Tomato-y Rice?

Shortie

Hi everyone

I would love to make a healthier and not so burnt to the bottom of my pan version of tomato-y rice and wondered if anyone had any ideas? I'd like to use my rice cooker if possible as I've never mastered the art of boiling rice the 'normal' way

I very rarely make a scrummy Gambian dish that I've been told is called Benichin (I think it means all in one dish) which is done from memeory, like this: fry chumnks of chicken in oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan, once cooked but not brown, add onion and tomoato puree. Lets it mix and then add uncooked, washed rice and water and simmer for a long time.

Two things that stop me cooking this dish more often is the amount of oil it uses and the fact that my copper bottomed saucepan is throughly stuck at the end and takes aaaaaages to scrub clean

I'm hoping there is an alternative I could do - maybe cooking the chicken and onion seperatly, adding a little tomoatoe puree towards the end, and then cooking my washed rice in the rice cooker with a little oil and a good dollop of tomato puree while it's cooking

Does anyon know if that would work or will I damage my rice cooker with the puree?

I realise I can make this better by boiling the rice on the stove but in all my years cooking, I've never, ever managed to do rice that didn't resemble wall paper paste :eek: Hence my best-est kitchen buddy is my rice cooker

Thanks
Shortie

loobyloo2

Yes ,there are ways to cook this type of dish and not have the crusty rice stuck to the bottom of the pan. I make several dishes very similar to this, and find that you can transfer it to a casserole or large covered dish intead of simmering on the hob for the last stage. Pop it in a medium oven for 40 mins and it will be just as lovely as the traditional way but without the mess.
Don't know about doing it in the rice cooker, I only use mine for plain rice.

gingin_2

Hi, I'm guessing this might not answer your question exactly but I do make a foolproof baked tomato rice which i always cook with chicken. I'm sorry, I don't have a rice cooker so can't help there

I make a basic tomato sauce and whilst doing that half roast some chicken pieces. I then drain most of the fat off those and then remove them from the tray and then turn the heat up on the hob and sprinkle the rice on top of the small amount of chicken juices and mix it in. Then I add the tomato sauce and add chicken stock to the level needed to cook the rice and then place the chicken pieces on top and bake in the oven until the rice is cooked (about 1/2 hour - 40 min).

You can jazz it up with peppers, or sprinkle feta cheese on or add chorizo and paprika to the tomato sauce. The top of the rice goes nice and crusty and the chicken always stays moist.

It's never stuck for me, although I do soak my rice for 10 mins and then rinse through a few times before I cook it. I also always use basmati rice.