Are rice cookers only for lazy people?

I’ll always remember in college a frind of mine from Hong Kong had 2 Chineese roommates and on their counter was 3 rice cookers. One day as soon as I walked through his door I saw 4 rice cookers and ask, “did you get another roommate?” and he said yes, how did you know?

My wife had an old Tatung rice cooker that had many pieces to it that was so involved to set up that we never used it; I just cooked rice on the stove rather than deal with it. Then while shopping I saw a $10 rice cooker and on a whim got it. It is just a simple one with one non-stick pot and it somehow senses when all the water is boiled off and turns itself off. I don’t have to watch it, just measure and rinse my rice, measure the water and let it do its thing. When I’m cooking it is one less thing to have to time or watch.

The one drawback to rice cookers is that they don’t always do such a great job with brown rice. White rice always comes out perfect but brown rice is a challenge. I’ve found that rinsing brown rice isn’t enough; you have to soak it in warm water for a good while before rinsing it out. When I do this it comes out very well though there is still some gummy rice on bottom that I have to throw out.

I also have a computerized steamer that can steam rice. It has 3 compartments so sometimes I’ll put vegetables in 2 of the compartments, rice in the third. If you put on food that needs different times It starts them so they are all ready at the same time.

If you’re a busy person or in a hurry you should use it. But you should try cooking on the stove too if you have time to experiment. It might turn out good. Put some beans and turmeric too to try out different stuff.

It’s a kitchen gadget - why buy a toaster, when you can make toast in the oven? Because then you don’t have to start up the whole oven just to make toast. Same with a rice cooker - most don’t do anything special, but they can use a small amount less of electricity, so they’re more economical that way.

However, there are those “fuzzy rice cookers” that are interesting. You just fill with similar amounts of water & rice, and the cooker will auto adjust, so things turn out much better if you tried the same cooking in a normal pot. The fuzzy rice cookers are more expensive than the regular variety though.