Is rice your staple diet? If yes, then a rice cooker is one of the crucial investments you’ll have to make in your kitchen.
Hundreds of rice cookers are available, but not many come close to the Asian rice cookers in terms of quality, unique features, and performance. The Asian units are simply the Ferrari of rice cookers!
Here are 5 top reasons why Asian rice cookers are better and why you should get one for yourself today.
1. Better cooking results
Asian rice cookers will cook your rice perfectly every time compared to using the cheap models or cooking over the stovetop.
One of the common complaints around other cookers is that they don’t make good rice. You can get your rice real mushy, and sometimes the grains look gorged and uneven. They also don’t cook all the grains evenly.
Enter an Asian rice cooker. It’s the case of perfection! It cooks all your rice grains evenly, and each grain comes out individually (no sticking to each other). None of the grains break. It’s just the unit you need for perfectly cooked rice.
The Asian models come equipped with a custom cooking timer to let you know when the cooking is done, eliminating the possibility of overcooked rice.
What’s more, if you don’t get your water to rice ratio right, a high-end Asian rice cooker is more forgiving than a basic rice cooker.
And when the rice is ready, this guy will sing to you to let you know you know it’s time. Many people find this lovely compared to the clicking function in other rice cookers.
2. Advanced cooking options
Basic rice cookers are essential in that you add rice and water, hit the start button, and let your rice cook. But Asian models come with additional controls which make rice cooking easier for you.
These cookers can make precise temperature adjustments quickly to ensure you get perfectly cooked rice. They even come with their measuring cups to ensure you don’t need to worry about messing up the water to grain ratio.
An easy-to-read digital display window lets you check the cooking progress—i.e., how long your rice has been cooking, the cooking temperature, and the remaining cooking time.
Other valuable controls you get from these Asian rice cookers include scheduled cooking, delay-start cooking, long-simmered cooking, real-time temperature, and humidity adjustment, and quick-cook options.
3. They can cook various types of rice
It’s worth noting that these futuristic rice cooking devices from Asian counties are also great for cooking various types of rice.
It’s a giant leap from the ordinary cookers, which only do well for white rice. The best Asian rice cookers come with programmable functions that let you cook different rice varieties to perfection.
Whether you want to cook brown rice, sushi, basmati rice, porridge, etc., you select the correct settings and let your unit do its thing!
4. Multi-functional capabilities
These rice cookers from Japan, China, and those Asian countries cook your white rice perfectly, cook other rice varieties, but they don’t stop there.
They come with multi-function capabilities to let you cook other food items apart from rice.
You can bet on them to make your meals such as oatmeal, soups, porridge, stews, and even veggies. With a single unit that can do just soo much, you’ll end up reducing the clutter in your kitchen, right?
Some of these models will even let you turn them into slow cookers or pressure cooking devices—further placing them above the standard rice cooking decides you’ve known for years.
5. They keep your food warm for long
Another gear advantage that Asian rice cookers have over the traditional models is keeping your food warm.
The units come equipped with a Keep Warm function that does what sounds like—keep your rice warm long after cooking.
You don’t even have to bother with the settings for this warm function to kick in. Right after you cook your food, the unit will change the setting to Warm to keep your food warm for days and days.
You can get a Zojirushi rice cooker that keeps your rice warm for up to 10 days (or until your rice goes bad!).
This feature is beneficial for families where people eat at different times.
Bonus: Asian rice cookers are high-quality
You might not know about Japanese and other Asian manufacturers because they don’t sacrifice quality for the price. They make their cookware with the highest quality materials available, which explains why they usually feature a high price tag.
The top-rated rice cookers from these countries come with a stainless steel skeleton, which has excellent resistance to damage and the ability to withstand high temperatures. It translates to maximum durability and longevity over aluminum-made models.
The inner layer is made of non-stick and durable for easy cleaning and added longevity. Other rice cookers have a sticky layer at the bottom, which chips off easily and takes time and energy to clean.
Final verdict
Asian rice cookers are real game-changers in the way you cook rice. The units are made with high-quality materials and feature a list of advanced cooking functions to produce perfectly cooked rice every time. If you cook rice more often, the top reasons we have just discussed in this post will open your eyes to why an Asian-made rice cooker is a missing link to your perfectly cooked rice.