Anonymous wrote:Get a round glass casserole dish with a top. Add rice and water (the water should cover the rice by a half inch or so--just so the rice doesn't burn). Cook in microwave with the top on for twenty minutes. Drain most of the water but leave just enough that you can see it up to the where the rice at the top of the dish is. Put the cover back on and back in the microwave for ten more minutes. Take it out of the oven and set it on the counter to steam the rice. No worries about plastic or liners leaching into the food. Easy peasy.

OR...

buy a rice cooker, add rice and water, press a button, and 30 min later, you have steamed rice!

Get a round glass casserole dish with a top. Add rice and water (the water should cover the rice by a half inch or so--just so the rice doesn't burn). Cook in microwave with the top on for twenty minutes. Drain most of the water but leave just enough that you can see it up to the where the rice at the top of the dish is. Put the cover back on and back in the microwave for ten more minutes. Take it out of the oven and set it on the counter to steam the rice. No worries about plastic or liners leaching into the food. Easy peasy.

I bought a cheapo $13 3-cup cooker made by Aroma on Amazon. It has an aluminum pot, and I love it! It replaced my fancy Zoji with a non-stick pot that was scratched up and would've cost $30 to replace. Just the pot! And I hated the Zoji anyway. Didn't cook very well and pain to clean. The Aroma cooks rice perfectly everytime just by using the measuring cup. I don't have a prob with cleaning the aluminum pot. Just soak, and voila, clean! No bells and whistles, but hey, it's a rice cooker! I only need it to cook rice!

this tip might not apply to you, but for all others who might be thinking about it... just make sure you get one at least with the warming setting. the timer settings are even better.

you can get el cheapo rice cookers for $20 or so, but they never include those settings which i think are huge perks worth paying more for.

This one looks good...although it does not have the induction cooking... "induction" models are SUPER expensive. This is already expensive enough.

http://www.kohls.com/kohlsStore/kitchen/electrics/cookers_steamers/steamers_ricecookers/PRD~1044813/Zojirushi+Micom+55Cup+Rice+Cooker+and+Warmer.jsp

23:23 here. I just checked, both of mine are National brand. National was a division of Panasonic for appliances. This tells you how old it is because the National brand was restricted for a few years to Asia and then phased out in 2004. Now, these same appliances are sold under the Panasonic name. I have had these two rice cookers for over 10 years and they are great. So, while I know many use Zojirushi (I have their hot water pot and my mother has one of their rice cookers), I am very devoted to my National (now Panasonic).

Really, I would just go to the local Asian supermarket (like an H-Mart) and buy one there. You'll find that the Asian markets carry pretty good quality cookers.

Can someone recommend a good Zojirushi model? I'm the Sanyo PP, and the non-stick is chipping. It's 2 years old. Would be willing to pay up to $125 or so for a great Z model with a non-stick finish that will not chip! All I need is for it to cook brown rice well. Thanks.

we have zojirushi too and love it. we use it a 2-3X a week for rice.

we also use it for steel cut oatmeal for breakfast! set it at night with 1 cup steel cut oatmeal, 4 cups water and set the timer for breakfast time. comes out perfect every time, healthy breakfast, and totally convenient.

Anonymous wrote:We have a Zojirushi, and it is fantastic. Love that you can set the timer, set it to warm, and, best of all, always cooks our rice perfectly.

We've had our Zojirushi for over 15 yrs now... still running perfectly, and still original non-stick is still going strong.
We're asian, so we've been using it about 4x per week.
I would highly recommend Z -- its quality stuff.

Thanks to everyone. This is super helpful. So I have been reading reviews of various cookers, and the zojirushi sounds like the best one, but even those that are stainless steel on the outside have nonstick coatings on the interior. Hmmmm. So then I looked at a few other brands that have stainless steel interiors, and the reviews suggest that they are an absolute horror to clean (requiring multiple soaking and wasting a decent amount of rice each time), such that people come to dread using them.

I am usually not a fan of non-stick either, but in this case, is it "worth" it?

I'm Chinese. I have not only one, but two rice cookers. I have the daily one which goes up to 6 cups (can put up to 2 cups rice and 4 cups water) and the larger 10 cup cooker which is used when I'm making larger quantities for something like a party or for a big pot of fried rice.

It would feel like blasphemy to not have one in my household.

We have a Zojirushi, and it is fantastic. Love that you can set the timer, set it to warm, and, best of all, always cooks our rice perfectly.

We use the rice cooker every time we make rice, which is about once a week. I really like it - I always think of that infomercial that says "you set it and forget it" since you don't have to monitor a pot on the stove.

Mine has an aluminum container (but not a non-stick coating) and I wish it was stainless steel.

Love my rice cooker. I use it at least 3 times per week, for both white and brown rice. Can't live without it. By contrast, I have never once used my KitchenAid stand mixer, and the food processor is pulled out only once a year to make latkes.

This is the rice cooker I bought a year ago to replace my 20 year old Tiger. It was recommended by Cook's Illustrated, I think.

http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-ECJ-N55W-Uncooked-Electric-Porridge/dp/B000FEH1Q2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339185146&sr=8-1

It works well. However, I wish I had one that had a stainless steel interior rather than nonstick. (I've given up all other non-stick cookware.)

I have 4 little boys under 5. They all like rice, so we do make a fair amount of it (not to mention that it is a cost effective/healthy addition to meals). I don't have a rice cooker at present, but I am thinking it could be useful going forward. Do you use yours or is it one of those things that just collects dust? If so, what kind do you have? What would you recommend? Thx!