Easy 1-Pot Rice Cooker Meal (Grain Salad)

OK so here's the thing: rice cookers can prepare all kinds of whole grains.  It almost seemed too good to be true, when I first got the impulse to try this.  Just toss a bunch of ingredients, push a button, then it's ready in under an hour?  This is fast food meets slow food, plus if you have even a halfway decent rice cooker, it's impossible to burn!

Serves 2-3
Suggested Ingredients:

• dried grain, 1 cup
• rice
• quinoa
• wheat
• bulgur
• farrow
• etc, mix-and-match
• TVP, 1/2 cup (optional)
• a couple tablespoons of soy sauce, to taste
• water, 2 cups
• 1 additional cup water per 1/2 cup TVP
• can also substitute veggie broth
• frozen veggie mix, 1-2 cups (a typical small bag)
• extra salt, to taste
• seasonings
• entire seasoning packet from meal starter (if any)
• a few teaspoons additional mix-and-match

Note that your typical boxed grain salad or meal starter will include 1 measured cup of dried grains (such as my favorite grain salads from Aldi, shown below), but you should measure your selection, just to be sure.  You're looking for around double the water to dried ingredient ratio, without overwhelming your rice cooker.  (Click here for more info on ratios.)  If you think it's turned out too wet or too dry, jot down a quick note and adjust next time around.

Some poorly-calibrated rice cookers will burn somewhat on the bottom, but most will automatically switch to low heat when they're finished cooking.  (Click here for more info on rice cooker tech.)  Just to be safe, I typically unplug it as soon as it is finished cooking.

After it's done cooking (not before, to avoid a mess), drizzle with oil.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

1 head cauliflower
3 cups water
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
4 Tbsp miso
3 Tbsp tahini
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
4 tsp Dijon mustard

-Chop cauliflower into manageable florets.
-Bring a pot of water to the boil and cook cauliflower until tender. (5-7 minutes)
-Remove from the heat and drain in a colander.
-Place water, nutritional yeast, miso, tahini, soy sauce, vinegar, and mustard in the food processer and blend until smooth.
-Add cauliflower to food processor and blend to a cream.
-Heat and serve warm.

(Based on a soup by: http://www.veganuary.com/recipes/creamy-cauliflower-soup/)

Vegan Fried Rice

Rice
5 cups cooked long grain rice

Scrambled Tofu
½ block extra firm tofu, pressed for at least 20 minutes
½ tbsp nutritional yeast
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp onion powder
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, julienned

Vegetables
2 tsp olive oil
5 brussel sprouts, cut in 8ths
1 1/2 cups frozen peas and carrots
4 Green onions for garnish (optional)
1 cup bean sprouts (optional)

Sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp liquid smoke
1/2 tbsp tahini
1 medium garlic clove, minced or grated
½ tsp onion powder
1½ tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar


Scrambled Tofu
-Crumble the pressed tofu in a small bowl.
-Add nutritional yeast, salt, onion powder, and pepper. Mix well and set aside.
Heat the oil in a medium pan over medium heat.
-Add minced garlic and cook for a minute or so, or until the garlic has browned lightly.
-Add tofu mixture and cook for about 5-7 minutes more, stirring often. Remove from pan and set aside.

Sauce
-Whisk together all of the sauce ingredients and set aside.

Putting it all together
-In the same pan that you used to cook your tofu, heat 2 tsp olive oil over medium heat, then add in the carrots, peas, and brussel sprouts.
-Cook for about 5 minutes
-Add rice and sauce, then tofu and chopped green onions.
-Cook for about 5 more minutes

Miso Soup!

6 cups water
5 tbsp miso paste
3 tbsp mushroom dark soy sauce
2 leaves kale, chopped
1 1/2 sheets dried seaweed to taste, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
6 oz tofu, cubed

Simmer dat water with the kale and seaweed.  Simmer for 5 minutes.
Mash dat miso paste and soy sauce into a nother paste.  Den add everything else.  Simmer for mo 5 minutes.
Eat it.