Slow cooker help please!

Catseyes777

Hi

I have eventually just bought a slow cooker (£7 in Asda this afternoon!) and got a book from the library to have a look at some recipes I could try. However the book seems to suggest you can't use normal rice but 'converted' rice?

Is that right? Have any of you tried normal rice, i.e. value long grain/ basmati/ arborio and how did it come out?

Please help!

Samphire

Hi, I tried a risotto in the slow cooker using normal risotto rice, but it was really mushy and I wouldn't recommend it. I've also seen "converted" rice mentioned in US slow cooker books, and wondered what it was. I've just looked it up on Wikipedia, which says it's a part cooked rice and then dried that cooks much faster (5-10 minutes rather than 20, I don't think this is the same as the pouches of rice that get nuked in the microwave):

"Uncle Ben's is a brand name for parboiled (“Converted”) rice and related food products"

I don't use Uncle Ben's rice, and I've never tried it in the slow cooker, but haven't seen this I may well do. If anyone's already tried this, or manages to give it a go before I do please could they post how they got on?

I've also seen a recipie somewhere for a barley risotto in the slow cooker, as the writer says that normal risotto rice doesn't work well. I haven't been able to find any barley yet to try it, but if anyone else has I would love to hear how it worked out

Thanks,

Sam.

azureblue_2

Pearl barley came out pretty mushy so I've given up adding it to slow cooker stews, though seems not too bad in gas oven casseroles in small quantities. Green lentils are great though.

SUESMITH_2

is it not the rice like batchelors savoury rice? thats part cooked and then dehydrated

deborah64

Found this, not sure if it helps.
converted rice = parboiled rice Notes: This is a good compromise between nutritious brown rice and tender, fast-cooking white rice. Converted rice is steamed before it's husked, a process that causes the grains to absorb many of the nutrients from the husk. When cooked, the grains are more nutritious, firmer, and less clingy than white rice grains. Uncle Ben's is a well-known brand. Substitutes: brown rice (more nutritious, takes longer to cook) OR white rice (less nutritious, stickier, takes less time to cook)