Easy Turmeric Rice/Nasi Kunyit 黃薑飯 (Rice Cooker Method)

My mother told me today that she would be cooking chicken curry. Immediately I thought of cooking a small portion of nasi kunyit or turmeric rice to go with it. But how?

The traditional nasi kunyit requires us to pre-soak the rice for hours in turmeric and then steam. It also requires us to add coconut milk in 2 to 3 intervals, mixing in every intervals. Frankly saying, the amount of work for such small amount of yellow rice is often a put off, what more when I am in a hurry to cook some? So I improvised. I used the rice cooker. Yes, it can be done.

Nowadays cooker often comes with many functions and one of it is the sticky rice function.  You could just cook it as per the instruction manual. But what if you don't have this function? Mine was the simple type whereby there is just one function available.."cook". Still manageable, I assure you. I have done it many times for my previous glutinous rice recipes. There would be a slight difference in texture but it also means I could have mine fast and in smaller portions. The trick is to use just slightly less water than you would cooking rice, cover the air vent in the last minutes to let the rice absorb the steam and do not soak the rice. If you find your rice to be under-cooked, don't be alarmed. You could still salvage it by steaming the rice on the stove top albeit a little more work. So why not give it a try?

Note: While I like this "lazy" method a lot, I would advice those of you with a heart to learn to learn the proper method first.

Easy Turmeric Rice/Nasi Kunyit 黃薑飯

Ingredients

1 cup glutinous rice
2 tbsp white rice
3/4 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric powder
3 pandan leaves, knotted
2-3 slices of ginger
1/2 tsp peppercorn 

Cooking Instruction

1. Wash rice. Add all ingredients into the rice cooker and cook.

2. When rice begins to dry up (about 12-13 minutes), give it a quick stir and return to cooking. Cover the air vent with a wet towel

3. Once the cook button "jumps" indicating the rice is cooked, , press and hold the cook button for 30 seconds and let the steam continue to cook inside for another 10 minutes. Do not open.

4. Serve with choice of curry or rendang.

But wait! I couldn't be introducing nasi kunyit without the curry, right? 

Here's my best Chicken curry recipe: