One-Pot Rice Dinner

This is a great lazy dinner. Seriously easy. Cut up the stuff, put it in the pot, cook it until it’s done. No draining. No constant stirring. No multiple-pot-washing. And it’s my favorite way to use up cheap ingredients…aka hotdogs on sale for $1.11/pack of 8. Are the hotdogs amazing? No. Will they taste amazing in this dish? Yup. This is markedly FRUGAL. And customizable. And delicious. And easy. And…I’m gonna stop now. Inspired by the white rice recipe from Let’s Cook Japanese Food! by Amy Kaneko—an EXCELLENT cookbook if you are even remotely interested in Japanese cuisine. She taught me—somehow awful though I was at this easy technique—to properly cook sushi rice. Arigato, Amy!

Ingredients

2 cups sushi rice

4 cups broth (I used chicken stock)

1 can vegetables or 1 bag frozen vegetables (I used green beans)

4 servings of meat (I used 4 cheap hotdogs)

½ onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Soy sauce, sriracha, salt, granulated garlic/onion, pepper, etc. to taste as seasoning

1. Dice the onion; mince the garlic; slice the hotdogs on the diagonal so they look faaancy.

2. Measure out the sushi rice into a pot that is preferably clear-lidded, and at least 4.5 quarts in size. Don’t worry about having too much space in the pot—that is actually desirable. If you’ve ever cooked sushi rice, in comparison, this will take up a lot more pot space.

3. Rinse the sushi rice by putting water in the pot and shushing it around with your fingers until it gets cloudy. Carefully drain the rice. Repeat at least 5 times, if not 6. I usually get tired of it around 6. Side note: This is the same process for starting sushi rice. Good practice, because even if you screw it up, the one-pot dinner will taste great. Texture isn’t super important here.

4. Throw the onion, garlic, hotdog, vegetable, and broth on top of the rice in the pot. Put the lid on. Put it over high heat until the lid starts jumping—you know, right before it starts to boil over.

5. Turn the heat on low to create a simmer and set a timer for 15 minutes.

6. When the timer goes off, check the pot. Very helpful to have a glass lid so you can see whether the liquid has mostly incorporated, or not…if doubtful, add 3–5 minutes to the timer and then turn off the heat. If you think it’s good now…turn that heat off.

7. When the heat is off, set the timer for another 15 minutes and LEAVE the lid on. If it looks like most of the liquid is absorbed when the timer goes off…aka, you can’t see much (through a glass lid–or you don’t have a see-through lid at all), then take the lid off and stir it up. If you lift the lid and see actual quantities of liquid, turn the heat back on simmer for 5 minutes.

8. Serve into bowls and add spices and condiments as desired. I like soy sauce, a bit of sriracha, and garlic and onion granulates. Enjoy!