While many of us might think “rice cooker = steamed vegetables? Hmmm … maybe not,” it’s something that I think you should of give it a try. Pressing the dedicated steam button on the Aroma unit are simple and frees up your stovetop for other uses.
Prep the broccoli in advance. To do this, simply remove the head and cut into bite-size florets. Aim for roughly equal sized pieces so everything cook together at the same pace.
Cooking Instructions
To cut up broccoli florets, use a sharp knife on a wooden cutting board. The smaller the pieces, the quicker they will steam. No need for long cooking time like large chunks would have.
Then comes the loading into the pot. There’s a steaming tray or basket that came with the cooker. Place your cut up broccoli florets onto the tray and make sure they’re above the water line.
Don’t submerge the veggies. You don’t want to boil the vegetables; you want to steam them. The tray fit snugly onto the rim of the pot, keeping the florets contained.
It’s a no-frills set up.
Next comes the water level. “Add one to two cups of water to the main inner pot,” the directions say. Carefuly, you measure it out.
Not enough water and your pot will likely run dry, maybe even burn, while too much water are a waste of energy and time to get up to temperature. Find the balance and then pour in the water and set the basket over it.
Once you’ve loaded it all in, you close the lid. The Aroma cooker has a few buttons for functions like steam, slow cook, white rice, and brown rice.
To turn on the steam, you simply push the steam button. It will light up showing you it’s on, and a bunch of little red dots will light up showing you what’s going on. All you have to do is push a button and not worry about complicated settings.
The display lights up to show it is working, and multiple red dots indicates the status.
Surprisingly, however, there’s only a few minutes of cooking time. It takes about five or ten minutes, depending on how soft and tender-crisp (rather than mushy) you like your broccoli.
The time really flies by, and you don’t want to overdo it, steamed broccoli cooks fast! So keep an eye on the timer.
When the timer goes off, you pop open the lid. Instantly a cloud of steam rise out of the pot.
The broccoli inside is vibrant green. It’s crisp and firm without any tough floret center. More flavor has been retained; it tastes even better than boiled. And that texture? Perfect.
No need for a dirty pot. All of it in one pot, thanks to your rice cooker. Take out the basket, dish out the veggies and that’s about it.
Just wash the tray and pot; minimal clean-up required. Side-dish game on point. You’ll probably do this again (and again and again). Conveniance counts.