[1]I’m lovin’ my new rice maker [2]. I eat a lot of it, so it’s more than handy to have a little machine in the corner that does all the work for me while I prepare other edibles.

The first job I gave it didn’t even involve rice — instead couscous was on the menu and I thought I’d see how it would fair with the wee pasta. While stew was brewing in the crockpot, I set up the new cooker with the following:

• 1/2 small onion (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 rice maker cups of couscous
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp dried parsley or 2 basil leaves

[3]

1. Fry the onion in the oil until translucent.
2. Add the dry couscous and fry with the onion for a couple of minutes.
3. Add all the ingredients into the rice cooker and use the “white rice” or “basic” setting. The cooker should set itself for about 20 minutes.
4. When the cooker is done, stir the couscous with a rice paddle and serve.

And it turned out great! Perfectly done in fact. And by then my Moroccan beef stew had been bubbling away for about 8 hours. It melted on the fork and was delicious. Partnering the stew with the couscous made for a great hearty Saturday evening meal. Yum.

Now back to the rice cooker… After loading everything into its belly, I pushed the cook button. It responded with a little robot version of “Twinkle, twinkle, little star”. :) How very cool — my rice cooker sings when it starts and plays another little ditty when it’s done. So much nicer than the dryer’s buzz or the microwave’s piercing beep. Those machines could take a lesson from this new Japanese addition to the kitchen.