Now I've gone and done it

[Jenise]

I have never been interested in owning a rice cooker. After all, I cook perfect rice on the stovetop and never seem to have any problems keeping an eye on it while I'm doing other things, and I don't cook rice every day. Own one more appliance? No thank you.

But Karen recently asked about them and Bob Ross made a comment about using his rice cooker to steam vegetables, a functionality I was previously unaware of, on the exact day I was jonesing for a low-cal plate of steamed vegetables and something that, without a kitchen, wasn't going to be happening any time soon.

Before many days would pass, a new jones emerged as I thought about Bill's last supper question: a meal that could make me die happy would be a meal wherein every course was some form of Asian noodles. So enamored am I of this culinary art form (and if all you've ever had of dumplings is the crappy Ling Ling potstickers at Costco, then you have no idea what I'm talking about), that my new favorite restaurant is Northern Delicacy in Richmond B.C. (Canadian Hong Kong) 30 miles north of here, a restaurant which specializes in the noodle dishes and fancy dumplings of the what-rich Xian region of northern China.

Fast forward to yesterday, and I'm standing in a little Asian market picking up some green tea and a steamed bao to go, and feeling sorry that I had no way to cook any of their very good frozen dumplings (this is what passes for convenience food at Chez J), when my eyes spied a Zojirushi rice cooker on the opposite wall whose box clearly said: Rice Cooker & Steamer.

GONG!!!!!!!!

Next thing you know I was on my way home with a trunkfull of dumplings and a new appliance.

Dinner last night was heaven. Fifteen minutes after loading the Zoji with frozen dumplings, they were ready to serve. And though under normal circumstances I would make a more complex condiment with fresh ginger and green onion, neither of which I had, these dumplings needed no more than a liberal douse of soy sauce and a long drizzle of a good sesame chili oil to make me intensely happy. Oh, and a bottle of chardonnay from Ponzi Vineyards in Oregon.

My only complaint? I bought the six cup size--where that would be the right size for most rice cookery I might do, the ten cup would be the more useful size if I principally use it as a steamer, which is entirely likely.

Gosh darn it. Now you have done it. I'm gonna have to order one. Those dumplings sound sooooooooooo good!

Rice cookers are wonderful things. Once you start using them you find it very, very hard to move away.

And that sounds like a terrific dinner - I love pork dumplings in particular (especially after being spoiled by some restaurants in Hong Kong and Singapore that would serve starting platters with about 10-12 types of dim sum - all very different, and incredibly awesome).

[Jenise]

Rice cookers are wonderful things. Once you start using them you find it very, very hard to move away.

And that sounds like a terrific dinner - I love pork dumplings in particular (especially after being spoiled by some restaurants in Hong Kong and Singapore that would serve starting platters with about 10-12 types of dim sum - all very different, and incredibly awesome).

I dunno--in general, I hate appliances. And I have pans that do these jobs well. But for right now, it opens up a whole new world of options (even if I have to put the appliances in the roman tub in the second bathroom when I use them, and then eat in bed). But dumplings make a great dinner--I also made a bowl of sliced bell peppers, onions and cabbage cut in large, finger-food pieces, and soaked those in a sweet vinegar. Between the two dishes, we had a healthy, low fat meal without compromising a thing.

And you've gone and done something else too!

You mentioned Xian---and that's one of my favorite style/regions of Chinese cooking.

There was a restaurant on the south end of the Seattle-plex that specialized in Xian, and it was irresistible. They had some Xian noodles that were about as good as anything I've ever had. Funny thing is, they tended to be rich and on the sweet side----and I generally don't like sweetness on the old noodle dishes, at least not a dominant sweetness. Couldn't resist these though. Kept going back over and over again.

I think the place is gone now. But ever since I have loved Xian food.

[Jenise]

On the sweet side? Strange, nothing that we had in Xian was sweet, but there is a tendency here in the American portion (on the Canadian side, they know better) of the Pacific Northwest to make all Asian food overly sweet. In every restuarant I go into, I have to tell my server to tell the kitchen I'm Chinese so that they don't add extra sugar to any of the food. Otherwise, it's sadly automatic.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear you're a fan (if you ever get back to Vancouver, I'll have to take you to Northern Delicacy). The noodles of Xian are amazing. There are sizes and types and textures we've never known here, and of course they're all made fresh. The hotel restaurant in Xian even had a noodle bar as part of the typical East-West breakfast buffet--you choose the noodle and a variety of seasonings and condiments. You don't have to wonder if I went the bacon and eggs route--like, never! Here are some pictures I took at the restaurant that serves the Museum and the ongoing excavation of Emporer Chin's terra cotta warriors. Hey, and I'll throw in some of the old guys.

In the first picture, a cook is shaving noodles off a large block of dough directly into the pot. In the second, the cook is making "bang bang" noodles. In less than a minute, a big block of dough is turned into hundreds of fine strands by rapping the dough on the wood counter, each rap seems to cause each strand to divide. It's quite something to see in person.

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Thanks, Jenise.

Neat pics.

As to the Xian/sweet, yep, I absolutely believe this place had retrofitted this particular sauce to fit the American palate, as I've not had any quite like it---similar, but not nearly as sweet---since.

The sauce was rich, dark brown, with apparently lots of soy, tons of umami, mushroom and spices, and was billed as a "rustic, family-style' sauce of the area.

But, hey, since then I've always been willing to try anything labeled Xian, so it was a good thing....

a Zojirushi rice cooker on the opposite wall whose box clearly said: Rice Cooker & Steamer.

I love this brand! I usually only find it in Singapore, and have several of their insulated thermoses. One night years ago, whilst in Singapore on holidays, I got as sick as a dog. Combination flu, ear and throat infection and conjunctivitis. My sister's maid made a ginger and honey tea for me by pouring boiling water over grated ginger, mixing in honey, then super-heating the whole thing in the microwave and then pouring it into one of the 2L Zojirushi insulated jugs/thermos. I got up about six times that night to pour myself a cup, and each time it was blazing hot - the last cup I had 14 hours after it was made was still sipping hot (rather than gulping temperature), although by that time the ginger was so strong it was almost impossible to drink!

[Jenise]

Celia, I didn't know they made anything but rice cookers. But I did know it was a good brand. Somehow, even though I hadn't ever planned to buy one, frequent reccomendations for this brand over the years somehow seeped into my strange little brain so I didn't hesitate when I saw the machine. Didn't hesitate until 3:00 this morning, that is, when lying awake I wondered what I'd done. Hate to spend that kind of money and then wish later I'd bought something else for less money or more features, so I went on Amazon.com to read reviews for it and various other brands. And after an hour of reading comments by people like you and I, I can tell you: I done good. It's a simple little thing but it should last forever. And I won't be complaining a year from now like people who bought the Cuisinart and had the non-stick coating on the rice bowl chip off already.

Jenise,
Which model and how many cups is yours? There are so many.

[Jenise]

Karen, there are a lot of rice cookers and Zojirushi makes many, but from what I can tell only this model (and it's two siblings in a larger and smaller size) is also a steamer, if that feature interests you:
[url]
http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-NHS-10- ... 21&sr=1-11[/url]

Like I said earlier, wish now I'd bought the larger model, as long-term I see myself more interested in the steaming feature here than rice cooking.