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I have often the following situation when boiling rice and meat in rice cooker. However, I do not like it because the meat cannot then reach the high temperature. I know that I could boil rice and meat (chicken) separately to minimise the problem.

Fig. 1 Wood stick between cover and the rice cooker

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I know that you can prevent the slime formation by washing the rice first but I cannot do it easily because I have only this machine to warm food up; also, I need to filter my water to purify it.

Is there any measure to collect the slime passing through the cover of rice cooker?

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Léo Léopold Hertz 준영
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I will bump this up to an answer as the only time this should not work for you is if you have a rice cooker that requires a minimum weight to activate the heating element.

You usually should be able to use your rice cooker itself to sear/brown your protein. Cut into small pieces and toss into the cooker. Also, garlic, onions, maybe fresh herbs which would benefit from heat to bloom their flavor. Caramelize any onion or garlic you use and sear/brown meat or poultry just as you would in a pan. It may take a little longer, and you may not get quite a deep of a browning as you would in a pan, but the same general effect. It will also help meld the spicing with the protein.

When satisfied, use a little of your liquid to deglaze the bottom of the cooker, you want all that flavor that stuck on. Then add your rice and the rest of the liquid and cook as normal. I agree that the bulk of you slime, at least the more unappealing part is probable the protein scum from boiling it, and this should greatly reduce that effect and may give you a more satisfying blend of flavor as well.

My rice cooker is one which with multiple settings which allows it to somewhat double as a slow cooker and I have used this technique many times to make soups with very good results. If you do have multiple settings, use the highest heat option for the searing of the protein.

dlb
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  • What is this about *sear/brown your protein*? - - My rice cooker has only one option. - - – Léo Léopold Hertz 준영 Oct 04 '16 at 16:54
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    It should still work. You should be able to start you rice cooker, but not put the rice in. Put the protein, beef, pork, chicken, etc., in small pieces in with spicing and may small amount of oil to minimize sticking and brown it stirring it. This will help flavor it, give it a bit of caramelized surface as you would get pan searing it. This will use or seal in much of that fluid which gives you protein scum when you boil meats. If the rice cooker had higher settings it is a little easier, but it should still work without other settings. – dlb Oct 04 '16 at 20:24
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    Basic rice cookers (as the one pictured likely is!) will constantly trip their thermostats if you try to heat anything over a 100 degrees C in them (as you need to for searing/browning); also the pan (which could warp) and its coating could be unsuitable for working at that temperature. – rackandboneman Oct 05 '16 at 08:57
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There are a couple of potential issues at play here. One is when startches from the rice intermix with the boiling water and steam, which creates a residue. This could be the "slime" you are referring to.

Another is when meat is cooked, some of the proteins coagulate and form a "scum" that, when making soups or broths, gets skimmed to keep the appearance more clear.

I wouldn't worry too much about either one, other than in terms of messiness. If I'm going to mix chicken in and use my rice cooker to make a combined meal, I'd use cooked chicken (chop it up, cook it in a skillet ahead of time, or use leftovers from a bigger chicken meal). This would reduce the "protein scum" issue from the chicken, I think, vs using raw chicken. The taste is a better than boiling raw chicken, to me, but that's just my opinion.

PoloHoleSet
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  • I have no skillet or pan in my kitchen, just a rice cooker, this is the problem which I cannot fix. – Léo Léopold Hertz 준영 Oct 04 '16 at 15:12
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    A couple of cooked chicken option for you - 1) Canned chicken (reduce or eliminate any added salt to your normal recipe if you go this route) - this is what I did when I was first in college and used my rice cooker to make one-dish meals. 2) Buy a whole roasted chicken from the store and use the leftovers. This is pretty common in the USA, but may be less so if you aren't over here. – PoloHoleSet Oct 04 '16 at 15:15
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    Is your rice cooker one which will allow for reasonably heating without rice and water? If so, put in chopped meat, onion, garlic, and meat seasoning first and allow the cooker to sear/brown the meat at least partially cooking it. This will also caramelize any onion or garlic you use and will allow your protein to meld with the spicing better much like pan pre-cooking it. Add a small amount of your water or other cooking liquid to deglaze and then your rice and remainder of the rice and the protein scum should be gone or at least greatly reduced. – dlb Oct 04 '16 at 16:22
  • @dlb - LIke that, a lot. S/b an answer, don't you think? – PoloHoleSet Oct 04 '16 at 16:23
  • @AndrewMattson I started with just the question, but then gave whole reason for asking. lol I have seen some rice cookers that will not heat unless there is enough weight, but most would now allow you to use them that way. – dlb Oct 04 '16 at 16:30