Sunday, November 29, 2009

Zojirushi NHS-18 10-Cup Rice Cooker/Steamer & Warmer


Product Description

Plump moist grains of rice and brilliantly colored flavorful vegetables are yours with this steamer. Steaming not only preserves nutrients, flavors, and colors marvelously well, it also allows you to cook without adding oil or fat. Once your food is cooked it will stay warm until you're ready to serve, eliminating those timing headaches. And last but surely not least, the cooking pan is removable and non-stick, ensuring your precious time isn't spent cleaning up.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #4150 in Kitchen & Housewares
* Brand: Zojirushi
* Model: NHS-18
* Number of items: 1
* Dimensions: 9.40" h x 12.80" w x 10.00" l, 6.80 pounds

Features

* Cooks rice and keeps it warm up to five hours
* Use also to steam seafood and vegetables and to cook custards and eggs
* Measuring cup and serving spatula included
* Uses 600 watts of power
* 9-1/4 inches high to lid knob; 13 inches in diameter, including handles


Amazon.com Review
Busy cooks cherish rice cookers. This is Zojirrushi's largest, suitable for cooking up to 10 cups of dry rice (white or brown) and keeping it warm up to five hours. A separate tray steams seafood and vegetables, cooks hard- or soft-boiled eggs, and even makes tender custards. Instructions and a cooking chart explain everything. A measuring cup and serving spatula are included. A glass lid permits monitoring of the cooking process. The cooker/steamer operates with admirable simplicity: just push a switch to start. The switch and a light turn off when cooking is completed, and the unit automatically goes into its keep-warm mode. Stay-cool handles on the cooker/steamer's sides permit it to be moved. Only plastic scrubbers and mild detergent should be used for cleaning. --Fred Brack


Customer Reviews

Very Important5
This is an excellent rice cooker but I would like to point out something very important. The directions say specifically that you must wash the rice in a strainer until the water that runs through them comes out clear. This is very important. If you are having problems with the rice bubbling up over the top of the rice cooker and getting on the counter, you probably aren't washing the rice or aren't washing it well enough. Also if you are having problems with a crust on the bottom of the rice, you probably aren't washing the rice or aren't washing it well enough. Start washing your rice and you probably won't see those two problems again. Also the rice comes out much fluffier and less gummy if you wash it.

The reason for this is that, when you get uncooked rice, there is a large amount of excess starch that is stuck to the outside of the rice that gets stuck there when the rice is processes.

Be sure to wash your rice...4
I love my rice cooker and use it several times a week! But you need to wash your rice thoroughly before cooking. This will help with the "spitting water" problem the cooker has.

I enjoy using the steamer for kale, broccoli, cauliflower, or carrots. The only trick is learning when to put the veggies in while the rice is cooking so that the veggies don't overcook.

My brown rice tends to clump and stick on the bottom, even when the rice is washed. That's one problem that keeps me from rating this as a 5 star machine. The other problem is that the instruction booklet is poorly done. Brown rice needs to soak for 30 minutes before starting to cook.

what? rice again?!!...............you bet!!5
i just wanted to add my two cents to help offset some of the negative reviews. i bought this particular cooker due to the positive reviews both here and on some other websites. i wanted a cooker due to being tired of cooking potatoes with most meals and getting tired of them. i received the unit very quickly and immediately tried it out. i wanted to try brown rice first, so i washed it briefly and put it in the machine to cook. shortly, a mass of bubbles filled below the lid and started 'sputtering' through the steam hole. not happy about the mess it was making, i endured it and ended up eating some fairly good rice with my first meal. i thought "yeah, they were right, it's messy, what a bummer". so, round two and three, i cooked some more, this time trying varieties of white rice and both resulting in a repeat of the first messy attempt, along with some 'browning' of the rices on the bottom of the pan. again i thought "this is no fun, friends or guests are going to think this is a piece of junk". by this time, i had been reading quite a bit on the 'net about rice, and concluded that a more thorough rinsing of the grains were in order, so my fourth round started off with such, along with an accurate measurement of rice and water, and....a pat of butter thrown in......i thought maybe it might help it from sticking or browning in the bottom. the result......perfect rice! i'm now making that my preparation regimen and i'm getting better results each time. i'm convinced that the errors others are reporting are not the machine's fault and i'm also convinced that, like most other machines, the user needs to figure out how to use it. in a short time a person should be able to make perfect rice repeatedly. to help the bottom-sticking, i'm also now opening the lid and giving a couple of stirs a couple of times through the cooking cycle. also note, like others have said that washing the rice is a must (maybe up to and including soaking, but i haven't tried that yet), as you are washing off a lot of the starch that helps make the mess in the first place. take note of the type of rice you buy. some rices have been stripped of their vitamins and have them 'sprayed back on', the bags will have instructions on them telling you to NOT wash the rice. i would avoid those types. i have yet to steam veggies or whole meals in it, but i'm sure i can get good results from it just as well.

good luck and good health!

No comments:

Post a Comment