Some of the handiest kitchen appliances available today are the rice cookers and steamers. These little electric pots can do so much that they are going to get used regularly in your home. They are easy to use and to clean up. In addition to cooking rice, they can be used to steam vegetables and to boil past or soups.

Rice cookers were initially designed to cook rice and they do it perfectly every time. The rice cooker is equipped with a thermostat in the bottom of the cooker that senses when the rice is perfectly cooked. This thermostat causes a switch to turn the pot from high heat to warm at exactly the correct time to give perfect rice without burning or scorching of your food. You can have real rice ready to serve your family almost as fast as you could have served them instant rice with its inferior flavor and texture. You don’t need a commercial rice cooker to get great results.

Rice is a food that is considered a staple in much of the world. It does not require washing, pealing or dicing like potatoes. In fact, you will find it much easier to prepare rice than potatoes, especially with a rice cooker. You just need to add the rice to the pot, add water to the correct mark and press the start button. In a few minutes you will have perfect rice.

In addition to cooking rice, rice cookers can also make a great steamer. Vegetables can even be steamed at the same time you are cooking rice. This allows you to save both time and electricity. You can also steam the vegetables without cooking rice if it is not on your menu for the evening. Hot dogs can also be steamed just like those at the ballpark. Fish cooks to perfection in the steam basket.

If you have one family member that refuses to eat rice, dice up a potato in the steamer basket for him to cook while you fix nutritious rice for the rest of the family.

The pot of the rice cooker can be used to boil foods as well. Just remember that the liquid in the pot is going to boil at full heat setting. This will burn cream soups, but is ideal for those that are broth based. These soups include many vegetable soups, hot and sour soup or egg drop soup. Pasta can also be boiled in the rice cooker pot as can potatoes for mashers.

A rice cooker equipped with a nonstick pan makes cleanup very easy. Hardly any rice should stick in the nonstick pan. After the rice is placed in the serving dish, the pot can be rinsed and dried so that it is ready for the next cooking of rice. Since rice is not stirred during cooking, there is little danger of scratches to the nonstick surface. An Oster rice cooker is a good starting point.

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