Perfect Rice and Much More

.  Cooks in many countries depend on rice cookers to reliably cook this staple. But, you say, you don’t need an appliance that cooks rice? Even if you are a cook whose rice always, without fail, never comes out gummy, too hard, too sticky no matter if it is brown, white or wild, keep reading. How about one that cooks not just rice but a host of other dishes?  The new generation of rice cookers, which use new technology, are more than just  rice cookers. Cuisinart’s  Rice Plus Multi-Cooker with Fuzzy Logic Technology allows you to cook not just rice like a chef on a food network. It also enables you to artfully prepare Quinoa, Millet, Bulgur Wheat, Couscous, Amaranth and Kasha. And not just rice—white rice, brown rice, sushi rice, Black Rice, Wehani, Wild Rice. These are all grains or other foods that will bring inexpensive and nutritious variety into your menus. Quinoa? An amazing grain-like crop in the goosefoot family that is steeped in complete proteins –12 to 18%-- and is native to the Andes. You might try cooking it—there are directions for cooking this and a host of other foods.

And there is no longer any need to fear the Risotto. There is a special setting for Risotto. Remember in the film Big Night and the angst about making the perfect Risotto? Risotto doesn’t stay in a holding pattern very gracefully. It is best served immediately and an appliance like this makes the planning easier. You can figure the cooking time down to the minute so your creations are ready when you and the rest of the diners are. One rice well-suited to Risotto is Arborio [  http://www.usarice.com   Arborio rice is a large, bold rice with a characteristic white dot at the center of the grain. By the way of length/width ratio and starch characteristics, it is classified as a medium grain rice. ..This rice develops a creamy texture around a chewy center and has exceptional ability to absorb flavors.]

You can also steam vegetables with the steaming insert. You can slow-cook sauces, soups, chili or stews, or you can quick-cook dishes such as Basmati Rice with Indian Spices. The Quick-Cook feature allows you to sauté ingredients in preparation for the final cooking method. Make the Irish Steel-Cut Oatmeal you never had the nerve to try for breakfast before. 

The Keep Warm feature does just that, keeps the foods you’ve made in the cooker at just the right temperature.

Cuisinart’s  Rice Plus Multi-Cooker  is  light weight, very easy to handle and simple to operate and clean. You’ll have fun trying the different recipes you will be able to easily make using Couscous, Kasha, Amaranth, Millet, etc., and oh, yes—Rice.

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        Here is a little more information about rice from  http://www.rice-trade.com/world-wide-rice-production.html  Rice is the second largest produced cereal in the world. At the beginning of the 1990s, annual production was around 350 million tons and by the end of the century it had reached 410 million tons.

Production is geographically concentrated in Western and Eastern Asia. Asia is the biggest rice producer, accounting for 90% of the world's production and consumption of rice. China and India, which account for more than one-third of global population supply over half of the world's rice. Brazil is the most important non-Asian producer, followed by the United States. Italy ranks first in Europe.

The world's major rice-producing countries - including the two most populous nations, China and India - have emphasized the importance of continuing to develop new rice varieties to guarantee Asia's food security and support the region's economic development.

Today, rice is grown and harvested on every continent except Antarctica, where conditions make its growth impossible. The majority of all rice produced comes from India, China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, and Bangladesh. Asian farmers still account for 92-percent of the world's total rice production. More than 550 million tons of rice is produced annually around the globe. In the United States, farmers have been successfully harvesting rice for more than 300 years. There are thousands of strains of rice today, including those grown in the wild and those which are cultivated as a crop.”

More, I am sure, than you ever need to know about rice. Want to know more about Amaranth? You’re on your own.