Rice Cooker Pumpkin Rice Recipe

This rice cooker pumpkin rice dish has been a hit with the discerning husband (and our occasional-fussy toddler too!), and we’ve since used this recipe several times over.

Finally putting this easy one-pot recipe down in our library of kitchen experiments! Didn’t know that the unassuming rice cooker can actually cook more than just rice? It’s time to let your rice cooker create magic meals too! :)

Rice Cooker Pumpkin Rice Recipe

Ingredients:

White rice, washed (use the amount for the number of pax that you cook for) – feel free to use brown rice or multigrains, but you may need to do a little trial and error with the water level

Pumpkin, cut into preferred chunks or cubes

Mushroom, sliced or cut into halves as preferred – shitake, Chinese black mushrooms or button mushrooms are great

Dried shrimps/Chinese sausage – we do variations of this, and sometimes use both or one of them when the other is available/unavailable!

Onion, chopped to desired size (minced if preferred, especially if toddlers tend to pick them out. hehe.)

5 tablespoon Dark Sauce

3 tablespoon Light Sauce

3 tablespoon Abalone Sauce or Oyster Sauce

200ml water

Method:

1. Heat up wok and pour some oil. Put mushrooms, dried shrimps/Chinese sausages into wok and fry till fragrant. Put pumpkin in before the shrimps are cooked. Remove all and set aside.
2. Heat up wok and pour washed uncooked rice, all 3 sauces and water onto wok. There’s no need to add oil. Stir to mix, and let water boil, then turn off the fire.
3. Place everything into rice cooker, and check water level to ensure it’s sufficient to cook your desired amount of rice* – refer to tips below on how much water to use to cook rice. Turn on rice cooker, and let it work its magic! If you’re trying it for the first time, you might need a little trial and error since different brands of rice cooker may have different settings.

Tips:

• If you’ve been wondering what’s the best way to cook rice with pumpkin, I personally think this super easy Rice Cooker Pumpkin Rice recipe makes a yummy, healthy one-pot dish for toddlers and young kids too! You can easily make it a balanced one-dish meal by adding meat like chicken too.
• For pumpkin, I use butternut squash (longish gourd shape) or the regular golden pumpkins (round/oval shape) from the supermarkets.
• I’ve to add that this recipe is really versatile too – we’ve done different variations too it as well! Try cabbage and chicken; or add cashew nuts into the rice before serving, for that extra crunch!
• If anyone has seafood allergies, skip the dried shrimps and abalone sauce. My daughter has seafood allergies, so we’ll sometimes omit that.
• Here’s a helpful guide on how much water to use when cooking white rice:

Nutritional and health benefits of pumpkins:

These orange coloured vegetables are loaded with vitamins, minerals and beta-carotene that are essential for healthy development. According to Heathline, pumpkins are rich in:

• antioxidants to neutrilise free radicals, reduce risk of chronic diseases like heart issues
• Lutein for better eye health
• Vitamin A to boost immunity and improve our skin

As busy parents, we know it’s often difficult to cook a spread at every meal. Like most of the recipes that are shared on this family blogazine, they’re easy to prepare, nutritious and easily customisable to different palates :) Here are some other one-pot dishes that we whip up at home.

• My mum’s One-pot Beef Stew recipe
• Slow Braised Pork with Black Fungus Slow Cooker Recipe

And, if you love soups, here’s my bubbling list of soup recipes for more family meal planning ideas!

We hope your family enjoys this simple Rice Cooker Pumpkin Rice recipe too! What are some of your favourite dishes that you’ve created with your rice cooker? Do share with us too!

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