Man, do I love steel cut oats! They’re so chewy and nutty – perfect with a pat of Earth Balance and some maple syrup. The only problem with Irish oatmeal is that it takes around 30 minutes on the stove, and you have to tend to the pot pretty frequently.
Saturday morning, I had some work to finish up but really wanted a nice hot bowl of steel cut oats. I decided to see if my rice cooker would do as great a job on these as it does on other grains I’ve tried in there.
The short answer: No. No it did not.
The long answer: This was something of a hot mess. I used the same proportions as on the stovetop: 1/4c oats to 1c water for a single serving. The oats boiled over the top of the cooker and got all over the lid and the counter. When everything was done cooking, there was a tiny portion of oats remaining in the cooker. What was in there was nicely cooked at least, so I was able to have a miniature portion of perfect steel cut oats.
I wonder if things would go better if I upped the water and added a bit of salt to prevent it from boiling over? My friend Lisa suggested using the slow cooker instead. Our slow cooker is gigantic, so I don’t know that would work for a single portion, but it seems like a much better way to go if you’re making a big batch!
Image Credit:
Irish Oatmeal. Creative Commons photo by calliope
7 Responses
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Man! You totally had me going with the awesome picture. Mmmmmm maple syrup.
You can make a pretty big batch in the slow cooker because they reheat on the stovetop very easily. Just add a little water and whisk them while your coffee is brewing or your tea is steeping and they’re like freshly cooked oats – just much quicker.
Whole oat groats work great in the rice cooker, though they’re harder to find in the store.
Marilyn – Haha oh yeah – that’s what steel cut oats are supposed to look like!
Lisa – Oooh I may need to try that. I would eat them every day!
Oh no! In a rice cooker would be so rad and easy. But I have no idea how to make it work. Hmm.
The experience has discouraged me from trying the same thing with stone ground grits. But I might face my fears and try anyway! I need a rice cooker triumph under my belt first, though.
I have a fuzzy logic rice cooker (zojirushi lac05) … and cook steel cut oats in it all the time, its great!
http://www.zojirushi.com/user/scripts/user/recipe.php?recipe_id=50
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