Great Simple Rice

This "Zoji" replaces our family's first rice cooker, after 10 years with an adequate unit of another brand. After asking a few friends for their recommendations, it was clear that Zojirushi was tops. We love it and make rice more frequently - it's so simple.

It's a great design and cleans easily inside & out (except for the steam vent cap, which requires more care.) The light weight metal inner pan (cooking bowl) has a non-stick surface, and is removable for cleaning. Even the cord retracts/winds up into the base for easy storage.

If you make rice daily, this is the one you want, and you can actually leave the rice inside on the "warm" setting without burning or browning.

For those who have always cooked rice on the stovetop and wondered about rice cookers - trust me, this makes life so easy! Pour the rice in with the included measure, fill with water to the appropriate line, plug it in, close the lid and start. It clicks over to "warm" when the rice is ready. There's nothing else to do. (These were the directions for my previous cooker too - but it always started browning and ruining the rice.)

(Note: for sticky rice, don't leave the rice on warm for more than 10-15 minutes. The continued warming will continue to release steam and result in rice that is more dry - perfect for rice you wish to fluff.)

The instructions say that you can cook with many varieties of rice but advise you not to add any ingredients (e.g. substitute chicken stock for water.) I haven't tried it yet, but I suspect that you'd have no problems if you did. Perhaps your next plain batch would retain the flavoring?

For a reasonably small counter-sized 5 cup rice cooker, this is the one. Hope your family enjoys it as much as ours.

Dimensions: 12" deep by 9" wide "footprint", 9" height closed, 18" open with easy touch of front latch.