Use a Rice Cooker

I’ve two rice cookers. Ol’ trusty, that I’ve used since school (and that was not lately), and a contemporary digital one from Toshiba. Decide me all you need, however I exploit them each and the outdated one continues to be kickin’. Whether or not your machine is $200 with 30 settings, or $15 with a single toggle swap, rice cookers all have the identical bones. The perfect half is that they’re really easy to make use of, even the least assured cook dinner can be ok with their rice. Right here’s the right way to use a rice cooker for rice—and the various different non-rice meals you possibly can cook dinner in a single.  

How do rice cookers work?

Contained in the rice cooker there’s a round heating plate and a smaller central, spring-loaded plate.
Credit score: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

(Please forgive the looks of my elder rice cooker within the photographs; let’s simply name it “seasoned,” we could?)

A rice cooker makes use of warmth and water to cook dinner rice. In the event you’ve ever cooked rice in a pot on a range earlier than, you realize warmth and water aren’t laborious to come back by. It’s the ultimate stage of not burning the rice that’s difficult. That’s the place the rice cooker wins. In contrast to your pot on the range, a rice cooker has a sensor that ensures your grains are cooked to fluffy perfection, after which stops cooking. 

Rice cookers have easy mechanics on the within: a skinny metallic bowl to carry the rice, a heating plate inside with a spring mechanism beneath, and a thermostat. If you fill the metallic bowl with water and rice and cargo it into the machine, the heating plate conducts simply by means of the skinny metallic of the bowl. The temperature solely goes as much as boiling (212°F) whereas cooking, as a result of that’s the height temperature of water earlier than it evaporates. 

The steamy air slowly escapes by means of a gap within the lid or one other vent in your rice cooker. This sluggish air flow permits condensation to drip again into the rice, extending the boiling time and giving the rice ample time to soak up sufficient water.

On the finish of the cooking time, the entire water has been soaked up or escaped as steam. There is no such thing as a longer a pool of water within the bowl so the temperature begins to rise above 212°F. This transformation in temperature triggers the thermostat within the equipment to modify from “cook dinner” over to the “heat” setting, and the spring pushes the bowl up away from the heating plate. The rice is cooked by means of, with nary a grain burnt.

use a rice cooker

1. Measure and rinse your rice

There are numerous sorts of rice on the market, however I grew up on Jasmine rice, and we all the time rinsed it. Rinsing it eliminates extra starch, and this makes certain the completed rice doesn’t find yourself gloppy. To do that, you possibly can put your measurement of rice in a mesh sieve and run water by means of it, shifting it round together with your fingertips.

Credit score: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Alternatively, I normally dump the rice into the metallic cooking pot after which cowl it with water. You’ll be able to see within the image that the water turns into practically opaque with starch. Merely swish it round a bit together with your fingers and pour off the cloudy water. I do that twice. Word that the water you add for cooking would possibly cloud up a little bit, and that is simply high quality it does not need to run clear.

Credit score: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

2. Add the cooking water

Add the water that you just’ll cook dinner the rice in. A 1:2 ratio of rice to water is well-loved. This could change relying on the kind of rice you’re utilizing, and the way you favor the ultimate texture to be. If you would like drier grains, use a quarter-cup or so much less water. In the event you like wetter rice, use a bit extra. If you would like tremendous comfortable rice to interrupt up into congee you then’ll want much more water. Many packages of rice include strategies so you possibly can examine the instructions when you’re uncertain.

3. Load up the cooker

Put the metallic bowl into the rice cooker and shut the lid. Now comes the cooking half the place you possibly can press a button and stroll away. 

Multi-setting fashions

Cooking with a rice cooker ought to be a pleasing, easy expertise. Even if in case you have an equipment with a digital display screen and a number of settings, there ought to be a button for “rice.” Some fashions may have buttons for particular sorts of rice, like brown rice, sushi rice, or jasmine rice. If you realize the kind of rice you’ve, go forward and choose the button. That may be sufficient, or if there’s a “begin” button, press it now.

Credit score: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

In the event you don’t know what sort of rice you’ve, that’s completely high quality. Simply click on “rice” or “white rice.” The quantity of water you added is definitely extra essential than the intelligent little button choices they provide you. Positive, brown rice and white rice want totally different timings, however keep in mind what I mentioned concerning the thermostat? An excellent machine will be capable to modify the timing based mostly on how a lot water is left within the tank. 

Single-setting fashions

If in case you have a rice cooker like I do, you don’t have plenty of choices. Merely load the bowl with rice and water, cowl it with the lid and press the lever to “cook dinner.” The machine will robotically swap to the nice and cozy setting when it’s finished. 

With only one swap, it does not get extra “no frills” than this, however boy can it cook dinner.
Credit score: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Extremely rated rice cookers:

Use your rice cooker for a complete lot extra

Positively use this helpful gadget for excellent rice, however you would possibly as properly discover it a everlasting spot on the counter as a result of it might probably achieve this far more. Use it for one-pot meals, hands-off sizzling oatmeal, completely peelable hard-boiled eggs, use hen broth as an alternative of water for seasoned rice, or attempt mac and cheese that makes itself. I might write a complete total submit on all of the issues you may make in a rice cooker, however we now have that already so simply learn all about it proper right here. Have enjoyable exploring, and will your rice cooker steam a number of comfortable a long time of meals for you.