Polenta in a rice cooker

That's right - I made polenta in my rice cooker. And it was fantastic.

I used to complain about this rice cooker because I felt like it was really slow, taking nearly 40 minutes for a batch of rice, whereas I only needed 20 minutes to make it on the stove. (My mom said that was the sign of a really good rice cooker, but I think she was just trying to make me feel better.) Certainly I can make polenta on the stovetop, as I can with rice, but you have to pay attention more (and I burned the last couple of batches of rice that I've made on the stove, which, as an Asian, is kind of embarrassing). So I like this method because it's totally hands-off and I can do other things while it's cooking.


I used 1/2 cup of coarse-ground cornmeal (I still don't understand the difference between cornmeal and polenta but I think it is very important to use very coarse cornmeal/polenta - I tried using fine cornmeal once and it was a disaster), 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt. When it was finished, I stirred in about a tablespoon of butter and about 3 tablespoons of pecorino.


Fresh out of the pot, this was a really light, smooth polenta (I ate it with sauteed Swiss chard and turkey sausage). Reheated it becomes a bit more hardened but a little hot water or stock can help smooth it out.

I have to give credit to Chowhound for giving me the idea in the first place. I heart Chowhound.

Pantry purge: cornmeal
Calorie count: roughly 101 calories for 4 servings (I only managed 3 servings, so 135 calories)