Of the Humble Rice Cooker

My humble rice cooker has already proved useful. If not for it, I really don't know what I'd do. Although it is possible and fairly simple to cook rice in a pot, it tastes better from a rice cooker. The sheer importance in Japan makes it necessary some money on your rice cooker. 

This value placed on rice is due to history. In the past, rice was a prized commodity. When the shogun, or traveling bands of samurai took over a town, they would claim the rice from the locals. The amount and quality of your rice was a sign of your wealth. During the famines, people would often eat only a couple grains of rice as a meal. Since food was so scarce, every grain was prized. This tradition continues today in the Japanese language. The word for cooked rice and meal is the same, gohan (御飯). In a rice bowl, every grain must be finished. No matter how difficult it is to get out. 

Today, there a few varieties of rice. The first is the standard unwashed rice. This rice is still covered in starch and needs to be washed before it can be eaten. The second type is pre-washed rice, or musenmai (無洗米). It's not necessary to wash this rice, but you can still do so to get rid of any remaining starch. Musenmai is normally slightly more expensive due to its convenience. There is also mochi. Mochi is a type of sticky, soft rice. It is smaller and is formed into the numerous sweets that are so popular here. Although brown rice exists here, white rice is more popular. It's believed that it tastes better, and to be honest, I think it's perceived as clean and appealing to the eye.

Rice is normally served plain in a small rice bowl, or chawan (茶碗). The chawan is valued for both its beauty and its simplicity. Mine is pictured below. Although you will at times see sesame seeds and some dry flavoring on top called furikake, it's not common to add sauce since this "dirties" the rice. It's considered fairly childish.

This brings us to the actual topic of this post, which is the rice cooker. Rice cookers have become popular in recent years as people have become busier. There is now a decent portion of the population that cannot cook rice in a pot. The rice cooker, or suihanki (炊飯器) has really perfected the rice-making process.

You note that mine is currently open since I'm letting it dry. Of course there are things to consider such as size, but there are a couple aspects to a rice cooker that are important. The first is the pot or nabe. The pot should be somewhat thick and made of metal. This prevents the rice from burning, or the pot from melting. If you want your rice to be moist and fluffy, this is an important aspect. The second thing that's important is this little piece on top. It's removable. The steam rises up through this lid. If you leave it in the cooker, the rubber will be moldy and the metal will rust. Japan is just an exceptionally humid country. Therefore, if you remove it and wash it every time, your rice cooker will last you decades.

The next part that I wanted to cover is the degree of customization. There's a standard setting, a quick-cook, a musenmai setting, options for brown rice and barley/wheat and mochi, as well as setting like okayu. Okayu is rice porridge, it's normally eaten when you feel ill. You can also set the rice cooker to start at a certain time or to delay it if you're ready to eat yet.

The simplest way to cook delicious rice is to wash it with water first. You need to get all the dirt and starch off the rice for it to be light and delicious. You should then add the water and let the rice sit in the pot for 20 minutes. This lets the rice absorb the water, so it will cook evenly and remain moist. Finally, you can start cooking the rice. When you're done, if you don't eat all of it, put it into a container or separate it into meal-size portions of plastic wrap. If you'll eat it within a day or two, it's fine to put in the fridge. Rice freezes well though, so you can put it into the freezer without any problem. Enjoy the rice!