen noodles, the water boiled and then up and over it went, and on to the bathroom floor. Also, some of the noodles stuck to the bottom of the pot making it difficult to get it clean. Sigh. I think I would have had better luck manipulating a rice cooker. And I'm thinking of getting one if I can find it for less than 36 euros. Not that I don't love Spanish food, but healthy Spanish food is hard to come by, especially if you want to eat actual vegetables that are not boiled to death or covered in a bechamel sauce. Don't get me wrong, on occasion veggie lasagna complete with bechamel sauce is exactly what I want. But mostly brown rice with vegetables is what I am craving. Next up: adventures in rice cookery (or is it rice cooker cooking? You know what I mean.).
4 comments:
I like the experiment! Too bad it didn't work out as planned though. I definitely think you should get a rice cooker and try it out. I'm not sure what's available there, but even in Fiji they had some pretty good ones (about $100 though). I think you'll find them more versatile for veggies and, of course, rice. Keep us posted.
oh...and although i like rice cookery, i'm going to vote for "suihankering" (from the word for rice cooker in japanese, "sui-han-ki").
The NYTimes has a bunch of rice cooker recipes too. You should look them up!
Suihankering is definitely better than rice cookery. It sounds much more exotic. Thanks, Steve! I think I'll have to save the rice cooker experimentation for the one I have at home. I'm not willing to pay the equivalent of $50 to buy one that I'll only use for a few weeks. Perhaps one of my Singaporean students will let me borrow his. I know they made some chinese dumplings in it the other day. Hmmm...
H, I did print out that article about the rice cooker recipes when it appeared in the NYT. I'll have to try them when I get home.
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