Perfect Rice With The Right Rice Cooker
Most of you would have argued that taste of rice depends on the grade of the rice and not the rice cooker. But do you know that actually different type of rice cooker would produce different quality of cooked-rice? There are generally 3 types of Rice Cookers in the market.
1. The Conventional type and also the cheapest type which has basic rice cooking function only. It has an unattached lid cover for easy cleaning. Design is very conventional though. Some lids may come with transparent glass for you to "watch" the cooking process.
2. The Mechanical Jar Rice Cooker, depending on brands and models, this type may come with porridge cooking function which can also be used as slow cooking for soup.
3. The Micon Rice Cooker, which is the most expensive type. It has lots of features depends on models. This premium rice cooker is also nicknamed "fuzzy logic cooker" or in layman’s terms, SMART cooker. It is programed to read different kinds of rice and adjust the setting automatically. Hence you get perfect rice at al times. Most models other than having rice and porridge cooking function are also programmed to bake cake, sushi, brown rice and even nasi lemak. It has other features such as pre-set timer.
The next question will be which type should you choose. I have used all the 3 types of rice cookers and presently I am using the Micon type. The Micon type, other than more choices of features, it can produce the tastiest rice. The most attractive point will be the keep warm function. If you keep the rice warm for more than 5 hours, there will not be any browning at the base of the rice in comparison to the conventional and mechanical jar type. The moisture is still well-maintained, texture of the rice is still soft and you still get the aroma of the rice. And if you always have varieties of rice to cook, don’t think twice. Get a Micon model. The set back of course is the pricier tag. But then, I would say go for the value, not the price!
Different brands, different models can have varieties of features to suit your rice-cooking needs. Be sure to check them all out before you buy the next rice cooker.
Pictures courtesy of Panasonic
