PROJECT TRAVELING RICE COOKER : THE FIRST MEAL, MUNG BEAN SOUP

This is our first attempt at using the mini rice cooker. You might ask why the picture is upside down. That is due to our unprofessionalism and scramble cooking in a hotel room for the first time. Yikes! But this is fun stuff. We like projects and especially if it means giving others ideas for a more fruitful and sustainable life. As you can see, we have a mini chopping board and knife too. Just enough for a no frills traveling kitchen.TIPS ON COOKING WHEN TRAVELING :

• It seems like the mini rice cooker is a MUST. How else? We have read that you can use the iron to make sandwiches. That is if you wrap it in foil of course and we mean the sandwiches, bacon and what not. It can potentially melt cheese. But the rice cooker is more versatile as it can make soups and stew and rice and pasta... the list goes on.
• A small knife with a small chopping board. We already have a small wooden one but a rollable silicon one seems feasible.
• Always line the table top with a towel to reduce mess.
• Carry dry food with you like pulses, herbs, spices, rice and pasta. You can always buy fresh food like meat and vegetables from the local supermarket. Not that you cannot buy the dried food too but that is really just in case you don't find the supermarket readily. Also, you will not need to buy the whole packet of it. Bringing measly amounts of whatever you need reduces waste too.
• Be flexible with what you eat. It is always about what is available. Almost like camping. 

Garlic is always good to spice up dishes and to give it a fuller taste. It lasts for a while too and can keep the bugs away from your uncooked rice.

Onions are always good for a soup or stew. 

Now, using the rice cooker. We are planning to try to use this cooker to fry the garlic and onions up. We have read that one can easily do that by pressing down the cook button. 

In this case, the bottom of the pot does get a bit hot but it isn't sizzling.

We tried pressing down the cook button again and again to heat up the cooker pot. 

It gets hot enough to melt the knob of butter but it isn't hot enough to fry up anything really. 

We then realised that you really have to press down the cooker pot. This pressing down method works only for this model. Pressing it down creates the contact of the heat. Just imagine this... The rick cooker will really only conduct the full heat when you put the lid on and snap it shut. At the moment, we are not creating that pressed down heat contact.

First attempt and it is alright, not the best fry up experience but it is ok. At least we now know how to work this function.

We added from dried shrimps to the mix.

And then mung beans.

And then water.

Close the lid and let it cook and simmer until the desired consistency is achieved.

We added some local vegetable after the soup is done and let it cook very quickly. So is this first attempt a success? Certainly looks and tastes like it.