I have a Zojirushi "fuzzy logic" rice cooker and was wondering if I could use it for whole grains other than rice? I'd love to find an easy way to fix wheat berries, barley etc. Has anyone tried this successfully? If so, what settings did you use - the same as for rice or tweaked? Did you use the same amount of liquid as you would on the stovetop?
I'm not sure what the Zojirushi "fuzzy logic" rice cooker is, but I use my regular steamer to steam various grains. Do you have the option of opening it while it's cooking, or adding time after the cooking cycle is done? If it's similar to a steamer, you probably could use less water in with the rice as you would on a stovetop.
I have a Nordicware microwave rice cooker and have done grains, beans, and lentils in it. I usually use the same amount of water I do for stove cooking (usually twice as much water as solid).
There is a rice cooker cookbook that you can get from Amazon, it's called "The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook : 250 No-Fail Recipes for Pilafs, Risottos, Polenta, Chilis, Soups, Porridges, Puddings and More, from Start to Finish in Your Rice Cooker" I bet that would have information on it. I've heard of people cooking quinoa in a rice cooker, but I've never tried it. Good luck!
I've cooked all sorts of grains in my rice cooker and just added the same amount of water I would if cooking on top of the stove. Sometimes the texture is a bit different but it's still edible, good and convenient.
I've tried to cook brown rice and rice blends in my rice cooker, it foams up pretty bad and overflows the steam hole thing and it's a mess to clean out.
My rice cooker is a smaller one-6 cups and I only cook 2 cups of whole grain rice.
I think if you have one that doesn't have the vent in it you'd probably be fine. My next one will be vent free.
Mine is a fuzzy logic Sanyo and I have no problems with the overflow thing...I think they all pretty much have some sort of steam vent, don't they? Mine's pretty crazy: you can use it as a slow cooker, make porridge and steel cut oats in it, rice you name it. I just got it so I've only made rice in it, but I will probably try to make other stuff.
Whole Grains In A Rice Cooker?
