Rice Cooker and Frozen Veggies

June 19, 2015 1:46 PM

Will frozen veggies and rice work with higher-end rice cookers?

My go-to meal usually centers on putting rice in a rice cooker with a package of frozen spinach or mixed vegetables. This works pretty well for the type of rice cookers I usually buy: the cheaper ones with lids that don't seal or latch. My understanding is that most of this type function by measuring the temperature of the bowl and shutting down after the temperature surpasses boiling (i.e. the water has boiled off). This seems like a fairly simple mechanism and one that is not interrupted too much by the addition at the beginning of the cooking cycle of a significant amount of frozen material. On the other hand, I'm not familiar with how higher end, "closed" models deal with this (e.g. Zojirushi especially) as I imagine there may be more than one input besides temperature for more advanced models. Does anyone have experience or tips for cooking anything other than pure rice in a more advanced rice cooker? What setting did you use? What brand do you suggest?

I'd like to clarify that I'm not looking for suggestions on how to steam with a rice cooker. Also, I don't have a microwave, which is why I prefer the one pot solution.

posted by johnnydummkopf to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

Best answer: Yes, it will definitely work. We have a fuzzy logic Zojirushi (I think this one? but not as expensive); the manual is mostly recipes for the sort of thing you're talking about. (PDF can be found here; ok, not "mostly", but more than just a few.)
posted by supercres at 1:51 PM on June 19, 2015

I've never had an issue doing this with my Zojirushi
posted by just another scurvy brother at 1:53 PM on June 19, 2015

As for how it works-- the cooker actively monitors temperature (and liquid level?), so even less margin for error by adding ingredients of different temperatures. Besides, the total amount of heat comparing between room-temp water + frozen vegetables is negligible (and may be more) than using cold water. It can certainly deal with different water temps.
posted by supercres at 1:55 PM on June 19, 2015

Best answer: Yes, they'll work quite well for what you describe. The Zojirushi I have is very good at it - when I asked friends for that level of "recipe" all the people with Asian moms sent me variations on frozen veg + seasoning + rice + optional frozen meat. These rice cookers use something termed fuzzy logic which allows for more contextually variable cooking, but they still do their thing with applications of heat. For a layperson's explanation in case you're like me and need to know how it works but not in too much detail, this howstuffworks.com page has proved surprisingly and succinctly well written. Basically, if the frozen things lower the overall temperature and the speed with which the temperature increases, the rice cooker will know and compensate accordingly. Also, depending on the setting you choose, it will have a soaking period (where the stuff just sits in the liquid before heat is applied, or very low heat to bring it to room temp) and that will help the frozen parts not be uncooked in the center when your rice is done. The term to use when looking for recipes and how different rice cookers do with them is "mixed rice", which is also a setting on Zojirushi rice cookers.
posted by Mizu at 2:03 PM on June 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

There's almost nothing you can't do with a fuzzy-logic rice cooker, including this (and cake! And pudding! And set-it-and-forget-it breakfast!).
posted by padraigin at 8:53 PM on June 19, 2015 [1 favorite]