Rice cookers for singletons

[Tri2Cook]

3 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Most rice cookers do not work on timers, but on a thermostat basis. When all the water is absorbed, the temperature rises above boiling point, switching the machine to 'keep warm' mode.

Sounds good to me. I was just guessing about the timer, I've never been curious enough to actually research it.

[andiesenji]

4 hours ago, ElsieD said:

Does the rice cooker you have @Anna N and @Tri2Cook only cook white rice or does it do others as well?

I have the Zo induction rice cooker and it will cook any kind of rice or mixed grains, pilaf and have even used it for pasta, setting a timer and shutting it off when I estimate the pasta will be done. (I did some testing)

I have posted at length about this Zo before in another thread from a few years ago.  

 

I got the 10 cup because the price at the time was the same as the 5 cup and I make larger batches anyway and portion the extra rice, vac seal and freeze it for fried rice or adding to soups, stews, salads or even to make rice pudding.

 

I posted the following in 2014.
"Posted June 8, 2014
I live alone but I have the 10 cup Zojirushi IH rice cooker.  I cook 4-5 cup batches (or larger) of various types of rice (and other grains) and freeze the "extra" in 1or 2 cup portions so I always have some cooked rice on hand for adding to soups, stir fries, nasi goring or plain fried rice, rice puddings or fruit puddings, for adding to breads, both yeast and quick breads, rice fritters, in omelets or in burritos, with beans. 

 

They do not "boil over" so there is no worry in that regard. 

 

And it can be used as a steamer for potatoes, vegetables, and other things.  Check the recipes here.

 

There are some cookbooks but you don't really need one - there are plenty of recipes right on the Zojirushi site and you can subscribe to their email newsletter that has new ideas every month.  (Zojirushi 101)"

Edited August 23, 2018 by andiesenji (log)

[mgaretz]

I have a 5 cup Panasonic that I’ve had for years. Does one cup just fine with no sticking (bowl is non-stick) and no burning if you rinse the rice well. 

[Anna N]

10 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Most rice cookers do not work on timers, but on a thermostat basis. When all the water is absorbed, the temperature rises above boiling point, switching the machine to 'keep warm' mode. So, it can cook any type of rice. It doesn't care what is in the pot. With brown rice, it takes longer for the water to be absorbed, so it is cooked longer.

Thanks. If  I had not been quite so tired last night I would’ve remembered this.

[blue_dolphin]

I know the topic here is rice cookers, not other appliances, but I'd like to mention that I have had good success cooking small amounts of rice (white and brown) and other grains in the Instant Pot, using the pot-in-pot method.

I've cooked as little as a single serving (40 ml rice + 40 ml water) and it came out fine. 

With pot-in-pot, you can't use the "rice" setting but have to set a manual time.  Depending on the rice and the sort of bowl you choose (a thick glass bowl will require a couple more minutes than a thin metal bowl) you may need to play around a little to find the right setting but once you do, I've found it to be reproducible.  

 

I usually cook a full cup, portion and freeze but some days I don't want to add more things to my freezer and I've found this method to be quite handy.

[dcarch]

I use the pressure cooker to pressure steam rice.

 

I can do any quantity from one teaspoon rice to whatever size pot that will fit inside the PC.

 

No burned bottoms. With a non-stick pot, clean up is easy.

 

dcarch

[lindag]

1 hour ago, dcarch said:

I use the pressure cooker to pressure steam rice.

 

I can do any quantity from one teaspoon rice to whatever size pot that will fit inside the PC.

 

No burned bottoms. With a non-stick pot, clean up is easy.

 

dcarch

 

10 hours ago, Anna N said:

Thanks. If  I had not been quite so tired last night I would’ve remembered this.

Another good reason to buy the Ipot Mini.   🙄

[Lisa Shock]

2 minutes ago, lindag said:

 

Another good reason to buy the Ipot Mini.   🙄

How's the rice? Is it significantly different from rice cooked the old-school way?

[btbyrd]

I've been using a donabe rice cooker for the past couple of months, and the results are pretty spectacular. The one featured in this video is the largest offered -- a 5 cup model. It's definitely overkill for a single person, as is the 3-cup model that I have. But they also offersmaller 1 and 2 cup versions that would be great for singletons. They require a gas flame, but you can get a powerful, portable tabletop Iwatani butane burner for like $35. Those are great for camping/catering/outdoor searing/fish cookery as well as donabe cooking.. But I digress. The ceramic also requires some special care compared to your 30 function electric nonstick multipot rice-cooking thingamabob. It also requires slightly more technique than plug-and-play solutions. But not much. I love cooking with mine. 

 

 

 

[lindag]

21 minutes ago, btbyrd said:

I've been using a donabe rice cooker for the past couple of months, and the results are pretty spectacular. The one featured in this video is the largest offered -- a 5 cup model. It's definitely overkill for a single person, as is the 3-cup model that I have. But they also offersmaller 1 and 2 cup versions that would be great for singletons. They require a gas flame, but you can get a powerful, portable tabletop Iwatani butane burner for like $35. Those are great for camping/catering/outdoor searing/fish cookery as well as donabe cooking.. But I digress. The ceramic also requires some special care compared to your 30 function electric nonstick multipot rice-cooking thingamabob. It also requires slightly more technique than plug-and-play solutions. But not much. I love cooking with mine. 

 

That's very interesting looking, I'm tempted simply because its just really cool.

 

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

14 minutes ago, btbyrd said:

I've been using a donabe rice cooker for the past couple of months, and the results are pretty spectacular. The one featured in this video is the largest offered -- a 5 cup model. It's definitely overkill for a single person, as is the 3-cup model that I have. But they also offersmaller 1 and 2 cup versions that would be great for singletons. They require a gas flame, but you can get a powerful, portable tabletop Iwatani butane burner for like $35. Those are great for camping/catering/outdoor searing/fish cookery as well as donabe cooking.. But I digress. The ceramic also requires some special care compared to your 30 function electric nonstick multipot rice-cooking thingamabob. It also requires slightly more technique than plug-and-play solutions. But not much. I love cooking with mine. 

 

A very pretty pot.  I'm not sure I need a donabe but I don't have a donabe.  I bookmarked a couple items from the site!  Why shouldn't clayware work with an electric stove as long as one took precautions?  Also I thought if not using a rice cooker, the Japanese traditionally prepared rice in an iron vessel?

 

So until I get the iron rice maker that Zojirushi won't export I'll stick to the one I have.  I'd sleep with it if it were not so big and heavy.

 

[btbyrd]

It looks like Amazon has a Prime eligible 2-cup model for $99, They're only for gas burners though. I don't know why a flat top wouldn't work; I just know that every single resource I've found has said not to use them with anything except a gas flame. You can also put them in the oven. But if you're heating it directly, it's gotta be a flame for whatever reason.

 

Anyway, they're a great way to cook rice. If you add a tablespoon or two of oil to the donabe and let it go for a minute or two longer, you can get a wonderfully golden brown and delicious crust on the bottom of the rice. Speaking of golden brown and delicious crusty bottoms, you can see a bit of that in this video for chicken ginger rice:

 

 

You can check out how they're made in the following video; the donabes made by Iga Mono are featured in the first segment.

 

 

Here's a link to the best single English-language book on Japanese donabe cookery, Naoko Moore and Kyle Connaughton's "Donabe: Classic and Modern Clay Pot Cooking." 

 

Warning: Donabes can be habit forming.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I put a hold on the book, can't wait to read it.  But I don't have gas and my landlord would take a dim view of charcoal.  I've successfully used my unglazed tajine on the electric stovetop.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Just noticed Tsuji says a donabe may be used on an electric coil.  Not to mention run through the dishwasher.

 

[helenjp]

Son gave his rice cooker to his girlfriend - he's currently using the smaller pressure cooker (2.5 liter) of a Fissler 2-pot pressure-cooker set. No soaking, bring up to high pressure, cook for 50-60 seconds, turn off, leave until pressure drops. Recipes often say 3 to 5 minutes, but with modern pressure cookers and small amounts of rice, some people just turn the pressure cooker off as soon as it comes to pressure, and generally 50 seconds at pressure is enough. 

 As sons and nephews move in and out of Japan, we've tried microwave rice cookers (OK, not necessarily speedier), pot on stove (perfectly fine, if you have more than one burner so that you can cook something else while the rice does its stuff), and small electric rice cookers. I don't like the Black & Decker type shown upthread (with a loose glass lid rather than a clip-down lid) as they are a lot less efficient.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I have a Fissler...

 

[chromedome]

On 8/22/2018 at 9:23 PM, ElsieD said:

Does the rice cooker you have @Anna N and @Tri2Cook only cook white rice or does it do others as well?

I currently have the Black & Decker, and in the past have owned the Rival, Toastess and Walmart generic (Durabrand?) equivalents. Cheap pieces of crap, in short.

I've used them all for brown rice, red rice, multigrain blends, quinoa, millet, freekeh and whatever else I've had on hand. Some rices require a great deal of rinsing for a good result, but that's not the cooker's fault (the generic store brand from Sobey's was especially bad, I had to rinse it maybe a dozen times before the water began to run clear). Basically, as long as it cooks by absorption and you've measured accurately, you're good to go. The pot will continue cooking until all the water is absorbed, at which point the temperature rises above the boiling point and the pot switches to "keep warm" mode. Easy-peasy.

[liuzhou]

4 minutes ago, chromedome said:

I currently have the Black & Decker, and in the past have owned the Rival, Toastess and Walmart generic (Durabrand?) equivalents. Cheap pieces of crap, in short.

I've used them all for brown rice, red rice, multigrain blends, quinoa, millet, freekeh and whatever else I've had on hand. Some rices require a great deal of rinsing for a good result, but that's not the cooker's fault (the generic store brand from Sobey's was especially bad, I had to rinse it maybe a dozen times before the water began to run clear). Basically, as long as it cooks by absorption and you've measured accurately, you're good to go. The pot will continue cooking until all the water is absorbed, at which point the temperature rises above the boiling point and the pot switches to "keep warm" mode. Easy-peasy.

 

As I've already explained.

[chromedome]

LOL Yup. It's still early in my time zone, and the blood level is unreasonably high in my caffeine system.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

On ‎8‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 3:31 PM, Anna N said:

Over here @JoNorvelleWalkerwas asking about rice cookers able to handle small amounts of rice. Today @Kerry Beal and I found this:

 

 

 

 

Note that the included rice measuring cup is much smaller than what one usually finds in a rice cooker.  Those are millilitres on the right-hand side.

 

 My granddaughter loves rice so I thought this might be perfect for her. I will have to put it through its paces before it changes hands though.

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure how I missed this the first time around:  that measuring cup looks suspicious.  In the US and most of the civilized world, one cup equals 236.588 ml.  If the markings on the right hand side are milliliters, Canadian cups must be very small indeed.  On the other hand if the units on the right hand side are sai I might believe it.  That would make the full capacity about one go.  Same as any respectable rice cooker measuring vessel.

 

[Anna N]

4 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

If the markings on the right hand side are milliliters, Canadian cups must be very small indeed.  On the other hand if the units on the right hand side are sai I might believe it.

This was one of those buys that should’ve been walked away from. No matter what happened, the rice burned. However I believe the measuring cup was perfectly adequate indicating that it actually contained only 3/4 of a standard 8 ounce North American cup. The item is no longer in my possession so I cannot check on this. 

[Norm Matthews]

I am coming to this discussion late for the electric coil discussion but as a potter I am skeptical that an electric coil stove would be OK for a clay pot.  I have experienced clay and old time Pyrex breakage on electric coil stoves.  I presume that they don't work on an electric coil stove because the coil heats the bottom most directly and thermal expansion of that one area is what causes it to break.   I have not had that problem with Gas and flat top electric stoves.

Edited February 14, 2020 by Norm Matthews (log)

[Kim Shook]

Bumping this up to get the latest information and opinions.  I am rice cooking challenged.  In my 45+ years of cooking, I've mastered many things but rice is not one of them.  No matter the method, rice cooking is still a hit or miss mystery to me.  So, I'm thinking of trying a rice cooker.  I'm usually only cooking for 2 or 3 and Jessica doesn't really eat much rice.  So, I'm hoping there is a small, decently dependable and not too expensive model out there.  Thanks!

[blue_dolphin]

23 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

Bumping this up to get the latest information and opinions.  I am rice cooking challenged.  In my 45+ years of cooking, I've mastered many things but rice is not one of them.  No matter the method, rice cooking is still a hit or miss mystery to me.  So, I'm thinking of trying a rice cooker.  I'm usually only cooking for 2 or 3 and Jessica doesn't really eat much rice.  So, I'm hoping there is a small, decently dependable and not too expensive model out there.  Thanks!

 

I suspect you'll get some great suggestions from the rice cooker devotées in the group, but I'll I don't have one so I'll tell you what I do.  Do you have an Instant Pot? If not, I think a 3 qt Instant Pot might be an option for you. I cook rice using the pot-in-pot method. I have the 6 qt model, which offers more flexibility in the size of bowls that I can put inside but the smaller 3 qt model would be find if you really need something small.  

I cook the rice right in the bowl I'm going to serve it in.  Sometimes I make just one serving.  The timing depends on the type of rice but I get good results with jasmine, basmati, short grained sushi rice and medium grain brown rice. 

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Kim Shook said:

I'm hoping there is a small, decently dependable and not too expensive model out there.

 

I have two small rice cookers which each do about two servings. They are, of course, Chinese and were very cheap. I bought the first about 5 years ago or more, but when I moved house in January this year couldn't find it in the jumble of boxes littering the new place and wanted to eat that night, so I bought the second. They're that cheap here - almost disposable. This it the 2nd one. Cooks 1-4 cups of rice; I usually just do one or two.

 

 

I'm pretty sure the names of the specific brands would be of no use to you, but I'd check out a Chinese or generally Asian market if you have one nearby.

 

 

Edited May 31 by liuzhou (log)