Why The Humble Rice Cooker Might Be The Only Appliance You Need In Your Kitchen

As a chef, I often get asked what my style of cooking is. Officially, I specialize successful Hawaii’s section nutrient and diasporic Asian cuisines, but unofficially, aliases if you drawback maine connected a tired day, I’ll opportunity my style of cooking is “dorm room”.

Which intends I tin make a filling, elaborate repast retired of seemingly nothing, truthful agelong arsenic I person a atom cooker successful my arsenal. It’s my “desert land appliance”, nan 1 portion of instrumentality I could still thrive pinch if I mislaid my full kitchen. And anybody tin study nan aforesaid hacks and shortcuts.

A portable kitchen

Today’s atom cookers travel pinch sometimes dozens of functions, which I thoroughly tested erstwhile I rounded up 17 of them for my “Rice Cooker Olympics”. But nan astir basal atom cooker – moreover 1 pinch conscionable nan 2 elemental functions of “cook rice” and “keep atom warm”, is an full room encased successful a small plug-in pot. Let maine explain.

First, obviously, it cooks rice, from short-grain to sushi, jasmine to brown, and moreover mixed grains. By extension, it tin besides make congee, aliases atom porridge: nan finest of breakfasts and nan astir comforting of one-bowl meals. All you person to do is support adding much water, purposefully exploding atom grains into silken porridge.

It tin braise meats and tofu erstwhile it’s operating astatine afloat throttle. Skip nan rice, adhd a spot of lipid to nan pot, and deed commencement to make dishes for illustration mapo tofu aliases spiced crushed beef stews.

It tin make fluffy, cakey Japanese pancakes. And don’t hide chawanmushi – that silken Japanese ovum custard often served astatine nan commencement of omakases, aliases chef-curated sushi meals. It steams quickly and beautifully successful a atom cooker: arsenic you group your atom to cook, halfway done nan process, group a small ceramic vessel of h2o and ovum scrambled together successful nan mediate of nan half cooked atom and past voila, erstwhile your atom is done, you besides person chawanmushi.

Put successful full eggs and you’ll person soft-boiled aliases hard-boiled eggs, depending connected timing. Hard-boiled eggs return 20 minutes and soft boiled eggs return 13 to 15 minutes. You tin either group nan eggs successful a steamer handbasket group wrong your atom cooker (if your cooker comes pinch 1 – nan Hamilton Beach 1 we for illustration does, arsenic does nan Tatung), aliases conscionable put them straight into your cooking rice.

You tin make soups successful a atom cooker, rice pudding, and an infinite number of grains: quinoa, fonio, barley, couscous, to sanction conscionable a communal few.

Stick vegetables successful your atom cooker and you’ll besides upwind up pinch perfectly tender broccoli, greenish beans, and asparagus. During nan cooking process, you tin put them successful a ceramic vessel and group it straight into your cooking rice, aliases usage a steamer handbasket attachment.

Rice cookers 201

I tested a batch of atom cookers for The Guardian’s database of nan champion atom cookers, and galore are blase devices. With added functions and settings travel accrued nutrient options.

Some of nan atom cookers I tested tin return nan reasoning and mentation retired of analyzable grains specified arsenic germinated brownish rice, which is thought to person extra nutritional value. They will soak, clip and babe nan grains complete a cooking rhythm of astir 3 hours.

Other atom cookers tin unit navigator grains astatine precocious velocity and they tin unlock nan complex, floral notes of moreover nan astir common, frankly boring, short-grain rice. They will clip your congee for you, aliases set themselves to navigator chaotic rice, mixed rice, sushi atom aliases jasmine rice. They’ll aftermath up conscionable earlier you do, and make judge that nan oatmeal you put successful them nan nighttime anterior is your steaming basking breakfast.

Some tin moreover sanitize themselves, steaming their innards astatine precocious temperatures. Modern atom cookers travel pinch dozens of bells and whistles.

Whether you take nan highest extremity Zojirushi cooker aliases nan most basal Green Life one, look aft it. Treat its soul liners for illustration a nonstick cookware and cleanable it by hand.

And cognize erstwhile you’re purchasing a atom cooker, you’re purchasing a kitchen. Get 1 pinch a grip and it tin recreation pinch you anywhere.