A rice cooker is an ex-pat’s best friend!

Since moving to South Korea I have met many wonderful people and made a lot of great friends, however, none can compare to the friendship I now share with my rice cooker! I realize that may sound like I have a no friends and am just trying to make up for it with a clever post, but I assure you this is not the case!

So, if you are living and working abroad, chances are that you have a very small kitchen with a very small counter and only 1 burner to work with (if you happen to have two, I envy you!). I have been asked on several occasions about how I make this kitchen set up work since I cook most of my food at home. Well, this is why I have come to depend so greatly on my rice cooker. Besides making just rice, which by the way you can increase the nutritional value of simply by using brown rice instead of white, it cooks so many other things! Here is a brief list: rice, lentils, banana bread, bread, pizza crust, oatmeal, and cobbler.

Here are the top 5 reasons you should spend more time with your rice cooker:

1) Using the rice cooker is great because you can put the ingredients in and (most of the time) turn it on and walk away! You can forget about it and do something else. The wonders of multi-tasking, which for so many ex-pats is key to surviving in another country.

2) I also recommend that when making rice or lentils always make more than you need and then store the rest for later as this will save you time when you are starving and keep you from shoving those chips or candy into your mouth instead :) You can simply pull the left overs out of the fridge, cut up some veggies and heat up in a pan with some soy sauce, ginger and garlic for a healthy snack.

3) Use whatever local ingredients you have to flavor your dish and to help you embrace the culture! This helps to also support your local area. Soy sauce, ginger and garlic are cheap in Korea, easy to find and add strong flavors.

4) It’s fun to experiment with! I have listed a few things you can make with the rice cooker, but am positive there are many more that have yet to be developed!

5) It’s easy to clean afterwards. Most rice cookers will have separate bowls inside that you can remove and wash in the sink very easily.

Ok, so I bet you are dying to use your rice cooker now that you know all of the benefits so here are a few recipes to get you started!

The Ex-Pat Special

Pizza (Thank you Kiva Bennett for helping to create the crust!)

3/4 cup flour (If I can find whole wheat or rye flour I use it for 70 ml and white flour for 70 ml)
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon butter, softened (sometimes I substitute 1 tablespoon olive oil)
1/4 cup milk (soy, regular, almond, whatever you can find)

1 Pre-heat the rice cooker (plug it in to warm it up).
2 Mix (right in the rice cooker pot) dry stuff first, cut in the butter (oil), then add the milk.
3 Cook once or twice (until the button pops up), flip if you want flatter bread, don’t flip for a more fluffy crust. Cook (off and on) over the course of 20-30 min. It’s different every time – just keep checking!
4 While your crust is cooking use your one burner to saute your veggies and cook your meat!

When it’s done, simply remove and top with tomato paste or pasta sauce and then your choice of toppings! I recommend spinach, mushrooms, onions, peppers and garlic. If you happen to have cheese on hand sprinkle some of that on the finished product and you have the perfect personal pan pizza :)

Note: To add more flavor add dried basil, garlic or chili peppers.

Vegan Banana Bread

1 1/2 cups flour (white or whole wheat works ok)
1/4 cup sugar (white or brown)
2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder (non aluminum if possible)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups bananas (2 1/2 big ones. The extra 1/2 is an egg substitute.)
1/4 cup milk (soy milk works too)
1/4 cup sunflower oil (any oil will work)
1/2 cup walnuts (chopped) (optional)
1/8 cup powdered sugar (optional)

1 Mix dry ingredients in a bowl (not the rice cooker!).
2 Add the wet ingredients on top of the dry mixture and mix until lumpy smooth.
3 Add nuts to mixture if desired and stir into batter.
4 Lightly oil inside of cooker bowl with oil.
5 Pour batter into cooker bowl.
6 Press start.
7 If rice cooker shuts off just wait about 5 minutes and restart it.
8 Cook for about 90 mins.
9 Check half way through.
10 Bread is finished when tooth pick comes out clean from center and mid center of bread.
11 Take pan out of cooker and let cool for 20 minutes.

This is the first blog in a series of blogs that I will be posting with helpful tips about how to stay healthy and happy while living abroad! If there is any topic in particular you would like to read about or any issue about living abroad you’d like me to address please let me know! Also, if you would like to further discuss your own health goals you can contact me at [email protected] I am offering FREE health consults!


The Good Food Mood; helping you to eat well, be well and live well with whole foods and life balance!