i bought a cheap rice cooker a while ago and it did a pretty lousy job. i think i ended up throwing it out. but my mom has a good trick for rice. she cooks it for 15 minutes (instead of the 20 it says on the package) and then turns off the stove but leaves the covered pot on the hot burner for the last 5 minutes. it usually works pretty well for me.

Also, beware of rice cookers that don't have a lid that seals. The rice cookers that just have a set-on lid tend to make a big mess with the starchy water starts to spit and steam. Make sure you read the reviews at Amazon or elsewhere before investing! The Zojirushi really is worth the money.

I'm another one who cooks rice without a rice cooker. I just don't do it often enough to get another machine (a soymilk maker, juicer, mezzaluna, toaster oven, kitchen aid mixer are all higher on my kitchen machinery wish list). I use the "Jasmati" kind in the plastic tubs and it always turns out well.

However, I have some Japanese short grain rice in a bag without instructions and I've never been able to get that right on it's own. I only use it for recipes that call for short grain rice.

I guess I'd say if the rice has instructions for stovetop, then you should be fine. Yea, don't peek.

my panasonic rice cooker ($50 at amazon) makes PERFECT rice every single time. super easy to use and requires no attention. after i come back from some token appearance at the gym i load it up, start it, hit the showers, and come out to a hot fresh homecooked meal. easy to clean too.

I just picked up the Zojirushi fuzzy logic model shown at the top of this article on the advice of my Japanese girlfriend. I cringed a bit when I saw the price (around $130 at Sunrise mart in the East Village, NYC.. didn't really search around for a better deal) but I must say it does an awesome job. So far I've only made standard white rice but this week I'm going to try the porridge mode.

I'm not one for copious gadgets and devices, but I've had a Zojirushi rice cooker for about three years and I would be sad without it.

I don't use it for anything other than simply cooking rice, but it does a great job.

It's also nice if you a million things already going on on the stove top, it takes up one less burner and pot.

I got a cheap $20 rice cooker at KMart that's still going strong. It does the one thing it does really well, and while it does spit all over the place, its easier to clean up than my scorched pots. I like being able to leave the rice alone while I get the rest of dinner together.

I don't have a rice cooker, and I'm Chinese!! I like to soak my rice for about 30 minutes before cooking, although this step is not necessary. I also use less water than what the package recommends. For example, if you're cooking 2 cups of rice, they tell you to use 4 cups of water, but I use 3 instead, 2.5 cups if I soaked the rice. Also, I've found that if I cook just one cup of rice, it doesn't turn out was well as when I cook 2 or more cups. Some Indian cookbooks suggest that you add a few drops of lemon juice to the water.

Sometimes burning rice is just a genetic thing.
At least it is in my immediate family. I think we tend to wander off.

I love to buy takeout rice. It's cheap, perfect, and available in white or brown, less than a block away from home.

Anyway, I love using the rice cooker at my friend's house. It's a cheap one that does its one and only thing really well. I wouldn't mind one that had some settings - like for brown rice. I also keep reading about jook and congee sorts of Asian dishes being made in the rice cooker...it's awfully tempting.

But I have no counter space.

I thought I was hopeless at cooking decent rice on the stove, but two things saved me:

1. Like Abby, I now leave it covered on the stovetop for a few minutes after it's done cooking.

2. I bought a pot with a glass lid so I can SEE how the rice is doing without disturbing it.

Thanks for all the great posts. I really appreciate all these details. Since I am stuck working from home becasue of the transit strike, I'm going to head to Key Foods and get some rice. One more try . . . and I'll use a glass lid pot so I won't peek. I'll let you know how it goes.

I wanted to mention my FAVORITE winter rice dish: rice pudding! I use Bittman's recipe from the NY Times (is it kosher to post NY Times recipes here?). I love this recipe, though I have to bake it about an hour or so longer than the recipe suggests:

RICE PUDDING
Time: About 2 hours

1/4 to 1/3 cup rice
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch salt
4 cups milk
Pinch saffron, optional
Cinnamon stick or other flavoring, optional.

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a 3- or 4-quart casserole or an ovenproof saucepan, stir a couple times, and place in oven. Bake for 30 minutes, then stir. Bake 30 minutes more, then stir; at this point the milk will have developed a bubbly tan surface (stir this back into the liquid), and rice will have begun to swell.
2. Cook for 30 more minutes. The surface will have redeveloped, darker this time, and kernels of rice will begin to predominate in mixture. Return mixture to oven and begin to check pudding every 10 minutes, stirring gently each time you check.
3. Remove pudding from oven when rice kernels are very swollen and mixture is still quite fluid. As it cools, it will thicken considerably. If you remove custard when mixture is thick, it will harden when it cools (though it will still be quite good to eat). Serve pudding warm, at room temperature or cold, alone or with whipped cream.

Yield: 4 or more servings.

Abby, I do the same thing your mother does - cook it less than what the package calls for. I keep checking it after about 10-15 mins. and as soon as I see that all the water is absorbed I turn off the burner and let it stand. It always comes out just right.
What's that saying ...."great minds..." ?

I have the Zojirushi and I absolutely love it. There is truly no comparison between the rice I get out of it and the rice my mom always cooked on the stove. Nutty and fabulous! Love it!

My mother taught me to wash rice three times before adding the cooking water. Wash by collecting the water into a big bowl and then dumping it into the rice pot. Swirl with your hand and then dump the water quickly. Do this three times until the water runs off fairly clear. Then add your cooking water (2:1 water to rice for short grain korean or japanese/sushi style rice). I like to use bottled spring water that has a clear sweet taste. You can add barley or red bean to the rice for flavor but well washed rice cooked with good water gives a sense of sweetness and purity to your meal.

Hey, since I was stuck home becasue of the strike, I took the time to try a Beef Stew recipe by Julia Child via Martha Stewart's new TV show. It was amazing. Inspired by this thread, I decided to try making rice at home one more time. It worked! I think my last stove ran too hot for rice and I always peeked into the pan before the 20 minutes was up. Thanks for the help!

If you are cooking plain white rice the microwave oven works fairly well, especially if you can program it to cook in two stages (full/half power). The packaging sometimes will have instructions for this and cheap plastic vessels for this purpose ar available. Make sure it isn't to tall for your microwave. I've also used lidded glass dishes wich worked fine. Since you can't readily make a pilaff using this method you can add seasonings for flavor. Cardemon, coriander and cloves(whole or ground) punch up the flavor nicely (go easy on the cloves). I prefer jasmine or calrose rice.

Just buy a good rice cooker and you'll use it frequently. Buy a Japanese one. You'll have the option of quick cook, which is 18 minutes start to finish, or the longer cooking @ 35 minutes. Longer cooking is a little softer, but quick cooking is good enough.

Funny how some people are referring to directions on the package. I had no idea there were directions on packages. I guess that just for the ‘westerners’. I buy my rice by the sack. Much cheaper, and always get the unpolished rice (aka brown). The most flavourful and aromatic is the basmati, but it is also the most expensive. I find that the organic rice tastes much better as the non-organic rice really has some kind of funny taste to it. We usually use some kind of American organic rice such as Lundberg. And, yes, you can easily add other things in with your rice, but of course add more water. Such as throw in a handful of red lentils, or other quick cooking grains. There are these great squishy things you can get at the Indian store, called… cant remember, but looks like roundish bits of dried dog food half-inch in size, often in the bulk bins. Talk to some Indian friends, they’ll tell you about it and how to soak and squeeze it first a few times. I chuck those in too sometimes as my Indian friends also do. Great for stews too.

I used to use a 1980’s style rice cooker. Just one button. Wash the rice. Put it in. Add water. Put on lid. Push button. Different rice requires different amounts of water, one just has to experiment for the first couple times, but all the Chinese people I know just stick their little finger on top of the rice and fill water to their first knuckle. Anyway, I switched from the cooker to a Corning Ware glass pot since I found that aluminium is just like all other heavy metals, it’s bad for you since heavy metals build up and the body isn’t designed to break it down or get rid of it. But, for convenience sake, now that I’m older and have less time on my hands, I’d like to find a rice cooker with a stainless steel inner pot (that is also not coated with plastic Teflon or other such matter). I remember some online macrobiotic company was selling them a long time ago, but am finding it hard to track down again.

Well, if anyone is looking for a rice cooker, I recommend one with a stainless pot without non-stick coatings.

Here's a stainless steel one, but wow, it has the technology of at least 20 yrs ago, just like the old one I used to use. I'd really like to have one with a congee setting and timer on there at least.

$79.95 That's a lot of money for something I'd pay about $15 for. Maybe $10.

http://www.simply-natural.biz/Miracle-Stainless-Rice-Cooker.php

This company for $99!!!!! That's crazy!!!!
http://www.natural-lifestyle.com

Are you thinking of chick peas?
[quote] There are these great squishy things you can get at the Indian store, called… cant remember, but looks like roundish bits of dried dog food half-inch in size, often in the bulk bins. Talk to some Indian friends, they'll tell you about it and how to soak and squeeze it first a few times. I chuck those in too sometimes as my Indian friends also do. Great for stews too. [/quote]

i wanna order for a rice cooker and know the price and the mode of shipment

I don't have a rice cooker, but if I bought one, it would be a no frills, old school Tatung rice cooker like the one I grew up with:

http://www.tatung.com/appliance/english/cooker/ricecooker2_en0412.htm

They're stainless steel, and built like tanks.

I use a microwave rice cooker due to lack of counter space.
It works great and I never have to worry about my rice burning over the kitchen stove...

http://www.cayneshousewares.com/cgi-bin/detail.cgi?which=345870

My Aroma rice cooker works well. Although I do wish that the bowl was stainless steel. I usually cook jasmine basmati rice & use the steamer insert for veggies like broccoli, edamame, etc. Perfect rice it's less troublesome than trying to achieve the same results on the stove But, I don't use it enough; so, I'm on the fence abt whether to keep it.

This Yahoo group may inspire us all to use rice cooker more often & outside the box in more ways than one:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ricecookerrecipes/

This group is a great resource ... I just forget they exist. Subscribe to receive emails, use their daily digest option (to avoid tons of emails) or just become a member & search (or submit) recipes at your leisure.

There are tons of Yahoo groups offering recipes, tips, etc. Just go to groups.yahoo.com and search with keywords like cook, slow cooker, soul food, crockpot, vegetarian, etc.

I have a cheapy rice cooker. $14 at target and it has a steamer tray. I LOVE it!!! Make lots of quinoa and beans, steamed acorn squash and kale. I can turn it on in the a.m. before my shower and make myself a hot and healthy lunch to take to work. Rice cooks up perfectly all on its own. Best $14 I ever spent!

Why would people buy a rice cooker just to make rice! It can be so easily cooked in a microwave. Add twice as much water as the rice you have and microwave it for 15 mins. Remove to check if the rice still has a little extra water - if yes, then microwave for 4-5 more mins. Makes perfect rice everytime and never burns.
I even add spices and veggies in the rice to make pilaf in the microwave. no stirring and no pans to wash!

My mom also washes & soaks her rice. However, it has the side effect of removing all of the vitamins that the rice has been fortified with, so I don't wash my own rice.

I use a rice cooker every night: garlic, onion, pinch salt, drop oil, cilantro at the very end. The rice cooker does a great reliable job, and I paid $20 for it. It spits a little but I don't care -- I wipe up my counters anyway after cooking, right?

IMO rice in a rice cooker comes out better than in a microwave and slightly worse than rice on the stove (assuming you are good at cooking it on the stove). On the stove, I like slightly burning the bottom of the rice so that it's crunchy and brown (but not smoked or stuck to the pan), and then snacking on the toasted rice. You can't do that in a rice cooker!

Nix my previous post about deciding whether or not to keep my Aroma rice cooker that I hardly ever use ... the on-switch just died!

Good news is ... yum!
* Rice turned out perfect in a pot (added shake of lemon juice & chopped lemon zest & cilantro to jasmine rice towards the end).
* Roasted the broccoli with coconut oil & drizzled honey, lemon juice & a dash of cayenne pepper towards the end
* Costco took it back with no receipt & I bought something that I needed ... love that place!

Why did I buy a rice cooker (it's not like me to buy a specialty one-use appliance)? I love to cook ... but, I used to hate cooking some of my favorite simple dishes like rice, cream of wheat & oatmeal because they can boil over if you are multi-tasking. A dear friend served use rice from her rice cooker a few years ago & I was hooked. Costco had just the right rice cooker for me ...

But, my rice cooker purchase always seemed like such a waste. Since then, I've learned what my favorite rices are, how best to cook them on the stove & that I must use a timer.

Down-sizing was a blessing ... both revelation & clarification for us in so many ways ... as we left intangible clutter behind, tangible clutter became crystal clear in our new home. Location, location, location ... my most loved/used kitchen items (cast iron, stainless steel cookware, KitchenAid mixer, Cuisinart food processor, crockpot, great knives, quality utensils, etc.) get the best seats. That rice cooker just got in the way & then it stopped working! Ironic how that clutter cleared itself ... wouldn't it be great if all clutter cleared itself?! ;-)