Rice Cooker to you, Lifeline to me!

This blog will be dedicated to giving advise to those of you who will find themselves trying to figure out what to eat when you are in a place where you have limited food and things to cook with. I have spent the past year perfecting a short cookbook that I have written for just that. It is called Recipes for the Rice Cooker: cooking with few resources. With help from other volunteers I have been able write 14 different recipes with many of them having variations (just to spice things up a little). Who said I didn’t learn anything in Peace Corps? A couple of my favorite recipes have included Pea Soup, Chili, Grilled Cheese (got the idea for this one from another volunteer), Mac and Cheese, and various ways to make rice. Here are some previews:
When cooking with a rice cooker you need to make sure the bowl is pushed down. Some that’s all you need, and some will pop up just because it is too hot. I just take the bowl out and let it cool and then try to push the lever down again. Usually with more liquid it stays down better. I have the most problems with making grilled sandwiches and fried potatoes.
Bolded words are things I have not been able to find in my village. I bought them in Bishkek or got them sent from the states. They are spices and beans that are good to stock up on and if you cook for yourself a lot it would be smart to keep a stash of these.
Pea soup
Serves: 5
½ kg Dried Peas, cleaned and rinsed (pick through to make sure there aren’t any rocks)
1 T Oil or butter
2 Onions, diced
3-4 Cloves of garlic, minced
3-4 Carrots, peeled and diced
3-4 Potatoes, diced
1 T Oregano
2 Bay leaves
1 ½ t Salt
1 t Pepper
1 Bouillon cube (any kind works)

Heat up rice cooker and add oil. Add onions and garlic. Cook until soft. Add the rest of the vegetables and seasonings. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Add peas and enough water to cover everything. Simmer until peas are soft.

Serve alone or over rice. A small amount of soy sauce added at the end is a nice touch! (Thanks Dad!!)

Lentils could be added instead of or with peas.

Rice
Serves: 1
1 cup Rice
2 cups Water

Add rice and water to rice cooker, shut the lid, press the lever and let it go.

Variations:
Plov (soviet rice dish with carrots):
Sauté 1 onion, diced; 2 cloves of garlic, minced; 1 carrot, sliced into circles in 1 tablespoon of oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook until carrots are soft. Add rice and water and cook normally.
Spanish rice:
Sauté 1 onion, diced; 2 cloves of garlic, minced; 2 tomatoes, diced in 1 tablespoon of oil. Add red pepper flakes, cumin, oregano, and basil. Add bouillon cube to water and add with rice and cook normally.

Grilled Cheese
Sliced bread
Sliced cheese
Butter

Place cheese in between two slices of bread. Put butter in bowl and let it melt. Place sandwich over the butter and shut lid to help melt the cheese. Cook for 4-5 minutes and flip.

Things like soups and stews I make very large batches and keep then for a whole week. I will usually make rice or noodles each day and then put the soup or stew over them. I don’t think I’m getting enough protein or food, but this is what I do to get by and make it. The sad thing is that I know I eat more than my whole family does in one day. It was difficult at first to cook for myself because I keep my leftovers in the fridge that is in the kitchen and I have to go in there every time I want to cook. Many times I can avoid them, but on a daily basis at least once I run into someone who is watching me take food back into my room. It’s in those moments that I feel horrible that I’m not able to share my food with them. I really would like to cook for them and if I didn’t have to buy everything to do that and they would actually eat my food I would cook for them. But I’ve learned that I have to do what I have to do to survive.
Sometimes I do end up sharing food with my nieces so they can try new things. Usually it’s for lunch when we aren’t eating as much I’ll bring out a pouch of tuna or a jar of peanut butter and we’ll share that. Most things that I’ve had my nieces try they have liked, which is not common with Kyrgyz families.
I never realized how much I ate for pleasure in America and how much that has changed since I have been a volunteer and have been forced to eat food I would have never thought I would eat. When I was traveling home for the holidays I had several meals on the airplane. As you all know, airplane food is not known for being good but I found myself scarfing it down like it was my first meal in days. I didn’t even realizing I was doing it until I had already finished and thought about what I had just eaten. It was even worse than the food that I used to eat on a daily basis before I started cooking for myself.
Just another way I have changed and grown.