Spicy chilli basil chicken

Another tasty but simple Thai dish - this is a 'go-to' dish all over Thailand for lunch, it's usually served on white rice and topped with a fried egg. 

Ingredients
Chicken diced into small pieces
Green beans diced into small pieces
4 crushed garlic cloves
1 white/yellow onion
6 birds eye chillis de-seeded and finely chopped
Handful of basil leaves (can be Thai holy basil or regular basil)
Soy sauce
Sugar
Water
Cornflour to thicken

Method
Stir fry garlic, onions and chilli to release the flavour. Fry until the onions are translucent. Add chicken and green beans and stir fry until cooked.


Add 6 dessertspoons of soy sauce, 1.5 - 2 teaspoons of sugar and as much water as you need for it to taste ok to you. Thicken with a little cornflour mixed with water and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add the basil leaves and cook for a further 2-4 minutes until basil leaves are wilted.

Sweet and sour chicken

With thanks to Jan on the Yum Asia team for this delicious recipe for a firm favourite dish to be served with rice.

Ingedients

Chicken (or you can use pork, tofu, seafood - whatever takes your fancy)

Chicken stock

Small amount of light soy sauce

Cider vinegar, or a light vinegar

A couple of dessertspoons of tomato ketchup or Sri Racha chilli sauce

Pineapple (if fresh, use one quarter per 2 people)

Tomatoes cubed or quartered

One or two birdseye chilli either fresh or dried (we use two as we like ours spicy)

A clove or two of garlic to your own taste

Spring onions, plus any other veggies you want to use

One white/yellow onion sliced

Brown sugar or honey

Method:

Stir fry white/yellow onion with garlic and chilli. When the onion is translucent add the chicken and cook. Once the chicken is sealed, add the vegetables (holding back the spring onion) and stir fry until cooked. Then add the stock, soy sauce, vinegar, tomato ketchup/Sri Racha and brown sugar or honey. Adjust the sauce to your own taste. Thicken with cornflour and add the pineapple and spring onions.

 

Serve with rice from your Zojirushi rice cooker.

Chicken with cashew nuts

A dish which is very common in Thailand, a delicious and savoury sauce which pairs perfectly with your Zojirushi cooked white rice!

Stir fry cashew nuts to brown them and make them crunchy (you can also bake them in the oven if you prefer) - you don't need to use oil if you don't want to. Set the browned cashews to one side.


Crush two cloves of garlic and deseed one or two birds eye chillis (depending on how hot you like it!). Stir fry this in a pan until the flavours start to release and then add the chicken. Keep oil to the minimum and just add spoonfuls of chicken stock to the pan/wok to stop it from sticking. 


Once the chicken is sealed add peppers, carrots, green beans, baby sweetcorn, mange tout and other veg (we like to add broccoli and cauliflower) you may like and stir fry until cooked. Keep adding bits of chicken stock. 


When cooked, add enough chicken stock to make a sauce into the pan/wok. Season the sauce with quite a generous splash of soya sauce, a dash of black pepper and salt. Add a generous spoon of honey - we also add some Thai sweet chilli sauce at this point too. Taste to see if the seasoning is correct and adjust accordingly. Thicken sauce with cornflour mixed with water. Leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes to develop the flavours - it should be a salty, sweet, spicy mix.


Serve with white rice and then sprinkle a handful of the previously cooked cashew nuts over the top of each person's serving and mix in. If you prefer a vegetarian version substitute chicken stock for vegetable stock and replace the chicken pieces with tofu pieces.

Butternut squash risotto in a rice cooker

This is a lovely warming recipe perfect for Autumn...no standing over the stove top stirring this risotto - it's easy to do in your Zojirushi rice cooker! This is to be made in 5.5 cup or 10 cup cooker. Serves 4-5 people.

Ingredients 

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2/3 cup of finely chopped yellow onion

1 cup plus 2 tbsp of medium grain risotto rice (superfine Arborio, Carnaroli or Vialone nano)

1 ¾ to 2 cups seeded and peeled butternut squash, cut into ½ inch cubes

1 ½ cups water

1 ½ cups stock

TO FINISH

2 teaspoons unsalted butter

2 tbsp lime juice

¼ cup fresh minced Italian parsley leaves

¼ cup freshly grated Parmasan cheese, plus more for serving

Salt to taste

You can also add diced courgette/zucchini, the flavour combines well with the butternut squash.

HOW TO MAKE

1.    Set the rice cooker for Quick Cook or regular cycle. Place olive oil and butter in the rice cooker bowl. When the butter melts add the onion, cook stirring a few times until softened – about 2 minutes. Add rice and stir with plastic rice spatula to coat the grains with hot butter. Cook, stirring a few times until the grains of rice are transparent except for a spot of white on each one – about 3-5 minutes. Add the squash, water and stock and stir to combine. Close the cover and reset for the porridge cycle (it will take around 20 minutes to cook).

2.    When the machine switches to keep warm, stir the risotto. There should only be a bit of liquid and the rice should be al dente - i.e. tender with a touch of resistance. If needed cook for a few minutes longer. This risotto will keep on the keep warm setting for an hour, any longer it will thicken considerably.

3.    When ready to serve add the butter, close the cover for a while to allow the butter to melt. Stir in lime juice, parsley, cheese and salt to taste and serve immediately.

Ginger chilli chicken

This is a 'made up by us' recipe, an experiment which turned out really well. A tasty blend of ginger and sweet chilli which goes perfectly with rice.

Finely chop two fingers worth of ginger, crush two cloves of garlic and deseed one or two birds eye chillis (depending on how hot you like it!). Stir fry this in a pan until the flavours start to release and then add the chicken. Keep oil to the minimum and just add spoonfuls of chicken stock to the pan/wok to stop it from sticking. 


Once the chicken is sealed add peppers, carrots, green beans, baby sweetcorn and other veg you may like and stir fry until cooked. Keep adding bits of chicken stock. 


When cooked, add enough chicken stock to make a sauce into the pan/wok. Season the sauce with a splash of soya sauce, black pepper, salt. Add a spoon on sugar and a spoon of honey - we also add some Thai sweet chilli sauce at this point too. Taste to see if the seasoning is correct and adjust accordingly. Thicken sauce with cornflour mixed with water.


Serve with fluffy rice from your Zojirushi.

Pork Adobo - a Filipino favourite!

A very different dish, but a firm favourite with us and Filipinos alike! One of the national dishes of the Philippines, Adobo is delicious and unlike anything else you will eat in Asia. The dish can be made with chicken as an alternative to pork.

Ingredients

Pork chunks

Potatoes

3 cloves of garlic (based with the edge of a knife)

1 red onion

Finely chopped ginger

90ml soy sauce

135ml vinegar

360ml water

A pinch of paprika

5 bay leaves

Cornflour (to thicken sauce)

Salt and pepper to taste

Sugar to taste

How to make:

Saute garlic, onions and ginger until onions are soft. Add the pork chunks and seal.

Add soy sauce, vinegar, water, bay leaves and paprika. At this point add a little salt and pepper and sugar (usually around 1½ dessert spoons). Leave to simmer for up to an hour. The longer you leave to simmer, the fuller the flavour. We usually also add carrots and some other veg like red pepper, broccoli and cauliflower, but the dish can be served with just pork and potatoes.

Add cornflour and water to thicken and add more salt and pepper, according to how it tastes. Bring to the boil again and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.

Delicious served with rice from your Zojirushi.

Kadai chicken

Kadai chicken, another Indian favourite of ours, a very aromatic, tasty tomato based sauce.

Ingredients (serves 2)

Chicken and whatever veg you like - we use potato, carrot, green beans, red pepper, broccoli, cauliflower and fresh tomatoes to garnish (add at the very end of cooking)

1 onion

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

¼ teaspoon chilli powder (or more if you like it very spicy!)

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 ½ teaspoon ginger-garlic paste

½ teaspoon of fennel seeds

2 cinnamon sticks (medium size)

½ teaspoon garam masala powder

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

4 cloves

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

To make

Marinate chicken with ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder and garam masala powder and salt

Preheat a pan and splutter fennel seeds, cinnamon, cloves and bay leaves (when the pan is hot add a little water which will splutter the seeds – we prefer to use water rather than oil because we don’t like the oil floating on the sauce). Add chopped onions and fry until soft and golden and then add the marinated chicken and cook.

Add tin of chopped tomatoes, chilli powder, coriander powder and mix well. Add a dessert spoon of sugar, a little salt and some ground black pepper. Add the chicken/onion/spices mixture when it’s cooked and stir well.

Simmer on a low heat and add some milk to the sauce (or plain yoghurt if you prefer). Serve with fluffy rice from your Zojirushi.

Chicken tikka masala

Chicken Tikka Masala - another Indian favourite, a lovely combination of spices in a typical tomato based masala Indian sauce.

Ingredients

4 thin sliced tomatoes

2 thin sliced onions

1 little finger-width/length of ginger (julienne sliced)

5 cloves of garlic (julienne sliced)

1 green chilli

Chicken breast

3 cardamom seeds

1 pinch of fennel seeds

5 cloves

1 pinch of cinnamon

Tikka spices

½ spoon garlic/ginger paste on chicken breast

½ spoon turmeric

½ spoon chilli powder

½ spoon garam masala

Small amount of vinegar to mix

Pinch of salt

If you want the traditional pink colouring of chicken tikka add ‘red colour’ powder

For the chicken

Put chicken in a bowl and add the 'tikka spices', leave to stand for a while. Then gently fry to cook the chicken.

For the sauce

Fry cardamom seeds, fennel seeds, cloves and cinnamon with the garlic and ginger until golden then add the onion, chilli and a pinch of salt. Add 1 spoon chilli powder, ½ spoon turmeric, 2 spoons coriander, 1 spoon garam masala then add tomatoes and water to make a sauce. Add salt to taste and some milk or yoghurt. Add cooked chicken and leave to cook a while longer, garnish with fresh coriander and serve with rice and nan.

Aloo Gobi

ALOO GOBI - an Indian vegetarian favourite of ours, simply potatoes and cauliflower in a masala curry sauce. We learnt to make this on a cookery course in Kerala, Southern India. Perfect serves with fluffy rice from your Zojirushi and with a chapati or nan to soak up the sauce.

Ingredients

Cauliflower and potatoes chopped

3 sliced onions (very thin slices)

3 tomatoes (very thin slices)

½ spoon of garlic/ginger paste

1 big pinch fennel seeds

2 cardamom seeds

1 clove

1 big pinch cinnamon

1 green chilli

To make

Half boil potatoes with salt and a pinch of turmeric, then add the cauliflower. Once boiled you can shallow fry in oil to give colour so they are golden.

Sauce:

Fry spices in sunflower oil then add sliced onion, green chilli and pinch of salt. Also add the ½ spoon of garlic/ginger paste, 1 spoon turmeric, 1 spoon chilli powder, 2 spoons coriander, 1 spoon garam masala. Add sliced tomatoes then add water until it is a sauce.

Add the potatoes and cauliflower and mix, add a little milk (or yoghurt if you prefer) to the sauce, some larger slices of tomatoes and garnish with a bit of fresh coriander.

Rice pudding in a Zojirushi

The best rice pudding ever...so delicious! See our recipes page for more ideas!

Ingredients

• 2 cups arborio rice or short-grain rice (this is measured in your rice cooker cup measure)
• 2 cups cold water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 lemon zest, one large piece of lemon peel
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon (to garnish)

Directions
1. Measure your short grain rice with the measuring cup you got with your rice cooker. This measuring cup is usually 6 ounces or close to 3/4 of a cup of rice. For this recipe you need to start with two of those measures.
2. Measure first the rice then rinse rice in cold water, and place rice, water and salt into the rice cooker and click to on. Cook until it clicks automatically to warm.
3. Meanwhile whisk evaporated milk, coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk cinnamon stick, lemon zest (a large thin slice of zest, not grated) and nutmeg together.
4. When rice has been cooked and the setting has switched to warm, Disconnect the cord from outlet, stir once and let the mixture cool for 15 minutes.
5. Add the whisked milks into the rice, close lid and set the cooker to the KEEP WARM setting. Check about 30 minutes later and see if it is at the consistency you like.
6. Discard the cinnamon stick and the lemon zest.
7. Place into individual dishes and garnish with ground cinnamon and cream if desired.

How to make porridge (steel cut oatmeal) in your Zojirushi

For more details or more recipes see our recipes page.



(quantities for cooking in a 5 cup Zojirushi Rice Cooker, scale down for the 3 cup Zojirushi)

Ingredients (serves 4*)
• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup half oats & half water
• 3-4 spoons (or more to your own taste) honey or brown sugar
* You may need to experiment with the amounts of oats and water, depending on whether you like thick or thin oat porridge!

Directions

Place steel cut oats and water in the inner cooking pan.

Place the inner cooking pan in the main body of the rice cooker, plug in the unit, select the "Porridge" setting and push the "Cooking" button to start.

When the rice cooker turns to "Keep Warm," open the lid, stir and add the remaining ingredients.

Using the Timer function and soaking the oats overnight will help soften the texture.

Add any dried or fresh fruit to the porridge instead of sugar - delicious and healthy on a cold winter's day!!

NOTE: Do not use the Timer function when cooking with milk or other dairy products, as they may spoil.

Chilli con carne

We love our chilli con carne, it's perfect for warming you up on a cold winters night!

Start with chopping red onion and red pepper into small pieces and crush a clove of garlic. Fry these for a while to slightly brown the onion and soften the red pepper. Add the minced beef and cook until browned.

In the meantime, empty a tin of chopped tomatoes, 200ml of passata sauce, a dessertspoon of tomato puree, a shake of mixed herbs, black pepper, pinch of salt, sugar and a squirt of tomato ketchup into a deeper saucepan. if you have some red wine (or even vodka!) put a slosh of this in too as it adds to the flavour. Usually we put cooked red kidney beans in at this point but we ran out so substituted carrots instead! Add half a teaspoon of chilli powder and a quarter of a teaspoon of paprika (add more or less chilli and paprika as to whether you want it hotter or milder).

Mix the tomato sauce mixture thoroughly and then add the cooked mince - at this point take out the garlic. Give the mixture a really good stir, bring to the boil and then reduce to simmer with a lid on for at least 20 minutes - the longer you simmer the fuller the flavour. We usually simmer for around an hour, checking half way that the seasoning is right, if it isn't add what you think it needs.

 

Once you are happy with the flavour, it's ready to serve with rice and plain or nacho cheese flavour tortilla crisps (lovely dunked into the chilli sauce!)

Chicken and lots of veg in a black pepper sauce

A Chinese dish which was one of our favourites when we travelled around China. You can use chicken, beef or just veg in this dish, they all work equally well!

Cut your choice of meat and veg. Sprinkle the chicken with crushed black pepper and leave to stand for 30 minutes before cooking. Finely chop some ginger, half a birds eye chilli and crush a clove of garlic                                       

You can boil the veg for 5-10 mins if you think it will be too hard. 

Stir fry the chopped ginger, chilli and crushed garlic in a wok/pan to release the flavour for a couple of minutes. Then add the chicken *top tip when stir frying chicken, keep the oil to a minimum as the chicken will take on the oil as it cooks, instead use splashes of hot water (or stock) to stop it from sticking to the pan/wok. This ensures the chicken stays tender and moist.

When the chicken is sealed add the harder veg such as carrot, green beans, cauliflower etc and continue to stir fry for 10 minutes. Then add broccoli, red pepper and stir fry for another 5 minutes. Lastly add the softer veg such as cabbage and tomatoes and stir fry until the cabbage has wilted.

Add diluted chicken stock to the chicken and veg, a glug of soy sauce, a dessert spoon of sugar and more black pepper. Once the sauce is bubbling add cornflour mixed with water to thicken the sauce.

Once the sauce is thick enough, taste and adjust seasoning and it's ready to eat with lovely fluffy rice!

 

Yum Asia fried rice

This is a great lunch time dish or good for a snack. We have taken the traditional Thai style fried rice and added out special twist. Vegetarians can just leave out the chicken.

Cut the chicken into bite size strips and finely chop carrot, green beans, cabbage, red pepper and cut 2 tomatoes into quarters. Stir fry the chicken until sealed and then add the carrot, green beans and red pepper. When the chicken and veg are almost cooked add the cabbage and tomatoes and stri fry until they are cooked.

Set aside the cooked chicken and veg mixture in a bowl.

Add the cold rice to the wok/pan you were just using for stir frying the chicken and veg and add some light soy sauce. Stir fry the rice until it is all coated with soy sauce and the grains are quite seperate.

Once the soy sauce is mixed into the rice and it is beginning to warm through, add some sweet chilli sauce to the rice/soy sauce mix. This gives the fried rice a nice sweet and slightly spicy flavour. 

Mix the sweet chilli sauce thoroughly into the rice and then add the chicken and veg mixture. Combine the rice, chicken and veg and make sure it's piping hot.

Yum Asia fried rice is ready to serve - serve with a garnish of cucumber or a sprinkle of white pepper powder for an extra kick.

If too much is made just put it in a sealed container in the fridge and reheat in a pan later for a delicious snack!

 

Thai red curry with chicken and veg

A 'hot' favourite of the Thais and one of our favourites too! 

It can be as easy as buying the ready made paste from an Asian supermarket or you can make your own paste (recipe below) to add to the coconut milk. This really is cooking at it's easiest and most delicious!

Cut up your chicken breast into small bite sized strips and chop up whatever veg you would like to go in. We use potatoes, green beans, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower but you can use whatever veg you prefer - we sometimes put red pepper in too. If you are vegetarian then just leave the meat out and add more veg. We usually pre-boil the potatoes and carrots in water for 5 minutes to soften them a little.

Warm the 440ml of coconut milk in a pan (you will need a lid) and then add the red curry paste to the warming coconut milk and make sure it is all dissolved - it should be a nice pink colour when all the lumps of curry paste have gone.

Once the red curry sauce is starting to bubble add the raw chicken breast and stir around a little. When the chicken has changed to a white colour add the harder veg to the red curry sauce, bring to the boil and then allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Then add the softer veg for another 5-10 minutes (depending on what veg you have included) and simmer allowing the flavours of the sauce to seep into the veg. Check the potato and harder veg are soft, if not then leave to simmer for a while longer.

It's then ready to eat with the perfect rice you have cooked in your Zojirushi rice cooker!

For making your own curry paste:

• 5 Large red Dried Chillies or 3 long red chillies deseeded (leave some seeds in if you like it hot)
• 5 Cloves of Garlic peeled and sliced
• 2 or 3 Shallots peeled and sliced
• 2 Stalks of Lemongrass finely chopped
• 1 Tsp Grated Kaffir Lime peel (or substitute fresh lime peel if not available)
• 1 Tbsp Galangal finely chopped
• 1/2 Tbsp Coriander root, chopped
• 1 Tsp Coriander seeds
• 1/2 Tsp Peppercorns
• 1/2 Tbsp Gapi (Shrimp Paste)
• 1/2 Tsp Cumin seeds

Blend all ingredients together into a paste using a mortar & Pestle or a blender. This recipe will make about 180g of paste. The left over will keep for several days in a sealed plastic bag in a refrigerator.

You need 50g of paste for every 440ml tin of coconut milk.