Rice cookers?

I grew up on a steady diet of white rice literally every meal (cooked the persian way where you steam it in a saucepan as decreed by my VERY persian father). I am now in love with my little basic cheap rice cooker. It's WAY easier to use and the warm feature is amazing for steaming and best of all there's no need to mind it as aggressively as other methods. I've had zero issues with the cheap model since it turns out perfectly steamed rice for me every time, and no desire to upgrade. there are also many recipes for other things that can be cooked in rice cookers besides rice or other grains. definitely a worthwhile purchase.

I bought my $20 rice cooker and have had it for 2years and its still going Strong. I use it to make white rice, quinoa, brown rice,buckwheat and I have cooked lentils in there before (just keep an eye on them! )

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

My rice cooker is a saucepan with a lid. It works fine.

Oh, alright. If you must know. The water goes in, the flame goes high, the rice goes in, the eyes watch. When the water begins to bubble, the lid goes on, the flame goes low and the timer goes to 17 minutes.

More or less my approach, except I use a Corningware casserole dish (oven and stovetop safe) instead of a saucepan (couldn't give you a great reason, other than my mother did it that way and I think it distributes heat more evenly than my not-very-expensive stainless steel saucepans), and I bring the water to a boil before I toss the rice in and reduce the heat, and I check it after only 15 minutes.

I have cooked rice in a saucepan, pasta-style (lots of water, drain at end). It's OK, but I prefer the starchier, stickier results of just using as much water as the rice will absorb. I imagine people who grew up on instant rice would be happy with regular rice cooked pasta-style.

I have a small kitchen, so I try to avoid specialized, single-purpose gadgets, unless it's really essential and there's no work-around. So, no garlic press, or anything else that essentially replaces a knife for one job. (No, really, I need a small and a large French press. Hey, I didn't replace the automatic drip coffee maker when the heating element broke, although I saved the nice thermal-insulated carafe. And the basket and metal-mesh insert for making pour-over. That's a net space-saving! And I only have a breadmaker because someone gave it to me as a gift, and it saves energy, especially in summer when I don't want to fight the AC by turning on the oven. And the food-scale -- I use that for baking as well as food-logging, so that's not single use. Stop looking at the wok. OK, I admit I don't cook Chinese food that often, and I could just do it in a skillet ... Just stop looking at the wok!)

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

My rice cooker is a saucepan with a lid. It works fine.

Oh, alright. If you must know. The water goes in, the flame goes high, the rice goes in, the eyes watch. When the water begins to bubble, the lid goes on, the flame goes low and the timer goes to 22 minutes.

I'm going to revise and extend, but only in hopes of collecting another 'woo'. I made the rice the next morning and after 17 minutes it was obvious that my low flame had been too low to adequately cook the rice in 17 minutes. I returned the rice to the pot and returned the flame to low for an additional 5.

I suggest Cuckoo (Korean) you can buy them in Asian food marts or on Amazon.

Bought one after going through what felt like my umpteenth cheap rice maker. Colleague brought one to a potluck and the rice was amazing.

The one I bought doubles as a crock pot/slow cooker. It can be programmed to start so the rice/quinoa/stew is ready when I get home and can keep everything warm and fresh for over 12 hours (no drying or burning). Has different settings for different types of rice.

Amazing little gadget!

I have a cheapy with "cook," "warm," and "unplugged" settings. It has a poorly fitting steamer section that can sit on top. It works great. White, brown, pearl, jasmine, Calrose, it's all good. Can't imagine paying the big bucks.

Just because its fun to share, I use the Delia Smith method in a pan and it has never failed me. Warm a small (teaspoon is usually enough) amount of oil in a pan. Make sure you have boiled your kettle and have some hot water to hand. Add white rice to the oil and mix gently so it is coated (you don't need to wash the rice beforehand). Then add water using a 2/1 ratio. Put the lid on the pan and leave it on a low heat for 15 minutes. Turn the heat off, leave it to steam with the lid off for a few minutes and there you go!

My cheap-as-dirt ($20?) rice cooker has lasted foreeeever. (Well, maybe not that long, but...three moves, and something like seven years). I only use it for rice. It's Aroma brand, small and cute, with two settings (Cook and Warm). The only times I've ever had even slightly burnt rice are when I leave it more than ten minutes after it switched over the the Warm setting (which it does automatically). Less is sometimes more.