Rice Cooker Steel-Cut Oatmeal
Steel-cut oats cooked unattended in a plain switch-and-warm rice cooker, at three parts water to one part oats so the cycle runs long enough to soften them properly. A teaspoon of butter around the pot keeps the foam from climbing out of the vent.
Ingredients
The Porridge
- 1 teaspoon unsalted butter for the pot walls, and it breaks the foam
- 1 cup steel-cut oats not rolled and not instant
- 3 cups water or 2 cups water and 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
To Finish
- 1/3 cup raisins or chopped dried apricots
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract stirred in off the heat
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons whole milk optional, to loosen
Instructions
Set Up the Pot
- Rub the butter around the inside of the cooking pot, right up the sides. Foam climbs the walls long before it reaches the steam vent, and a greased wall is what stops it getting there.
- Add the oats, the water and the salt and stir once. Do not fill the pot past a third of its depth, whatever you scale the recipe to.
Cook and Finish
- Close the lid and press Cook. Leave it entirely alone for 30 to 35 minutes, until the switch drops to Keep Warm on its own.
- Stir in the raisins and leave the pot on Keep Warm for 10 minutes. The oats keep absorbing in that time and the raisins plump.
- Switch the cooker off, stir in the vanilla and cinnamon, and loosen with the milk if it has set tighter than you want. Taste a grain before you serve: it should be tender with a little chew at the center. If it is still hard, add half a cup of hot water and run the Cook cycle again.
Notes
The ratio is the recipe. Three cups of water to one cup of steel-cut oats keeps the switch down for the 30 to 35 minutes the oats need. Two cups trips it early and leaves them hard.
Butter the pot walls first. Oat foam climbs the sides before it reaches the steam vent, and a greased wall is what stops it.
Never fill past a third of the pot's depth. A ten-cup cooker tops out at about two cups of dry oats.
Rolled oats are not a substitute at this ratio. Use 2 1/2 cups of liquid instead and expect a softer porridge.
Make-ahead: cook a full pot, cool it and portion it into jars for up to 5 days. Soaking the oats in their measured water overnight trips the switch about ten minutes sooner.
Reheat with a splash of milk. It sets firm cold and will not loosen on its own.
Nutrition values are an estimate.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 195kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Sodium: 300mg | Potassium: 220mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 35IU | Calcium: 28mg | Iron: 2mg