We live in a modern era where everything and everyone is constantly on the go, so we seem to barely find the time to slow down, relax, and have even less time to prepare time-consuming meals. Thankfully, new generations have come up with innovative alternatives to speed up processes and make life a bit easier.
Nonetheless, some of these options may not always benefit our overall health if we consider pre-made processed foods as an example. Careful consideration of the possible side effects must be taken, and we understand how to counter these daily issues with clever solutions.
One of these time-savers is the popular Rice cooker. This kitchen appliance works as an automatic rice steamer that helps simplify the process of cooking this specific grain, taking it to a whole new level even the most skilled ones might have trouble replicating. Although the name can be rather simplistic, you are not limited to only plain rice; quite the opposite, creativity will be your ally here. Once used to this tool, you can learn to cook great meals while saving time and impressing your friends and family. Check how you can make aromatic, tasty, and simple recipes by only pressing ‘On’ in your Rice cooker: mahatmarice.com/recipes/easy-coconut-rice/.
If you are thinking of investing in a rice cooker, we bring you some tips to keep in mind before committing to spending your hard-earned money on fancy new kitchen equipment.
How do rice cookers work?
Don’t worry about learning NASA technology to operate this simple gadget; it’s as simple and family-friendly as possible. The instructions don’t really change from making rice the traditional way, but anyway, this is how it’s done:
- Take your desired amount of rice and transfer it to the inner pan of the rice cooker.
- Add your usual amount of water to the rice cooker and close the top. Here, you can add any ingredient to bring more essence and flavor to your rice, like butter or spices.
- Turn the cooker on. Usually, this will light up a small bulb on the front, indicating the cooking process will begin.
- When the rice is done, the device will notify you by turning the light off, flipping the ‘turn on’ switch up, and/or making a sound.
- Once finished, you let the rice rest in a ‘keep warm’ mode to absorb the remaining moisture, leaving you with fluffy fresh rice.
How a rice cooker can make your life better
Quick and convenient, even when making large quantities of rice. The process takes about 20-30 minutes of unsupervised work, so you can focus on the other ingredients and tasks for your meal and leave the cooker to do all the work. Additionally, you don’t have to worry about overcooking the rice and boiling it over; the gadget will automatically turn off once done and let you know by some form of the signal so you can proceed from there.
If your other meal components are not done by the time your rice is, the cooker will keep it warm for you without damaging it. Most models of rice cookers are easy to clean up, so there’s no stress on that part.
Did you know you can use rice cookers to make pasta as well? Some even cook vegetable stew in them; you need to get the hang of it first; the rest is history.
Not-so-great details about rice cookers
Some models may require stirring the rice every 3 to 5 minutes. Otherwise, the bottom may burn. This can be avoided if you know the proper rice-to-water ratio.
Something to consider, when scooping out the rice, you must use specific utensils because of the non-stick material the cooker rice is made of. If the bottom is scratched, eventually, the cooker won’t function as well.
Some people suggest rice cookers or pressure pots have a type of chemical that can be detrimental to humans once our food comes in contact with them. Now, this has no real foundation behind it, so maybe take it with a grain of salt.
Those were all the details regarding the use of rice cookers we know, so hopefully, we could bring some light into this topic and either help you make the final move to invest in one or keep the money and continue cooking rice the traditional way.
