For some reason lately I have been making and working on some Italian meat and chicken recipes. There are only so many times a girl who is watching her weight can have pasta with them so I turned to polenta. During this time I also purchased a rice cooker. If you don’t own one please go out and buy one now, you will thank me later. It will make your life much easier and save you a lot of time and aggregation. I didn’t buy a fancy one just an on off model with a keep warm function. Since buying it I have made tons of things in it including polenta. I’m sharing here two version of polenta. The first one being the traditional over the stove cooking technique and secondly the rice cooker technique. Let’s just say I will never go back to cooking polenta over the stove again. The rice cooker gets it right every time and tastes better then any polenta I have made the old way. Enjoy!
Polenta Over the Stove
4 cups chicken stock
Salt
Pepper
3/4 cup corn meal
1/4 cup grated cheese
2 tablespoons butter
Place the chicken stock in a medium size pot over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper (you have to salt it here or it won’t get seasoned).Using a whisk slowly whisk the cornmeal in the chicken stock constantly whisking. This will ensure the polenta is smooth.
Bring to a boil. Lower heat to low and cook for 20-30 minutes stirring every so often to avoid clumps. When the polenta comes together and begins to thicken add the remaining ingredients. Stir together and allow the butter to melt.
Serve immediately.
Soft Polenta in a Rice Cooker
4 cups water
1 cup yellow cornmeal
Salt
1/4 cup grated cheese
1-2 tablespoons unsalted butter
In an on-off slow cooker place the water and cornmeal. Stir together until fully combined. Season with salt. Cover rice cooker and turn on. Let the rice cooker do it’s thing. Every 10 minutes or so stir the polenta. When the polenta is done the rice cooker will tell you (min makes a big pop sound then turns to warm). Stir in cheese and butter.
Serve immediately.
Tags: cornmeal, polenta, rice cooker polent, side, stove top polenta
OH I love love love polenta! Can’t wait to try it in a rice cooker, brilliant!
I love love love polenta! My favorite polenta is mixed with mascarpone cheese! Yum. I love how you cooked it in a rice cooker, awesome!
You used chicken stock for the stove version. Can we also use chicken stock (instead of water) for the rice cooker version?
Other similar recipes call for 3 cups water to 1 cup cornmeal. I was wondering if you used coarse polenta, and maybe that’s why yours uses more water?
We’ve been wanting to try this method, so I’ll let you know how it turns out. Thank you for posting.