I bought myself a rice cooker!

[spinbaby]

We tend to eat a lot of rice, so I finally bought myself a Zojirushi rice cooker. It was kind of hard to justify the cost because I was making perfectly good rice in my Instant Pot. But I was also regularly making rice on the stovetop because the Instant Pot was busy doing something else.

So far, I’m pleased. The cooker is, I must say, adorable. I don’t usually think of small kitchen appliances as cute, but this little guy was cute. Must be because it’s Japanese. My first batch of rice was perfect and kept warm in perfect condition. Now I’m cooking brown rice in gaba mode, which is supposed to somehow be more nutritious than regular brown rice. We’ll see how that works out.

[MuseRider]

1. I think you will love it!

I use a lot of rice too. I never used my Instapot for it because I have had this cooker forever. It is old and worn out but is is nice to have a pot dedicated to just rice. Rice is such a staple for us. If there is rice we will never be without food. I am certain many of us are like that. I do think I might just go look at the cooker you just bought. Mine is so old I cannot imagine it will hang in much longer!

[Ferrets are Cool]

2. I have often wanted one, but never buckled down and spent the $$

I will have to check out this gaba method as I am all about eating healthier.

[CurtEastPoint]

3. Loved 'Instant Pot was busy doing something else' Yeah...like making the main course! LOL!

[sorcrow]

4. Good choice

Zojirushi is great. I have small one that I found at a thrift store about 15 years ago, and a bigger one that I paid full price for three or four years ago. I love them.

I can make good rice in the the instant pot or even on the stove, but the Zojirushi cookers make great rice and keep it warm for quite a while without drying it out or toasting it too much.

Enjoy your rice.

Best regards,
Sorghum Crow

[Irish_Dem]

5. Excellent decision.

I have bought many rice cookers over the years and love Zojirushi. They are the only brand I buy. They are quite sophisticated in how they cook the rice and keep it warm without dying it out.

(My father was in the military and we spent a lot of time in Japan and Okinawa.)

More recently some years ago, I had a good friend who was Japanese and she spent one whole summer instructing me on proper rice cooking procedure!

Cooking rice can be tricky, understanding the age and type of rice in terms of dryness and how much water it will need exactly. For example, new crop rice is more moist and you need less water. Older crop rice needs more water. The Zojirushi figures all of this out for you, and the rice comes out perfectly.

If you want to be picky, you can eyeball the rice when it is done to see if the water amount you put in is correct. The rice should look perfect, each grain visible. Should not be mushy, should not be dry. If you buy rice by the bag it takes awhile to understand the nature of the rice in that bag.

I did a taste test on various kinds of rice, and I think the best rice is Japanese new crop rice. You can get it at a Japanese food store. It tastes like you are eating a rice cloud.

The Japanese rinse their rice in a bowl before cooking. They swirl it around in an almost ritualist way until the water runs clear. My Japanese friend's mother was visiting, so Japanese grandma taught me how to do this.

The instructions on the rice bag in English say not to rinse so as to keep the vitamins in. My Japanese friend was horrified. She read the instructions in Japanese on the bag and they did not say to rinse the rice. It was pretty funny.

Yes the Japanese have an adorable visual esthetic!

The brown rice should be great too.

[spinbaby]

6. Years ago, I compared notes with a Japanese friend

We were talking about rice—she was appalled that I didn’t rinse my rice and I was appalled that she didn’t add salt. When I was growing up, rice was long grained and came in little plastic bags printed with instructions not to rinse. We cooked it in salted water with plenty of butter or margarine. I’ve since learned the joy of a good medium-grain Japanese rice.

[Irish_Dem]

7. I know, the cultural differences about rice are amusing.

Oh yes, my Japanese friend was totally against salt in rice. The Japanese tend to have high blood pressure she said so they don't use salt. She said it was because of the high salt content in soy sauce used for so many decades.

I never even mentioned that Americans put butter in their rice as I didn't want an international incident!

I like short grain rice too. But it is individual taste, my family experimented around with various types and then found one we loved. We bought the rice in big 10 or 15 lb bags.

Of course sushi rice is a whole other topic and I used to make my own sushi. My friend thought I was nuts, she said Japanese housewives never make sushi, they buy it at the shops.

[Warpy]

8. Asian rice still has some of grit from the polishing process

so it is really better if it is rinsed. In the US, rice is coated with B vitamins that are lost in the polishing process (one reason beriberi was a problem among poor people in south Asia, rice being the staff of life and other thiamine sources unaffordable) and western cooks know they're flushing vitamins down the sink if they wash the rice. Still, the average western diet is rich enough in thiamine that beriberi isn't going to be a problem if the rice gets washed, so Asian cooks here in the west can suit themselves.

Having said that, washed or unwashed, rice from an expensive imported cooker is so much better than any other method that when my Kuchen (Korean) goes to rice cooker heaven, I will replace it with an equally expensive imported rice cooker.

[Phentex]

9. Has the rice changed or is it me?

I used to pooh the idea of a rice cooker since I have made rice all my life just fine on the stove. Long grain, basmati, jasmine, black, brown and the like all with no problems.

Lately I am buying whatever brand I can find and I am facing terrible inconsistencies. The ratio to water is not the same even when following the instructions on the package. Sometimes I end up with mush. Sometimes crunchy. My family likes sticky but I want long grain to be separated. Is a rice cooker in my future? People swear by them.

Insert tin foil hat.

[Retrograde]

10. When Mr. Retro brought home our first rice cooker

some 30 years ago I thought it was a waste of space. Then I used it a and became a convert. We now have a Zojirushi which is used 3 or 4 days a week. I use it for regular rice, wild rice, barley, and other grains. It can even do a decent oatmeal.

I have an Instant Pot as well, but the rice cooker gets used for grains more often. I've even made tapioca in it!