April 8: Pressure Cooker, A New Way to Cook Brown Rice, and an Impromptu Recipe

Today I tried 3 new things, all at the same time!

I tried a new method of cooking brown rice. I always seem to mess it up somehow. It's never nice and fluffy, but instead is burnt on the bottom, mushy and way too sticky, or I manage to somehow not cook it thoroughly. I considered buying a rice cooker, but the space in my kitchen is limited, so there isn't much room left for more appliances. Then, I ran across this method of cooking brown rice on Pinterest: Perfect Brown Rice Recipe

So I gave it a shot! The recipe said to rinse the brown rice under water before cooking it, so I did that, but some of the rice fell through my strainer. No biggie though, I just put a bowl under it to catch the grains.

After rinsing, I boiled the rice, uncovered for 30 minutes instead of the normal way of covered for 45. The picture I took looks a little like I think melty bubble wrap would be.

Finally, after boiling the rice, draining it and returning it to the pot, the rice sits, covered for 10 minutes, and then it's perfect! It was the best rice I've ever made. I was skeptical at first, but it worked!

I also tried cooking with a pressure cooker for the first time tonight. It was pretty easy once I read the instructions, and so fast!

I decided to try cooking lentils in my pressure cooker, to go with the rice. I cooked them with a little garlic for about 10 minutes at pressure, and they turned out great!

I added more flavor with salt, curry powder and lots of sriracha. We love sriracha, as you can see by the nearly empty bottle.

I had the rice and lentils on the stove at the same time.

 

 While they were cooking, I made a sauce of sesame oil, low sodium soy sauce, a little sweet thai chili sauce and sriracha. I also sauteed some colorful veggies with a little garlic.

I layered rice, lentils and veggies into bowls and drizzled the sauce on top. I had carrots.

 

Lee didn't have carrots, because he thinks they're poisonous. :P I added a sriracha swirl for him.

Dinner was delicious, and I'm glad I could try 3 new things at once! The only problem with all of it was that Mindy was afraid of the pressure cooker. This is also the way she looks when she is afraid of the fireplace when we have a fire going. :/

And since it's Easter, here is a line from In Christ Alone that we sang at Cornerstone Presbyterian this morning and a picture I took at Greenwood Presbyterian last month.

"There in the ground His body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain; Then bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave he rose again! And as He stands in victory, sin's curse has lost its grip on me; For I am His and He is mine--bought with the precious blood of Christ."