Rice Cooker - €15 Argos

witnessmenow

Link



Half price at the moment, a few in stock in Athlone anyways.

really handy way of cooking rice, automatically switches itself to "warm" mode when its finished cooking and apparently your able to keep it warm for up to 12 hours.

GerardKeating

witnessmenow wrote: »

Link



Half price at the moment, a few in stock in Athlone anyways.

really handy way of cooking rice, automatically switches itself to "warm" mode when its finished cooking and apparently your able to keep it warm for up to 12 hours.

+1 o the rice cookers, excellent idea and value.

tman

Never understood the appeal of rice cookers tbh... They're up there with boil in the bag rice in the utterly pointless stakes imo.

You'd swear it was actually difficult to cook rice

Having said that, it is quite a bargain!!

abouttobebanned

It just boils water haha. I got one from aldi a while back for that price. No offence OP.

Eemia

Lidl are doing a bigger one with extra veg steamer compartment. Its got 3 yr guarantee also. Personally it looks better too

http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20100408.p.Stainless_Steel_Rice_Cooker


I don't see the point in these but someone might find it useful

carab

I have one of these that I got half price in argos years ago, its great, we use it all the time!!:)

curly from cork

im looking to buy one ! thanks OP .

VonLuck

tman wrote: »

Never understood the appeal of rice cookers tbh... They're up there with boil in the bag rice in the utterly pointless stakes imo.

You'd swear it was actually difficult to cook rice

Having said that, it is quite a bargain!!

Rice cookers are pretty pointless alright. 10 minutes in hot water and you're done.

Boil in the bad on the other hand are brilliant! You get the exact same amount of rice each time and it's much easier to take out of the saucepan and put on your plate. It's a real pain trying to drain off the water and get all the rice on your plate with ordinary rice...

wil

VonLuck wrote: »

Boil in the bad ...

Yep thats exactly right:rolleyes:

However considering most of the Asian world wouldn't be without their rice cookers, I'll take it from those that probably know, rice cookers are the easy way to cook rice perfectly every time, fill, forget and eat.
No draining, no burning, no waste, no effort.

Pretty good price, but I think I might splurge on the prettier stainless steel Lidl version.

Now if you could just get an equivalent spud cooker.......,

Thirdfox

wil wrote: »

Yep thats exactly right:rolleyes:

However considering most of the Asian world wouldn't be without their rice cookers, I'll take it from those that probably know, rice cookers are the easy way to cook rice perfectly every time, fill, forget and eat.
No draining, no burning, no waste, no effort.

Pretty good price, but I think I might splurge on the prettier stainless steel Lidl version.

Now if you could just get an equivalent spud cooker.......,

Hehe - speaking as an Asian who likes his rice cooked quickly and without the mess - nowadays many of us use the plastic microwave rice cooker... 22 minutes, high power and perfect rice - no need to monitor the microwave and you don't end up with hard pieces of rice stuck on the bottom of the pan.



Something like that - they can be gotten very cheaply (I might have got mine in Dunnes?) Steams vegetables and fish too...apparently mine can make popcorn in the microwave? Never tried it.

We used to have rice cookers - moved to the microwave 4-5 years ago and haven't looked back.

(eating rice for the last 18 years now )

That is a good price for a rice cooker though - but my suggestion is the microwave container.

Esel

Guys, try this cooking method - cooks the rice perfectly, and no draining required. It's called Creole rice, and I got the recipe years ago in France.

1. Use your kettle to boil twice as much water by volume (i.e. if cooking 2 cups rice, boil 4 cups water).

2. Heat a small amount of oil in saucepan (depends on how much rice you are cooking - say 2 tsp oil per cup of rice).

3. Add rice to saucepan, stir and heat for 2 or 3 minutes. Keep stirring, so the rice does not burn. I add a pinch of salt at this stage.

4. Carefully ! add the boiling water (I find just less than 2x works best - say 3.5 cups water to 2 cups rice). Carefully, because the saucepan should be hot by now, and it can sputter when you add the boiling water.

5. Immediately reduce heat to the lowest simmer you can achieve, stir well before covering with a well-sealing lid, and cook for 15 minutes only. Do not remove cover during cooking.

Result: Perfect, fluffy, dry rice.

Who needs a rice cooker?

CuppaCocoa

I have one of the Lidl ones. I find them great. I've never been able to produce perfect rice, it's always too soggy. The rice cooker gives me lovely fluffy rice with no fuss. However, I wouldn't advise anyone to keep rice on the 'warm' setting for more than 10 mins (never mind 12 hours :eek:). You end up with a hard skin on the bottom. I always remove the inner pot and keep the lid on when the rice is cooked.

The Argos model looks good. I have the same make in a slow cooker which is fantastic.

witnessmenow

esel wrote: »

Guys, try this cooking method - cooks the rice perfectly, and no draining required. It's called Creole rice, and I got the recipe years ago in France.

1. Use your kettle to boil twice as much water by volume (i.e. if cooking 2 cups rice, boil 4 cups water).

2. Heat a small amount of oil in saucepan (depends on how much rice you are cooking - say 2 tsp oil per cup of rice).

3. Add rice to saucepan, stir and heat for 2 or 3 minutes. Keep stirring, so the rice does not burn. I add a pinch of salt at this stage.

4. Carefully ! add the boiling water (I find just less than 2x works best - say 3.5 cups water to 2 cups rice). Carefully, because the saucepan should be hot by now, and it can sputter when you add the boiling water.

5. Immediately reduce heat to the lowest simmer you can achieve, stir well before covering with a well-sealing lid, and cook for 15 minutes only. Do not remove cover during cooking.

Result: Perfect, fluffy, dry rice.

Who needs a rice cooker?

Your right it isn't the hardest thing to do but you dont need to monitor it at all, just turn it on and go off and do something else.


1. Add how many cups of rice you need to the rice cooker

2. Fill the bowl to the equivalent level with water (eg. 2 cups = fill water to level 2)

3. Press button and wait for it to flick to "warm"

lindtee

Agree with thirdfox. We have a microwave rice cooker and its great:) I think you could pick one up from Heatons for about a fiver. Been using one for the past 10 years and couldn't imagine having to use a saucepan for rice, too much trouble:p

rubadub

I would not eat rice often enough to warrant a specific gadget for it, another thing taking up space. I would recommend a pressure cooker as an alternative, cooks rice, even brown rice, in minutes. It can be used as a regular pot too of course and is very energy efficient. I looked at all reviews and got this one and have had no trouble with it, nice and big.

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/8610351/Trail/searchtext%3EHIGH+DOME.htm

positron

Pressure cooked rice tastes different to your normal rice, and it would be slightly more sticky too. Having said that, pressure cooked rice is far healthier than normal rice, just like with anything pressure cooked. Pressure cooking is way more energy efficient and healthy than any other method of cooking, I am surprised that it's not popular here in Ireland. Lentils for instance, takes approx 40 mins to cook in a ordinary pot, but can be done in about 5 minutes in the pressure cooker, and then you can leave the cooker aside to cook for another 3-5 minutes on it's own, it's just brilliant.

wil

Thirdfox wrote: »

... and you don't end up with hard pieces of rice stuck on the bottom of the pan.
.

That's the best bit.:)

I'd say the rice cooker is far more common than the microwave in most Asian households.

wil

positron wrote: »

I am surprised that it's not popular here in Ireland. .

They used to be very popular 0ver 20 years ago until a spate of exploded dinners on kitchen ceilings put people off and the microwave started becoming popular. (stuck valves and dodgy makes probably)
Seem to be making a slight comeback. There is one in Lidl this week I think.

rubadub

wil wrote: »

They used to be very popular 0ver 20 years ago until a spate of exploded dinners on kitchen ceilings put people off.

Yeah, many people have an irrational fear of them, they are still very popular in the US, they do "canning" there, I have done this myself which is sterilizing them. Nowadays they come with lots of safety features, the one I listed has a gap on the lid which allows the gasket to blow out, even if all the lid devices were blocked.

deisemum

positron wrote: »

I am surprised that it's not popular here in Ireland.

They were a fad purchase 30 or so years ago, most households in my area had them. My mother never had any exploding problems from them but we didn't like anything that she cooked in it and buried it in the garden. My husband said the same about them and his mother is an excellent cook.

Supercell

Every Chinese family i've visited has a rice cooker so there must be something in it! Only one had a microwave (and used it to cook rice), then again microwaves are not as common over there. They used their rice cooker though for bigger meals when they have guests over.