Rice Cooker Apple Pancake!

You know sometimes you see a recipe and you just HAVE to try it.  This apple pancake made in a rice cooker was just such a recipe!  I found it on the English language site of the cool contemporary Japanese culture news site  RocketNews24. As I put the ingredients together this morning at 5:00AM — cause what else do you do at that hour? — the words to the wildly popular youtube sensation  Pen-pineapple apple-pen – song came to mind but exchanged to:

RAAP

I have a rice cooker.

I have an apple. Uh! Rice cooker – apple!

I have an apple.

I have pancake mix. Uh. Apple pancake.

Rice cooker-apple  apple-pancake.

OK – so it is a bit of a stretch but the result was:

OMG! RAAP! OISHII!

So if you have a rice cooker and some apples and pancake mix. Start RAAPING!

Here is my adaptation of the recipe from RocketNews24.

Rice cooker apple pancake

Serves 4

The timing will likely depend on your rice cooker according to RocketNews24. I have a 5-cup capacity fuzzy logic rice cooker and  just pushed the cook rice button. The pancake cooks in two parts. First you cook the apples. Then you add the pancake mix. Total time was under 1 hour. The original recipe calls for a Japanese hotcake mix but I used Aunt Jemima.

2 large apples, peeled and cut into 8 large slices

1-2 tablespoons honey

Juice of 1/4 of a lemon

3 tablespoons butter, cut into several pieces

1/4 cup milk ( plus more if needed)

1 egg

2/3 cup + 2 tablespoons pancake mix

1. Place the apple slices in the rice cooker.  Add. the honey, lemon juice and butter and mix until apples are well-coated.  
2. Press the cook rice function.  This cycle took under 30 minutes for me.  Open the rice cooker and drain the liquid through a sieve into a measuring cup. I had 1/4 cup of liquid.  
3. Add the milk to the apple honey juice mix. You should have 1/2 cup.
4. Pour the mixture in a bowl and add the egg.  Whisk vigorously.
5. Sift in the pancake mix and mix until well combined.  If the batter seems thick, add a little more milk.  I did.
6. Arrange the apple slices in a single layer on the bottom of the rice cooker in concentric circles.
7. Pour the batter over the apples.  Press the cook rice function.
8. When the rice cooker beeps – your pancake should be ready. 
9. Lift the bowl from the rice cooker. With a rubber spatula gently loosen around the edges. Place a plate over the bowl and turn over onto the plate.  It should release perfectly.
10. Itadakimasu!!!

ADAPTED FROM ROCKETNEWS24 website