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I'm using my rice cooker for the first time
- Thread starter Wag
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Nothing but this. I can throw anything vaguely rice-like into mine, and it manages to make perfect rice every time.
They're expensive for a reason - they work. If you eat a lot of rice (or want to) and don't have one of these, then get one posthaste.
Ecto311
Member
I think i have the same cooker. I like to put the rice in and then pour water in till it comes to the first bend in my finger tip. I learned it from a dude from Hawaii so I figured it was the official way of doing it. Always comes out OK. The best is the clean up the bottom layer is a sheet of rice jizz that just flakes off and then its almost all clean. Anyone have recommendations for rice to get for these kinds of cookers? I was just using some shit bag rice from Walmart but I know there is some hidden gem of rice that is great. Right?
I used to cook rice over the stove and this has been true for any setting below 5 cups, even with rice cookers:
About an inch of water above the surface. Obviously, you scale this a teeny bit depending on how many cups. Like for two cups, you could probably get away with 1/2-3/4ths an inch. But it's generally better to have a little more than to have a little less, because you desperately want to avoid hard, under-cooked rice. It usually can't be recooked and salvaged. If you add too much, it generally takes a a lot of water to make rice mushy to the point of disgusting.
With American Rice, you might want to wash a little less than imported Asian rice, as American rice is fortified with nutrients, while (and someone correct me if I'm wrong), Asian rice tends to be powdered for effect rather than for nutrition.
With brown rice, you want to soften the skin by roasting it over oil until you get a nutty aroma. Then cook as you would with white rice.
I never understand people who add butter to their rice. My brothers do it all the time and it just seems wrong. They also butter their spaghetti noodles. Now, a thin slice of butter for oatmeal is divine.
About an inch of water above the surface. Obviously, you scale this a teeny bit depending on how many cups. Like for two cups, you could probably get away with 1/2-3/4ths an inch. But it's generally better to have a little more than to have a little less, because you desperately want to avoid hard, under-cooked rice. It usually can't be recooked and salvaged. If you add too much, it generally takes a a lot of water to make rice mushy to the point of disgusting.
With American Rice, you might want to wash a little less than imported Asian rice, as American rice is fortified with nutrients, while (and someone correct me if I'm wrong), Asian rice tends to be powdered for effect rather than for nutrition.
With brown rice, you want to soften the skin by roasting it over oil until you get a nutty aroma. Then cook as you would with white rice.
I never understand people who add butter to their rice. My brothers do it all the time and it just seems wrong. They also butter their spaghetti noodles. Now, a thin slice of butter for oatmeal is divine.
BronsonLee
Member
If my rice cooker is empty, I'm either out of rice or unconscious.
Best invention in history.
Best invention in history.
Gentleman Jack
Member
What's your budget?
I put jambalaya in my rice cooker. Pan fry the sausage, dark meat chicken and bellpepper/celery (all separately) then throw it in with brown rice and some creole seasoning and let it go. You have to use a little bit more water for the rice, and mix it well after because the good stuff sinks to the bottom, but it's good.
Yeah, but for most people and most things the cheapest ones around will work fine.
So doing that, sounds too easy.
I'm not sure what kind of curry you want to make, but Japanese curry is fairly easy if you buy this:
You just need some veggies and meat as well. I like to add less water though, I hate watery curry lol.
Did you clean the rice? My Aroma cooker said to clean it. We place the rice we are going to cook in a metal screen strainer and spray water through it until the water coming out the other end is not white anymore. Keeps the rice from possibly boiling over.
I use my cooker for more things other than rice to be honest.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0970586841/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Some really good, quick and easy recipes in here.
I use my cooker for more things other than rice to be honest.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0970586841/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Some really good, quick and easy recipes in here.
adamantypants
Member
PFFFT Get on my level. Shit cost $200.
Well actually that's the one my mom owns. Mine is the baby version of that one. I'm Filipino, first generation American. I've never seen any one of my relatives ever cook rice the pot and stove way. Ever. I visited relatives that literally live in a hut in BFE Philippines when I was a kid and they had a rice cooker. It's a godsend.
I'm not sure what kind of curry you want to make, but Japanese curry is fairly easy if you buy this:
You just need some veggies and meat as well. I like to add less water though, I hate watery curry lol.
That one looks great thank you. I am going to look for it when I go grocery shopping this weekend
Giolon
Member
I put rice and water to the line in my Zojirushi, I press the button, it plays Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, I walk away and do some shit for an hour, completely forget about it, then it beeps at me plays some song and BOOM rice is done, perfect EVERY TIME. And I didn't have to think about shit. And it has no possibility of boiling over.
It can also keep the rice hot and sticky for up to 13 hours.
I can load it up with rice and water in the morning when I get up, set it to be done at 6:00pm when I get home with a few button presses, and BOOM perfect finished rice right when I arrive.
Did I mention it's perfect every time? No too hard, no too mushy, no boiling over, no burning. No effort. One of the best appliance purchases I ever made. It's been about 2 years now.
Time and stove space. Plus, for fancier ones, you can use them as a steamer, soup, or porridge maker. It's convenience mainly. It's great to have a pot of rice already warming for lunch and dinner, especially if you eat a lot of it. It's pretty much the main thing I eat and having it ready allows me to cook something in 10-15 minutes.
I used to have an aroma rice cooker, which was really slim on features, but was great for cooking rice only. Spotted one of these at a local thrift store priced at $6.99:
All it had was a crack at the base where it would collapse into itself, but fixing it was easy. It doesn't sing a song like some fancier ones, but it has a large capacity and a better steaming function than the Aroma, which had a tempered-glass lid with a plastic handle that somehow broke over time.
If you're on a tight budget, I say Aroma is perfectly fine.
Anonymous Tipster
Member
I'm not rich, but I'd be willing to pay whatever for a good one.
Looking at Zojirushi, it seems the Induction heating ones are roughly 260 dollars, and seem to be the higher end ones?
Cheesecakebobby
Banned
Cooking rice is so easy that when I first came to Japan and saw that nobody just uses a pot I wondered how they could all be so lazy. I guess it means you could set a timer so its ready for your breakfast, or so you can cook more things at once when you only have a 2-ring hob though,
FWIW, I had problems with mine boiling over because of adding too much water. That "finger tip" trick only works if you're cooking over a certain amount of rice. I always make a really small amount (like, well below the lowest marker in the bowl) and I didn't think adding such a tiny amount of water would be enough, so even though the bowl was like 1/10th full, it ended up boiling water just because of a bad water to rice ratio.
Rookje
Member
I have one. The instructions (in english) are pretty shitty, and the UI is pretty bad. Luckily I just have to put rice in and hit enter usually.
Washing the rice is important. To find out how much water you need all you need to do is to make sure that the water is covering the rice by about the distance from the end of your index finger to the first knuckle (assuming 3 to 4 cups of rice). If you like drier rice go less water, like soggier rice add more. I make rice practically every day and this is the method my Chinese inlaws taught me.
Giolon
Member
Hey now, I used to have a cheap Panasonic rice cooker that would completely boil over and leave starchy water everywhere about 20% of the time. There was never any rhyme or reason I could find to it - overfilling, underfilling, rinsing, not rinsing. Nothing I ever did seemed to make any difference.
But the one thing I could guarantee is that if I didn't put a plate under it, it would probably boil over.
childplease
Banned
Rice cooker thread?
Word, yo.
Yea you need one of these.
I am about to jump on their bread makers too and I don't even like bread.
beat
Member
My mom has a small Zojirushi with a nonstick pot insert. The nonstick coating breaks down and flakes off; it's really annoying.
I have an el cheapo model; I've genuinely forgotten how I acquired it. It doesn't have a timer function or any special features at all, but it cooks rice as well as my mom's fancy Zojirushi cooker. That said, the timer function would be a nice thing to have.
You really don't need the rice cooker insert to be nonstick anyways. Cooked rice that's stuck on the bottom will loosen easily if soaked long enough... or add a little water and turn the rice cooker on briefly, enough to bring the water to boiling.
abstract alien
Member
Of all the things I've learned in the kitchen, I still for the life of me can not make rice without a rice cooker. Just can't do it, so thank the heavens for them.
Also, cook your rice in chicken stock instead of water for something really taste all in itself.
Also, cook your rice in chicken stock instead of water for something really taste all in itself.
beat
Member
This is part of the way to Hainanese chicken rice... To get even closer, add one pod/petal of star anise (or do that when you're making the stock), some sauteed garlic and sauteed shallots, and some rendered chicken fat (or you can also get this from the stock making, if you make stock).
I have tried several times to make Hainanese chicken rice and skip at least one of the ingredients (stock, aromatics, fat) and so far, I haven't gotten really good results without all three.
This thread is so weird. Is this a US thing?
Step one: get an empty pot
Step two: add rice, add enough water so it does not boil out, and the rice wont soak it all
Step three: check it every five minutes, adjust water levels and heat levels accordingly.
A device dedicated for boiling rice?
Just learn how to use a pot man, I put in 8 points of water and five points of rice. Boil up water, put on low heat add rice. After 20 mins it's always perfect and no water left.
abstract alien
Member
I love making stock, but have never tried it with star anise. Gonna have to give that a go. Recently, I've been brining and roasting ducks, then collecting the fat and drippings. Damn that is some really good stuff. I threw together some onion, roasted plablano peppers, garlic, and red pepper in yellow rice and tossed in a little duck fat. Very good eats. I really am going to give the star anise a go though. I usually use it around winter for warm drinks.
magnificent83
Member
My cousin boils the rice with excess water on the stove, then strains at the end. Its actually kind of genius, as long as you monitor it if you don't have a rice cooker
What I was taught and it works perfectly all the time:
1) Put rice in a pot with the appropriate amount of water.
2) Bring the water to a boil enough to where it begins to just barely bubble to the top of the pot
3) Change temperature to low, then cover and forget.
4) Rice should be done in 30 minutes, more or less, depending on how much rice it is.
styl3s
Member
It makes superior rice and that's how it's different.
It's also more convenient in that i can put it in, set a time and fuck off without worrying about my house burning down. Like a crockpot. I can make chili in a pot on the stove or i can just throw all the shit in a crock pot and go to work and eat it when i get more. Rice cookers, steamers and crockpots are the only way to live.
striferser
Huge Nickleback Fan
This trick work like a magic
Love me some curry rice
Put the curry in refrigerator, then reheat it. It taste better.
Also, make the rice a bit hard by using less water, add curry, then steam it.
This thread is so weird. Is this a US thing?
Step one: get an empty pot
Step two: add rice, add enough water so it does not boil out, and the rice wont soak it all
Step three: check it every five minutes, adjust water levels and heat levels accordingly.
A device dedicated for boiling rice?
Can also be used to cook bread and cake, so it's multi purpose device
Phobophile
A scientist and gentleman in the manner of Batman.
Congratulations! You're boiling water!
beat
Member
When the rice has absorbed all the water -- or the excess has boiled off -- the temperature rises above boiling point quickly. At this point, a rice cooker either turns off or switches to "keep warm" mode. A pot on the stove has to be manually monitored to prevent rice from burning.
I think if you measure with the rice cup and add water as the rice cooker insert guidelines suggest, any electric rice cooker will work. The fancier ones have more options to make things like congee, or have electric timers, or pressure cooking for faster cooking...
But the basics of cooking rice can just as easily be done with an el cheapo model.
A 3 cup model will feed two people, a 6 cup a family of four, and past that is for really big families or restaurants.
Tangent: a looooong time ago, I briefly used a microwave rice cooker. It was terrible. Spend the $15-20 to get a minimal rice cooker.
Second tangent: that said, leftover rice reheats well in a microwave. Can't hurt to sprinkle a little water on it though.
I'm not sure what kind of curry you want to make, but Japanese curry is fairly easy if you buy this:
You just need some veggies and meat as well. I like to add less water though, I hate watery curry lol.
God that stuff is delicious. Even the mild is good and flavorful.
Auron_Kale
Member
We have a Zojirushi at home (it plays Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when you start the cooking process) that my mom bought while in Japan a few years ago.
Usually my dad will use water to cook rice but if it's me, I like using chicken broth rather than water. I've cooked brown rice as well as a few grain medley packs without any problems in the cooker.
I need to check if my cooker can make some bread, as I know there are a few cookers that can actually do that.
Usually my dad will use water to cook rice but if it's me, I like using chicken broth rather than water. I've cooked brown rice as well as a few grain medley packs without any problems in the cooker.
I need to check if my cooker can make some bread, as I know there are a few cookers that can actually do that.
OK I want one more than ever.
ThreePiMatt
Member
I'm not sure what kind of curry you want to make, but Japanese curry is fairly easy if you buy this:
You just need some veggies and meat as well. I like to add less water though, I hate watery curry lol.
I actually bought some of this not too long ago, but Med-Hot which was, frankly, not hot at all. I eventually bought a package of "Extra Hot", but haven't had the chance to make it yet. Need to get some chicken.
Kite
Member
This is an Asian thing, you know the people who specialize in this rice eating thingy.
DJ_Lae
Member
In all my years cooking rice I've never found a purpose to washing rice. Maybe I've somehow managed to avoid buying rice that's needed it, but the few times I have rinsed mine off it's been clear from the start.
That's gone for everything from fancier brands to almost completely unmarked bags from god knows where.
Auron_Kale
Member
Extra Hot is not hot at all, though I found mixing Extra Hot blocks with the Med-Hot blocks gave it a nice bit of spice. I did like two blocks of each in my chicken curry while in college. Lasted me for a week and a half and it was very satisfying though I got tired of eating it once it was all gone.
OP, I have the same machine as you. Here's a few rules of thumb;
Use the 1:1 ratio. One cup for 1" of water as you can see inside the pan.
Realize that some rice cook differently. If you want sticky, use the 1:1 ratio. Less sticky, less water.
To keep the water from boiling too much, try rinsing your rice til the residue water is near clear. For me I find a cup of Jasmine rice take 5 times the rinsing. Ben's rice requires more depending on how rushed I am.
Your mistake is starting with some complicated brand and assorted rice. Start with simple bags of rice for now.
Use the 1:1 ratio. One cup for 1" of water as you can see inside the pan.
Realize that some rice cook differently. If you want sticky, use the 1:1 ratio. Less sticky, less water.
To keep the water from boiling too much, try rinsing your rice til the residue water is near clear. For me I find a cup of Jasmine rice take 5 times the rinsing. Ben's rice requires more depending on how rushed I am.
Your mistake is starting with some complicated brand and assorted rice. Start with simple bags of rice for now.
Zoe
Member
People are saying to keep it from boiling over, but I've never had that issue. Maybe it's cause I don't do the "inch" method or I use a big enough pot.
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