Rice Ideas and Tips For Cooking with Clay (VF7700 and VM7900 ONLY)

Rice recipes are ONLY suited to VitaClay models with rice makers: VF7700, VM7900

Rice made in clay is amazing. The taste and texture are unsurpassed with any other cooking material. You may not think that there could be much difference between rice made with different cooking materials, but something about that clay lends an extra special flavor and texture that I could have never imagined.

We get a lot of questions about how to cook rice in VitaClay, so here are a few tips and tricks:

• When cooking rice, be sure you are using enough water or broth at the start cook time, and adding a little “good fat” such as butter or coconut oil will also help to keep the rice from sticking.
• Also, if you plan to keep your rice on the “warm” setting for more than 30 minutes or so, add some extra liquid to the rice after it’s finished cooking; a few tablespoons should do. This will also keep the rice freshly steamed.
• If you’d like to re-heat rice that has been refrigerated, use a spoon or rice paddle to scoop the rice away from the bottom and add a little bit of water or broth to it. Then set the rice cooker to “reheat,” and in about 10 minutes your rice will taste freshly-steamed as if you just made it.

Some Other Tips For Great Rice in Clay:

There are hundreds, if not thousands of rice varieties, each with a white and a brown version. For this reason, it’s hard to give an exact liquid-to-rice ratio when cooking rice. Each variety will require a slightly different amount of water.

I lived in China for awhile, and their general rule of thumb is to cover the rice with liquid and then put your pinkie in the water until you touch the rice. If the liquid comes up to your first knuckle, you’re good. That will give you a rough estimate, but you will probably need to experiment a little bit with your favorite rice until you find the sweet spot.

Since different people like their rice differently (I knew someone who loved it crispy on the bottom, and some people like it sticky, while others like it separate), that will also factor into your desired amount of liquid.

When cooking rice, I love making one-pot meals.

Chop up some veggies (mushrooms, celery, onions) and throw them in with the cooking water; replace the water with broth, and add your favorite seasoning mix. Stir in pieces of sausage or steam fish on top of the rice in the last 10 minutes or so of cooking. The possibilities are endless! I also like to add butter and coconut oil to my rice, as well as some powdered turmeric. This along with the broth and veggies boosts the nutritional profile considerably and makes the dish very satisfying, whether it’s a side or a stand-alone meal.