Food discovery: Polenta in the rice cooker!

[deborahjross]

I love polenta but hate standing over a simmering pot for 45 minutes, so I gave this new approach a try. The result is not quite as creamy as the traditional method, but soooo much easier. I suspect that if you make it in advance and let the rice cooker keep it warm for a bit, you won't be able to tell the difference.

Use 4 cups of water for 1 cup dry polenta. Add a little salt (what's a little? depends on your taste; I don't care for overly salted foods, so I suggest 1/2 tsp.) and some olive oil (the recipe I followed called for 3 T; I used 1 T, and suspect it may not be necessary except for taste) and any other ingredients you care for (parmesan, herbs, you get the picture).

Throw it all in the rice cooker, set to Normal/Basic White Rice. You can stir it from time to time if you're nervous. That's all!!! Then you can pour it out on a platter, let it set, cut it and fry it or whatever you like to do with polenta.

Comments

[otana.livejournal.com]

I never thought of this, but it makes perfect sense. I need to use my rice cooker as a slow cooker more often.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I shall try this! I love polenta, and I have a rice cooker (that I use nearly every night for rice, but this will make an interesting change).

[tcastleb.livejournal.com]

I luuuuuuv my rice cooker. And dancinghorse just got us a rice cooker cookbook with all sorts of nifty things to try.

(PS I saw the Darkover excerpt and have it up, just haven't had a chance to actually read it well yet...)