Sweet Sweet Potato Rice: A Step-by-Step Guide
How to Make Delicious Sweet Potato Rice in a Cuckoo Electric Rice Cooker with a Perfect Seasoning Sauce (Great for Baby Food Too!)
Today, we’re making a wonderfully chewy and flavorful sweet potato rice using seasonal, delicious sweet potatoes. This recipe uses a rice cooker for ultimate ease, and the accompanying seasoning sauce will elevate your meal.
Sweet Potato Rice Ingredients- 2 medium sweet potatoes (preferably a drier variety like ‘bam’ or chestnut sweet potatoes)
- 2 cups of short-grain rice
Cooking Instructions
Step 1
First, prepare the rice. Gently rinse the rice two to three times under running water to remove any dust. Transfer the rinsed rice to your rice cooker’s inner pot. Soaking the rice in water for about 30 minutes before cooking will result in a chewier texture and a beautiful sheen. For sweet potato rice, the water ratio should be the same as your usual white rice, typically 1:1 (rice to water). This is especially important for ‘bam’ sweet potatoes, which have lower moisture content. Freshly harvested sweet potatoes also tend to be drier, so sticking to a 1:1 water ratio is key! If your rice cooker has water level markings, aim for the ‘white rice’ mark corresponding to 2 cups of rice.
Step 2
Now, let’s prepare the sweet potatoes. After peeling the sweet potatoes, trim off the tough ends. Cut each sweet potato in half, and then cut those halves in half again, creating bite-sized cubes. Aim for pieces that are easy to eat, about the size of a spoon. If the pieces are too large, they can be awkward to eat with the rice. If they are too small, they might disintegrate during cooking, losing their appeal. If you’re making this for a young child, be sure to cut the pieces to a size that is easy and safe for them to handle.
Step 3
Once the rice is ready in the inner pot, evenly arrange the cubed sweet potatoes on top of the soaked rice.
Step 4
Select the ‘White Rice’ cooking mode on your rice cooker and start the cooking cycle. My Cuckoo rice cooker typically takes about 34 minutes for this setting. This duration yielded perfectly cooked rice and tender sweet potatoes. Cooking times may vary depending on your rice cooker model, so consult your appliance’s manual if needed.
Step 5
When the rice is done, gently fluff the rice with a spatula, being careful not to mash the sweet potato chunks. When serving, scoop the rice and sweet potato mixture into bowls with similar care to maintain the shape of the sweet potato pieces. Look at how wonderfully chewy and sticky this freshly cooked sweet potato rice is! I usually don’t film my cooking, but I wanted to capture this perfect texture to share with you all.
Step 6
And there you have it – delicious sweet potato rice, perfect as a healthy meal or snack for kids! Now, let’s make a savory and slightly sweet seasoning sauce to complement the rice for adult palates.
Step 7
Here are the ingredients for the seasoning sauce (for 2 servings): 1 tablespoon of gochugaru (Korean chili powder), 3 tablespoons of jin ganjang (Korean soy sauce), 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of oligodang (corn syrup or honey), and 0.5 tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds.
Step 8
This sweet potato rice is delicious on its own or served with your favorite side dishes and kimchi. However, the real magic happens when you mix in the freshly made seasoning sauce. The savory depth of the sauce perfectly balances the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes, creating an irresistible ‘sweet and salty’ flavor combination that’s truly a treat.
