One of the greatest kitchen tragedies is to own a bunch of fancy ass appliances that take up a ton of countertop or pantry storage space and only use them for their one intended purpose. Pressure Cookers, Air Fryers, and similar appliances are great because they can be used to cook a variety of meals in different ways, but one kitchen appliance that often gets overlooked beyond its intended purpose is the rice cooker. Not only can these handy cookers be used to make rice or other grains, but they can also steam vegetables and dumplings, warm soups and chillis, and believe it or not, cook an entire meal from scratch! Today's recipe, Rice Cooker Chorizo Garlic Shrimp, challenges your rice cooker to not only make rice, but also steam and cook veggies and shrimp to make an entire meal in one simple step! We all love a single pot meal that saves us time and dishes so if this sounds like something up your alley stick around and I'll show you how it's done...Let's Get Cooking!
The first step for this recipe is to prepare the star of the show, the shrimp. Peel and devein some jumbo shrimp and place them into a mixing bowl. As you have probably already noticed, I used a medium-large shrimp and it worked out, but they ended up on the cusp of being overcooked so the larger the shrimp you can find for this recipe the better. Anyway, coat the shrimp with some olive oil, apple cider vinegar, paprika, minced garlic, and salt/pepper. Once all the shrimp are evenly coated, set them aside a few minutes so those flavors can begin to penetrate the shrimp while we get everything else ready.
The next step is to prepare the chorizo. If you can find precooked chorizo, simply remove the casing and move on to the next step. Otherwise, remove the raw chorizo from the casing and sauté it over Medium-High heat for 8 to 10 minutes until it is cooked. There are two styles of chorizo, and either can be used for this recipe. The European, or Spanish Chorizo, will be solid like a cured sausage whereas Mexican Chorizo is typically a raw, ground pork product. It is pure personal preference which to use, but the Mexican version will likely impart a bit more flavor into the rice whereas the Spanish cured sausage version will make for a more hearty final product. I used the loose pork Mexican version, as you can see below. Once it is cooked, simply place it in the bottom of your rice cooker.
Now we are going to layer our freshly diced veggies on top of the chorizo. Start with a layer of onion followed by red bell pepper and finally the rice. Be sure to season at this point with some crushed red pepper flakes and a bit more salt and pepper.
Next, pour in 3 cups of chicken stock followed by the seasoned shrimp. Be sure to get all the juices and garlic from the bowl as these will impart a ton of flavor to the final product.
Now that your rice cooker is fully loaded, simply put the lid on and set it to the White Rice Cook setting. The overall cook time should be about 30 minutes. If you rice cooker takes longer, simply pause the cooking process and remove the shrimp so they don't overcook. Obviously, the larger jumbo shrimp will be fine up to 40 minutes, but you definitely want to remove any medium-large shrimp after 25 to 30 minutes. That is basically the main reason we placed them on top of everything else. And to be honest, if you and your family plan on eating the entire meal in one sitting, you are probably okay to leave your shrimp in a bit longer. I thought mine turned out perfect for the initial cook, but once I reheated leftovers the shrimp ended up slightly overcooked, which was to be expected. Be sure to factor that in as well whether you intend to eat leftovers and definitely remove your shrimp after 25 minutes.
After about 30 minutes, things should be looking pretty good. Now that everything is fully cooked, we want to do our final seasoning buy adding some fresh lemon juice and a bunch of freshly chopped parsley. These two final additions add a bright note and pop of color to complete the meal. Simply add them to the rice cooker pot and stir well. Be sure to get all the chorizo and veggies mix throughout and the shrimp evenly distributed.
How about that simple rice cooker meal, folks? Did you ever imagine cooking an entire meal in your rice cooker? This Rice Cooker Chorizo Garlic Shrimp is sure to become a family favorite and simple weeknight dinner! Light and fairly healthy, even the kids will love this one. Of course, you may need to tweak your seasonings to cater to some of the more picky eaters, but overall this one is fairly mild and pleasant to most people's tastes as is so give it a try and let me know what you think or how you changed things up to alter any final flavors. It's truly hard to beat a 45 minute dinner, especially during a busy work week, so get in the kitchen and knock this one out....Just Keep Cooking!
RICE COOKER CHORIZO GARLIC SHRIMP
Comments