Saturday 7 May 2016

My Recke Multi-Cooker

I am passionate about cooking especially when it's for my family and I am glad to have a new kitchen helper that saves nutrients and vitamins, energy efficient, safe to use and easy to clean.

I received a Recke Multi Cooker last month from the Dubai Recke team to try it out at home.

So far I have used the Grain, Stew, Soup and Deep Fry functions. I sometimes switch to Pro when I felt like I needed to cook faster than the time set for each function and I even raise the temperature that suits my cooking needs.

I will be honest with you, I was very excited to use this multi-cooker but at the same time I was afraid that I'll mess up with our meals and all will just go to waste. In the beginning, it was difficult for me to divert from the traditional way of cooking on a stove top with pots and pans, let's face it, I've been doing that since day one of my marriage so it wasn't easy but what didn't take time for me was to convince myself that this multi-cooker is a good addition to my kitchen. I can cook using my Recke while another dish is cooking on a stove top. It simply makes my life in the kitchen easier.

Recke is very user friendly. With just a few clicks on the touch screen panel, I was ready to cook my chosen dish. All what I need was to get acquainted with its functions, that's all and the rest was easy. Of course knowing to cook the dish is another thing but no need to fret because each Recke multi-cooker comes with a recipe book with 180-250 easy to follow recipes you can try cooking at home. From desserts to soup to main dishes you can try them all. You may also check and follow Recke recipes online. As for me, I just need more time to try the other cooking modes.

As I have mentioned earlier, I already used the Grain/Boil function and it is for the very common staple in a Filipino home, the steamed rice. Mine cooked perfectly, fluffy and nice. And it was just like cooking in a traditional rice cooker. I assume that the Pilaf function is just as easy, the only difference is the ingredients to add in your rice.

I also cooked Beef Mechado (chunks of beef in lemon, soy, tomato sauce and laurel leaf sans potatoes) with Recke using its Stew function. I should have used the slow cooker function on this one instead because the beef I got from the butcher wasn't tender enough and needs more time cooking however I didn't have enough time to do that so I had to transfer the beef dish to a pressure cooker to cook faster. If not for the limited time before dinner, I would have switched to the slow cook function, or if the beef I got was tender, everything would have been perfect. (I know  but remember? I am still being acquainted with my Recke and I am still learning how to use it.)

And then I cooked a chicken dish called "Tinola" in my Recke using the Soup Mode which I was very happy about.

It is ginger soup based dish with big chunks of chicken and papaya, spinach in replacement of malunggay leaves. Something very similar to Hainanese Chicken Rice.

The best thing I like about this Recke multi-cooker is the reheat function. It keeps the food warm for several hours and you will always have a hot meal ready for serving. After the cooking time is finished, the Reheat function will automatically activate, there is also the cancel button if you do not wish to reheat.

What I did not like about my new Recke MultiCooker is the smell of plastic, it must be the body adjusting to the heat since it is new. The bowl of which you cook the food is GREBLON Non-Stick ceramic coated so non of the plastic leaks into the food.

Another Filipino dish I cooked using the Soup function was for a vegetable dish called "Ginisang Upo" (sauteed loki or sauteed bottle gourd with okra)

If you have noticed, the screen color changes. Red when Cooking and Green when Reheating.
Also after choosing the cooking function from the menu button, you can also chose which product you will be cooking either poultry, fish, meat, vegetable as cooking time and temperature varies accordingly.

Last but not the least, I used it for deep frying some batter coated chicken. Default cooking time was 17 minutes at 180 degrees. The chicken was crunchy but a bit overcooked. I am not sure whether I overcrowded the cooker so the temperature dropped or 17 minutes was too long for deep frying. Will try another batch next time with just a few chicken pieces to see if it will make a difference.

I am looking forward to be able to cook the following dishes that was cooked by Al Nada-Raddison Blu Media City's chef during the launch of Recke Multi cooker. All the food that you see on this plate were cooked using the Recke Mutli Cooker and kudos to the chef because each of the dish we had was tasty.

My friend Deepti Chandak of JivewithDeepti also showed us how to bake some stuffed mushrooms and a cake during the launch. The mushroom tasted good and the cake sponge was soft and moist.

The dessert table looks gorgeous. My daughter who loves baking learned that we can bake a cake using Recke and since then she has been asking me to bake. Why not if I can whip up a dessert like these ones, I'll go for it.

This article was posted here first.

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