Using a Tefal 4-in-1 cooker

Beenie

I am very disappointed with my Tefal. It cooks rice very nicely, but it's too quick to be a slow cooker. There isn't a recipe book either (ggogle Tefal slow cooker recipes and you'll see what I mean).

What I'm looking for is a failsafe rice pudding recipe - the sort you can do overnight or at least 4-6 hours during the day. Can anyone help?

GreenFairy

I have one of these as well and I absolutely love it. I use the rice cooker setting a lot - at least twice a week. With the slow cooker bit, for casseroles, it's really a case of adding what you fancy as your combination. Meat (if you eat it), potatoes, veg and plenty of stock and seasoning. I put mine on in the morning before I head out, and it's hot and ready to eat as soon as I come in the door after work. I've even cooked soups, chilli and whole chickens/pot roasts in mine really successfully.

For rice pudding, the liquid component largely depends on how thick or thin you like your pudding. 50g rice, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 25g butter/spread and 500ml of milk is a good start for proportions - though I usually make double as the leftovers heat up really well later. If it's too thick, just add a little more milk (or cream if you're feeling decadent!). If you want to leave it for quite a few hours unattended, just add a little more liquid to keep it from getting too claggy.

There are a whole bunch of slow cooker recipe books on amazon, also on websites like this
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/slow-cooker
Just ignore any instructions that say whether to set it to high or low. Just set the time and hit the button to start.

Beenie

I use the rice setting a lot too, for curries. And I use the steamer. Not found any problems with those aspects of the Tefal, it's just the slow cooker recipes. I have tried a few things from a slow cooker book but was disappointed with the results. The food was just not nice and I thought it was because there isn't a 'slow' 'medium' or 'fast' setting with this machine - it's either ON or OFF.

Can you tell me how long you leave the cooker switched on when you do a rice pudding? I'm happy to use your recipe seeing as you have the same bit of equipment and are satisfied with it.

Nocturnes

I have one of these and find I only use it for a few things: Rice (brown, basmati, medium grain - adjust liquid for each type), overnight stock using a roast chicken carcass or other bones, sometimes just veggie stock. Lamb Shanks (used this recipe and added more veg http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/slow_cooker_braised_lamb_01950), the odd "garbage" soup and pork casserole. Haven't tried rice pudding in it, but my attempt at porridge was a fail and easier to do quickly in a pan imho.
My old slow cooker had different settings (low med high) but I have got used to the one setting and haven't found it cooks too quickly as yet.
Good luck!


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