Despite having been given plenty of tips on how to cook the perfect rice I've found out the hard way that using a rice cooker is the only way I can produce anything edible. This being my third such cooker - the first one died having provided faithful service for a few years, the second was rubbish, I'm glad to say I've found it a pleasure to use in the six months I have owned it. It produces perfect rice every time and is easy to use, clean and store. It is a great buy for the purchase price; currently £24.99 at Sainsburys but quite often on offer for a little less, I paid £15 for mine.

What you get:

The rice cooker consists of a bowl, into which you place the uncooked rice and water (full instructions along with a measuring cup come with the appliance), which fits into an outer body. It is a little bit like a slow cooker in looks, as you can see from the photo it is a nice looking item, the shiny stainless steel body is easy to clean and it has non slip feet and stay cool handles on both the body and lid, as well as a generous cord length. The cooker also comes with a guarantee and a plastic rice serving spoon.

In Use:

There is nothing complicated at all about operating the rice cooker, the button on the front is pushed down once you have added your rice and water (roughly equal amounts of each).and the rice cooker will cook the rice and then keep it warm until you want to eat it. The two LED's on the front are easy to see and you can see at a glance if your rice is ready to eat. It takes about twenty minutes to cook enough rice for my family from start to finish, and despite using this several times a week I've yet to make a dodgy batch. Where my previous rice cooker used to cough, splutter and produce alarming amounts of steam and noise during cooking, the Sainsbury's cooker which is an impressive 650w cooks quickly and with minimal noise and steam and no fuss at all. The glass lid stays in place and it doesn't splutter gelatinous water all over the work surface like my previous, long discarded cooker did. It really makes cooking rice a breeze.


Results:

Once made the rice, which is always well cooked and never clumpy, can be served up with the special plastic spoon that is included. This both makes serving easy and protects the non-stick surface of the bowl. I haven't used the "keep warm" facility often for longer than about 20 minutes as we are normally ready to eat, within this time frame I don't find the rice to be dried out at all. I found out the hard way (cooker number two again, you guessed it) that there is absolutely no point buying a rice cooker that isn't nonstick, cleaning is a nightmare without this feature and there is a lot of waste of food. I am happy to report that there is no such problem cleaning this cooker which has a well made non-stick bowl and though a tiny amount of rice at the bottom can be a bit crunchy, there is minimal waste. The cooker copes with basmati, long grain and easy cook rice equally well. The glass lid is a really good way to see how well your rice is cooking, and it is just a real pleasure to know that your rice will be fluffy and perfectly cooked every time.

Overall:

The build quality of this cooker is excellent, and it comes with a guarantee, which I haven't had cause to use. The cooking bowl is supposed to be dishwasher safe, and it has been through my machine many times. There are no issues or obvious wear to the bowl so far, it comes up good as new every time. It's a little bit of a shame that the cooker isn't cool wall as it does get rather hot during use, so it should be used with care. I would say that the cooker is most suitable for family use, though it is quite compact (26cm by 36cm by 26.5cm), it has a 1.8 litre capacity that is probably too big for one person. It will cook smaller amounts of rice successfully but it performs best cooking up rice for 4-6 people, roughly 3 glasses or so of rice. This may not be a branded product, but it's as good as the Breville I used to own, and has been well designed and made to a standard that bellies the price it costs to buy. I own a few more Sainsbury's appliances and have always been pleased with them. I have no hesitation at all in recommending this item, if like me you like rice but are rather rubbish at cooking it, this really could be the perfect solution.