artEncounter

Mid range Chinese apartments in Dalian come with many amenities...most have furniture, TVs, washing machines, etc. But they don't have ovens. At least, not a single apartment that I looked at had one.

There are also numerous bakeries with lovely looking cookies, cakes and breads.... but looks are deceiving. Things that look like sandwich breads and rolls are typically sweet. Western-style cakes are most likely to taste like cardboard covered with cool whip. Anything that looks chocolate isn't likely to contain anything even remotely like real chocolate. With the exception of a few pricey western restaurants, Dalian just hasn't seem to caught onto the idea of baked goods.

I love chinese food, but every now and then, one needs a nice slice of cake.

My solution: learning to bake in my rice cooker.

The information out there (ie, on the web) is rather limited... there are numerous recipes designed for crock-pots, but none that I could find that specifically targeted rice cookers. But I'm not afraid of experimentation... it wouldn't be my foray into new cooking frontiers. If you do know of existing information out there about rice cooker baking, please point me in the right direction.

Rules of Engagement:

1) Whenever possible, I will use ingredients commonly found in Chinese supermarkets.

2) All baking tools will be things commonly found in a Chinese kitchen.

3) Baked goods will be made and judged according to Western standards.

Guidelines for Rice Cooker Baking:

1) For good results, get a decent rice cooker. Mine is a Midea (in pinying, mei3de) "intelligent computerized" 3.5 cup rice cooker. It has 4 functions: warm, precise cook, fast cook, and soup/porridge mode. It cost about 300 yuan (about $40) at a supermarket in Dalian, China. It's possible that these recipes will work in cheapo or older rice cookers-- you'll just have to make your own experiments.

2) My local supermarket doesn't sell baking powder, so the standard substitution to use baking soda is written into my recipes. Here's the substitution, if you want to convert back to baking powder: 1tsp baking powder= 1/4 tsp baking soda + 1 tablespoon acidic liquid (typically white vinegar in my recipes, since lemons and limes are rare finds).

3) FYI, other oddities of baking in Dalian, China. Things missing from my local supermarket... baking powder, lemons, limes, vanilla, cinnamon. Things that are readily available... baking soda, oranges, butter, milk, white sugar, brown sugar, honey, brandy, instant coffee. Some Chinese supermarkets have nutmeg (whole, but graters are easy to find) and powdered sugar (Japanese import, but not uncommon).

4) To break rule number 1...(in Dalian, at least) chocolate is best procured at Watsons, a chain of stores selling personal care supplies. Since there is a Watsons lurking outside of nearly every supermarket I've been to, this might even pass as an allowable ingredient. For some reason I can't quite figure out, among the shelves of shampoo and facial scrubs there's usually a selection of imported dark chocolate. Cheese, even cream cheese, is problematic... thus far I've only found it in Metro (German?). This is something of an inconvenience and a minor ethical dilemna, since it is hard to get to on public transport and it doesn't allow Chinese people in without a membership from their company (foreigners are admitted by showing a foreign passport).

Can you really bake in a rice cooker?

Yes, indeed. In fact, my results have been so good that I may have a hard time returning to an oven. I never thought I would say that when I started this project.

1) Baked goods in a rice cooker tend to be very evenly baked, and have a very moist texture. For example, quick breads cooked in the oven often are a bit dry on the edges by the time the center is fully cooked-- but a rice cooker quick bread is uniformly moist.

2) It is nearly impossible to burn anything. It's also nearly impossible to brown anything.

3) I don't know if all rice cookers are so agreeable, but the non-stick coating is so good on my Midea that there's no need to grease the pan... just mix, cook, and the cake will turn out onto the rack with no fuss.

The only thing I miss is the crusty bit on the edges of an oven-baked quickbread...