Rice Cookers

ixoy

Does anyone know where I can pick up a half decent rice cooker? It'd need to be able cope with a minimum of 2 people up to about 6. A quick (and I do mean quick) glance in city centre shops didn't show much in the way of these.

What sort of prices would we be talking about as well?

sombaht

We got ours in Argos about a year ago. Fully loaded it can easily serve enough for 8 adults. Roches Stores used to do them as well, not sure if they still do now that Debenhams have taken over.
You'll also find them in most Asian markets but they charge ridiculous prices for them. Expect to pay no more than €25/€30 in Argos.

Cheers,
sombaht

ixoy

sombaht wrote: »

We got ours in Argos about a year ago.

I had a quick look in their online catalogue but couldn't find anything. I'll check in store - sometimes there's more content in the physical catalogues.

Jeapy

I use mine all the time! I got it in a Kleenez catalogue. Its like Avon, they drop a mag to the house and come back with whatever products you want. It cost 12 euro I think. Not sure if this is the same thing you are looking for but it works...so handy, just pop it in the microwave. Cant find a link though!

Dont be at yourself

Arnotts to them, in the basement. My mother picked up one (a well known brand, not sure which one) for about 50-60e.

The rice it produced didn't really compare to what my old Japanese rice-cooker used to make - I'm not sure if that was down to the rice itself or the rice cooker though.

The asian markets also sell them. I know there's one place on Moore St. that charge about 30e, but there are undoubtedly others.

rubadub

You can steam it in a pressure cooker. And it can be used for other stuff, great for steaming spuds. While the rice cooker only does rice really. And brown rice under pressure cooks really fast, & spuds etc.

ixoy

Actually I just got some point things in work that I can use to select gifts from a catalog - one of which is a rice cooker/steamer. It looks like it'll fit my needs and it'll be delivered to my door.

sabiki2

I've never used one of these, but curios to know more about them...

How long does it take to cook rice in a rice cooker?

Are they any handier for cleaning up afterwards?

Could you cook other things in it like pasta?

Would it be more energy efficient to use one of these rather than cook rice on an electric hob and pot?

redshoulder

There is one in aldi for €20

http://www.aldi.ie/ie/html/offers/58_8160.htm

The Sweeper

I bought a Breville rice cooker a while back. Will do enough rice for up to eight people. It cooks by absorption method - you put in a pre-defined rice to water ratio and leave it covered for a pre-set duration of cooking. When it's stopped cooking, it switches to a 'keep warm' setting that it'll stay on for ages, keeping your rice warm.

To be honest, mine's crap.

It always seems to overcook the rice, plus the keep warm setting means I just have a cenitmetre of crunchy rice coating the inside of the non-stick bowl by the time it comes to serving.

I've ditched it for cooking rice and gone back to the saucepan method, because I feel I can get better results and no waste.

loopymum

I have the one from Lidl, its grand

MJD, I find that the rice dries in on mine too, but it cooks the rice so quickly that I have it ready to go and only turn it on when the rest of the food is almost ready to go. I do find that it is only the Basmati that I get in Lidl cooks brilliantly, not so good for long grain. But thats ok, cos we love Basmati.

c

The Sweeper

I was going to say, mine will destroy a cup of basmati. I wonder if it would do better with long grain?

Either way I've abandoned it - I prefer to cook rice by the big-boil method anyway, not absorption. I fluff it up when drained and cover with a clean tea cloth to get perfect grains.

The breville, because it's big, IS useful as a steamer though!

bnt

If I may revive an old thread: I bought one of the Breville 1.8l models at Argos a month ago, and I'm pretty happy with it. The rice it makes is usually very good, both white and brown. The main thing is that it's critical to get the rice/water ratio correct, and heed for the recommendations on minimum water amounts: about 2 cups of water, which means using no less than about 1-1/3 cups of white rice or 1 cup of brown.

I'm also finding it great for bigger cookery jobs e.g. I've used it to make stews and chilli con carne before, and yesterday I made a big batch of pork & mushroom soup. With these meat dishes, you brown the meat in the rice cooker directly, with oil and a bit of flour. Then I add various things, one at a time: stock, milk (in the case of the soup), lots of vegetables, to the point where the cooker is nearly full. After it all comes to the boil, I switch it to "warm", and leave it for a couple of hours. This is a nice "slow cook" setting - it stops boiling, but stays close to boiling temp., so it's safe.

Today I'm trying another trick: after washing, sauté the brown rice in sesame oil before adding the water. I'll find out how that works out in a few minutes. But in general, I'm happy - now I've figured out how simple the rice cooker actually is, I had a better idea of what will work and what won't, without trying to follow recipes exactly.