Steamy Accompaniments: Steaming Rice in your Thermomix
Madame Thermomix has been getting very steamy very often lately. Don’t worry – this is simply because Thermomix makes it so fast and easy to eat healthy steamed food!
One of my favourite things to steam in the Thermomix is rice. It’s so very simple even a man can make it come out right every time 😉 Just weigh the rice into Thermomix’s internal steamer basket, give it a quick wash and wet, and then “Bob’s your uncle” which means voilà ! Perfectly steamed rice in 20 minutes with no effort, while you do something else. You can make as little as a single serving of rice, or up to 400 g uncooked rice – that’s nearly a pound – yielding up to eight servings. Once again, Thermomix does the job for small or large numbers!
Thermomix Rice
from Fast and Easy Cooking, the 300-recipe cookbook included with every Thermomix TM31 purchased from UK Thermomix.
Ingredients
| White, Thai Jasmine or Basmati Rice | Brown Rice | Wild Rice |
| up to 400 g rice | up to 400 g rice | up to 350 g rice |
| 1 tsp salt | 1 tsp salt | 1 tsp salt |
| 1 litre/1000 g water (use only 800 g if cooking 150 g rice or less) | 1.25 litre/1250 g water | 1.25 litre/1250 g water |
| Cooking time: 20 minutes | Cooking time: 35 to 40 minutes | Cooking time: 40 to 45 minutes |
Method
- Weigh or add water to Thermomix bowl. Insert internal steamer basket and weigh in rice. Top with salt. Wash and wet rice 5 seconds/Speed 5. This is a very important step without which you’ll end up with a brick of hard, uncooked rice 🙁
- Steam your white rice 20 minutes/Varoma setting/Speed 2 ½ (or for other types of rice use the above timings), making sure your Measuring Cup sits on the TM lid with open end up. As explained in one of my Thermomix Tips and Tricks, turn the speed UP to Speed 4 if your liquid bubbles onto the lid.
- Use the handy hook on your Thermomix spatula to carefully remove the internal steamer basket and enjoy perfectly steamed rice.
Bon appétit !
Thanks for your kind comment, Bronwen, I’m delighted that your brown rice came out so nicely. This is a brilliant method, I only ever cook rice in my Thermomix simmering basket now that I’ve learned it. LOL, I messed up my timing on dinner the other night and had Sabu’s Authentic Pork Vin d’Alho taking up all of my Thermomix’s attention while ThermoHubby John tried to take up all of mine, and I resorted to cooking rice in a pot on the hob. Fatal error! It boiled over, put the gas flame out and created an enormous mess. Note to self: get organised so you have time to cook rice the best way possible, in the Thermomix 😉
Hello there! I tried the above method tonight for brown rice using 120g rice well rinsed, 1000g water, and washing for 10 sec/sp 5 before cooking. We ended up cooking it for 45 minutes (added some greens in the Varoma for the last ~7 minutes) and it came out beautifully! i thought it was a bit odd that the rice started off submerged in water but by the end there wasn’t much water left, most of it was absorbed. Thanks for posting!
Hi Peter, thanks for your comment and don’t forget to communicate your thoughts to Thermomix Australia in addition to this unofficial fan blog.
Did you remember to rinse the rice before starting to cook it? That’s the most important step without which your rice will end up as a lump in the bottom of your steamer basket. I use the Fast and Easy Cooking recipe (I bought my TM in the UK) and it looks like it’s somewhat more implicit as to rinsing. It’s actually the method I posted in the blog post you commented on. Here is that all-important first step again:
“Weigh or add water to Thermomix bowl. Insert internal steamer basket and weigh in rice. Top with salt. Wash and wet rice 5 seconds/Speed 5. This is a very important step without which you’ll end up with a brick of hard, uncooked rice 🙁 ”
I even wash the rice for 10 seconds to make sure it’s nice and wet. In France Thermomix consultants actually wash the rice in the internal steamer basket under the tap, which reinforces the importance of steaming wet rice. It’s the same thing in a rice cooker or any other steamer, the rice must be wet.
I have successfully steamed 500 g of white rice in my internal steamer basket, and 400 g of brown rice and the TM can handle these quantities. Remember the 3 R’s: Rinse, Rinse, Rinse!
Let us know how you get on with your next batch and Happy Thermomix cooking!
I just tried to cook Basmati rice in the thermomix. Followed the instructions in the Thermomix book closely (400g rice, 900g water). I chose 15 min. Wasn’t cooked. Did it for 2 x 3 minutes more – still wasn’t cooked. Fluffing between each attempt. My wife is trying to save it but by now the lower layers are overcooked and the top layer is still undercooked.
Thanks for reminding us, Nora, that Thermomix is perfect for multi-level cooking. When you also use the internal steamer basket, you can in effect be cooking a soup or sauce in the bowl, steaming potatoes or rice in the internal basket, and steaming two layers of food (fish, poultry, grains or meat plus vegetables) in the Varoma. Such a brilliant way to cut down on energy use and on washing up! In addition, the cook can be doing something totally different while Thermomix actually does the cooking.
In case you haven’t seen it, here’s my post on multi-level cooking and steaming: https://www.whyisthereair.com/2012/02/18/steamy-dinners/
I’d love a link to one of your blog posts where you do the same!
Thanks for that very informative post Madame Thermomix! It’s true that there are a few things to observe when cooking rice with Thermomix in order to have fluffy rice every time. I love making rice while I cook something in the Varoma to use all 4 layers. I’ve actually just made some fish with courgettes and rice all cooking together, then made a citrus sauce in the bowl. So quick and delicious!