Rice Cooker "Paella"

FIRST.   Paella purists and snobs... look away. Look away or be horrified.  If you choose to continue reading, do not mock or explain to me the many ways that this is not Paella.  I know.

I will admit, that even by rice cooker standards, there are many ways I screwed this dish up.  Mainly because I was too lazy to go to the store for certain ingredients I normally consider essential.   No Arborio rice.  I used Uncle Ben's.  No clam juice.  No parsley.  No seafood of any kind.  No fresh garlic.

But the essentials were there so I pressed on and the result (ask Elizabeth if you don't believe me) was fantastic.  Ok, no more apologizing, now for the recipe.  I will make notes where you could do a more full featured Paella and at the end I'll list some other ideas to try.

Oh, and why are we cooking Paella in a rice cooker anyway?  You won't believe how easy this dish is to cook and clean up or how a rice cooker produces unusually juicy and flavorful chicken.


Ingredients
First, ingredients and supplies for 4 large servings.   (I don't recommend making more unless you have a huge rice cooker):

• 8 pieces of chicken.  I used 4 leg/thigh combos.   Don't skimp on cheap chicken.  This is one of these "essential" ingredients that can make or break Paella.
• Rice (Aborio is better but Uncle Ben's was fine)
• 1/2 onion
• 2 medium size tomatoes
• 2 packages Paellero Paella Seasoning (garlic, paprika, saffron)
• 2 cubes of Knorr's chicken bullion.  Don't use whatever.  The strength of different bullion can vary significantly and if you don't have enough chicken flavor you'll be sorry.  Knorr's is the strongest and best tasting IMO.
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive Oil
• Garlic Powder (yes you do see fresh garlic in this photo.  I said I was feeling lazy)

If you want to get more fancy, I recommend also buying 3 bottles of clam juice, parsley and maybe 1/3lb of mixed seafood (smallish shrimp, calamari, scallops).  Don't get carried away because space in the rice cooker will be at a premium.

Fry the chicken

Season the chicken with salt and pepper then fry in a non-stick frying pan with olive oil on medium high until both sides are an attractive golden brown and slightly crispy.

Everything about this step is for texture and color since while cooking in the rice, the chicken would otherwise not look or feel as nice.

When ready, put chicken aside to wait since we'll use this same pan and oil for other ingredients.


Prepare veggies and color
Chop the tomatoes and onions (like Kjersti) and fry in the oil left over from the chicken until it the onions are clear and the tomatoes are pretty much mush.

If you have parsley (great for color), finely chop and add at the end of this step.  If you have fresh minced garlic, add that before the other ingredients and fry until it just starts to turn brown.



Prepare broth for rice
Mix Paellero packets, bullion and a teaspoon of garlic with hot water so bullion is completely dissolved.  If you have clam juice, use all clam juice in place of water as much as possible.







Prepare rice
Add rice to pan and mix thoroughly with onions, tomatoes and parsley.  This step is probably the most offensive to people who love traditional Paella but it just makes more sense with the tall narrow rice cooker.  Normally you are supposed to leave all that stuff to continue cooking on the bottom of the wide flat Paella pan but here you should mix it up so when you serve it, each serving will have its share.

You might also fry the rice here for a couple minutes, being careful not to burn it, which when ready will give the rice an extra nice texture.


Putting it all together

Base layer

Now since we are dealing with a rice cooker, you need to create layers of chicken and rice.  Before being cooked, there won't be much rice to go around so basically you're just trying to get a little rice on the bottom, top and in between each piece of chicken.

Also be sure to get the chicken stacked in a fairly compact way so that you don't have to add too much broth to get everything covered in the pot.

All stacked up

This would also be the time to mix in any seafood.  Normally, if doing Paella in a pan, you can be strategic about when you add shrimp versus scallops for example but in a rice cooker there isn't much you can do so just throw it all in.  Expect the more tender seafood to get a touch overcooked but it will be just fine.

Finally

Add broth and cook.   Make sure the chicken mostly covered so that it cooks completely.  The rice will expand and fill in around the chicken by the time it is done.

Now, putting chicken in your rice cooker will certainly confuse it badly.   So expect your cooker to claim it is done when it isn't.  The best way to judge is just to open the cooker and have a look or a taste to make sure.

Also keep in mind if using Uncle Ben's that it takes a bizarre amount of water before it is actually tender to eat so you may need to add more broth.

The result

After 20-30 minutes you'll get something that looks like this.   If everything went well you'll be surprised at the juiciness and flavor of the chicken.  I think the rice cooker actually makes a big difference in that regard.

If you used clam juice or seafood, it will also appreciate a twist of lemon when serving.

*pro tip: Paella is often much more delicious when reheated the next day.  There are a lot of flavors swimming around in there and they just get stronger with time.

Other ideas

1. Leftover Paella loves to be squished in a panini grill between two halves of baguette
2. Add a bit of Scrirracha or Aji
3. Fry everything in the rice cooker.  I tried this once and it worked ok.

Enjoy!  

- Steve