Or Rice Cooker to you and me

Does anyone use one?

What's it like to use? Is it practical to use for one? Which one is it?

Friend I used to share a house with used one all the time.
They're great. Get one. Enjoy. Be the envy of your friends.

Seriously, it does make making rice very easy, you can keep the rice going for much longer than you could with a saucepan without the fear of it boiling dry. And even if the rice at the bottom does go a little chewy if you're late home (for instance), try munching on it with some soy sauce.

Well, a half Chinese friend of mine (whos parents owned a Chinese take away) uses one. Can't really get more of a recommendation than that.

Rice coolers are awesome!

I think I've found one

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001 ... d_i=468294

My main priority is that it works for one person. A lot of the bigger cookers are no good at doing a single portion. Also, found it a lot cheaper at a shop in York so I can go pick it up direct

Yes they are great. I have one, but there is a problem. You have to cook a minimum of four portions at a time. The rice does come out very well though. I use a microwave steam and a 1000W microwave and get my rice done in 6 minutes, though not brown rice.

I have 2

Got a little, simple style (on/off) I have at my gf's that serves 1/2 people per use. Cup of rice, cup of water, turn on. Done. It was a cheap one from the asian supermarket my old housemate had and left without taking.... so I nabbed it

Got a bigger, family size one at home (originally had one my parents brought over from Hong Kong when they moved back to the UK), has slow/rapid cook, congee cook and a load of other features, only ever use the basic cook (but the slow or congee cook can be good if you want to steam vegies with the rice

They are great to have as it's set and forget with very good rice every time (once you get the rice/water levels right)

wow that rice cooker is expensive, try an asian supermarket that is local to you first, you will probably get one a lot cheaper there.

I've never found an easier way to cook rice than a big bowl and a microwave.

Yes it is very simple. No need for rice cookers if you have a microwave, and a lot faster.

Random fact: you can also cook fruit-loaf.

According to my animé which never lie, everyone in Japan use them every day. They're specifically useful if you have limited cooking resources, such as a single burner and a wok.

You may also consider an electric steamer. They generally have two or three tiers; the bottom can cook the rice while the other cook fish and vegetables. They're very cheap and economical.

I went down to the local Chinese Supermarket today and found a rice cooker for £29.50 it looks good and is fairly small (so good for one person).

Didn't buy it though as it's payday on Monday

I'll be down there next weekend as the amount of stuff available there is ridiculous! Will def be trying to shop there in the future.

I swear by a Rice Cooker.

I'm pretty confident in saying that pretty much every family uses a rice cooker in Hong Kong after living there for 4 years. In fact it's pretty much a specialty dish (somewhat) to get it cooked in a saucepan (but then it's usually with other stuff like dried meat, chicken etc. mainly because it absorbs the flavour as it's cooking).

As for JJ's fruitloaf comment, i'm not sure about that, but you can double it up as a Steamer, just add water at the bottom, some way to lift a plate out of the water and just place it on there.

As for making the actual rice the way i've always been taught is that in general you add rice to the cooker, measure the height of the rice from the bottom to the top with your finger, then make sure the amount of water is the same distance from the top of the rice to the surface of the water. I'd say use volume but not sure if they completely correlate and tbh this way i find is easier than taking note of volume as i don't always cook fixed amounts, generally a cup and then another amount depending on mood.

Turn on the cooker and let it run, when it trips off leave an extra 30 minutes to an hour for excess water vapour to evaporate or the rice will still have a watery sheen to it making it softer and more prone to crumbling.

Judging on how you find the rice (either to dry/hard or too soft/crumbly) you can then add a little more or a little less water than before.

I really don't understand how Westerners live with cooking rice in a saucepan... to me rice cooked that way is pretty... rubbish. Unless done correctly that is... and i've yet to meet a westerner that does do it correctly.

I've never had a problem with it.

+1

My gf uses my mini one now as it's far better

I find that two cups of water to one cup of rice works well for microwaving and I think that rice cookers use the same ratio.