How To Cook Porridge Using A Rice Cooker

Porridge is a popular comfort food worldwide. It is usually made from any starchy grain such as oats, rice, wheat, corn, barley, and many more. But, did you know you can actually cook it in a rice cooker?

Find out how to cook porridge using a rice cooker in this another exciting post!

I’ve grown up to the smell of porridge for breakfast while living with my grandmother and since then, whenever I miss home, I cook some to relive my childhood memories.

Different Kinds of Porridge

Living alone, I have come to understand that there are many versions of porridge across the globe, some like it plain, others want it with toppings but we can all agree that each is as tasty as the other.

Whether you want it for a hearty breakfast, fully-topped for lunch, or sweetened gourmet-style for dinner; it’s up to you.

In fact, porridge can be healthy too! There are different kinds of porridge around the world so I listed a few popular down here:

• Oatmeal
• Champurrado
• Polentina
• Kasha
• Grits
• Arroz Caldo
• Congee
• And more…

There’s only one rule for certified porridge lovers, it should be cooked from grains for that starchy and thick texture.

Nowadays, you can find ready-made or instant porridge in the groceries especially oat meals. But, of course, there’s nothing more satisfying than to make a home cooked porridge, right?

How to Cook Porridge Using a Rice Cooker?

A bowl of porridge goodness takes only a few steps to make and a few minutes to spare. You can cook it using a pot over the stove-top, a pressure cooker, a slow cooker, and a rice cooker.

Yup! A rice cooker is in fact a great kitchen appliance when it comes to cooking porridge. Here are my reasons why:

• Pressure cookers and slow cookers take up a lot of space in the countertop and you need to cook a lot of porridge to make sure they’re properly cooked.
• Cooking in the stovetop is pretty messy and needs your full attention.

A rice cooker, on the other hand, makes it more convenient to cook porridge. It’s more of a plug and play device. You simply put the porridge in and press the cook button.

Another thing I like about cooking porridge in the rice cooker is that it does cook the porridge like the slow cooker. It’s also very convenient for small amount of cooking too!

I find it ideal to use a rice cooker for porridge by cooking this sumptuous food in the evening and leave it cooking overnight! You’ll get yourself a perfectly-cooked, tasty porridge.

It doesn’t matter what grain you want to use, the rice cooker works well with any types of grains, even the steel-cut oats.

How I Made Porridge In a Rice Cooker

Cooking porridge depends on how thick or thin you want for the consistency. Of course, also considering the grain you are using.

Since I grew up in an Asian household, our type of porridge is made from rice. Elders say you can use any kind of rice, except Basmati, but Jasmine rice is more preferred.

If you like it more starchy as I do, you can use short or medium-grain jasmine rice. It creates a smooth, starchy, and silky texture when cooked.

By the way, we call our rice porridge Congee (Chinese) or Arroz Caldo (Filipino), or Okayu (Japanese).

Here’s my take on rice porridge using a rice cooker:

• Rinse your rice quickly. Just enough to remove the dirt and other impurities.
• Place the rinsed rice into the rice cooker pot
• Add water or stock. I like to use chicken stock. The tip here is the liquid ratio. If you want thicker consistency then you can use 1:8 rice: liquid ratio. For thinner congee, you can use a 1:10 ratio.
• Turn on the rice cooker and let it cook. If you have a modern rice cooker such as the Zojirushi NS-TSC10, then you can simply push the “Porridge” cooking setting.
• Stir the rice every now and then to incorporate and make it more starchy.
• Once the porridge is cooked, transfer it to a bowl and topped it with your favorite. I like adding mushrooms with beef or chicken, plus veggies.

You can play around with your recipe if you want it more exciting. Just make sure that you use the right grain and liquid ratio.

Is Soaked Rice Better?

I’ve read a few recipes that they soaked their rice first before cooking and I actually tried it. However, I don’t see much difference between soaked and un-soaked rice.

What I believe is that if you are using brown rice or red, and black rice. You need to soaked these types of rice since they are chewier than the white rice.

Some like to add meat and rice together by sauteing the ingredients first. Check out this Century Egg & Pork Congee by Spice N’ Pans. 

Got Leftovers?

If you cooked a large amount of rice porridge and wondering how you can keep it for a long time; simply transfer the porridge into a bowl with cover and place it in the fridge.

You can reheat the congee anytime you want by adding a cup or two of water or stock. Just remember to finish it within 5 days! 😀

Summary

Porridge like rice is already a culture. It has been part of everyone’s childhood. Perhaps, each of you may add or reduce some ingredients than the one I made.

Cooking porridge depends on how you want it especially on what type of porridge you want to prepare!

I hope this post has helped you learn more about porridge, well, more on rice porridge and how to cook it using a rice cooker.

You can cook it pretty much in any appliance you have that’s readily available. But, if you are like me who got a handful only, I find the rice cooker a better option for cooking porridge.

Have you tried cooking porridge lately?