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Comment by Herring | Hacker News Reader

For convenience, my rice cooker has been a godsend. I'm basically making homemade chipotle bowls every day.

Funny I recently ditched my rice cooker and got a clay pot, in response to the rising food price at restaurants. While I am chasing a perfect clay pot rice with golden crispy but not greasy and burnt bottom and fluffy center, I found out cooking rice on gas is not as complicated as we imagine. Soak the rice for a while, cook on high heat till water is evaporated on the top, dial down to low flame, put on toppings, closed the lid simmer for a while, then let the residual heat of the clay pot to finish the job. The result is perfectly serviceable, of course extra care would elevate the dish a lot. Also you can use a bowl and steam the rice, with toppings if you like.

If you don’t have one, try an Instant Pot which can pressure cook (in addition to rice cooker features). Dry beans can be ready to eat in an hour.

Instant Pot Garbanzo beans/chickpeas with a tiny bit of salt are a favorite in my home. Creamy, savory, and delicious! Cannellini beans are also lovely.

Fancy (Asian) rice cookers use pressure

Similarly, get a sous vide setup with vacuum sealer. Buy chicken breast and dump it into a bag with a bunch of seasoning. Because sous vide heats it just above bug-killing temperature and will not burn the meat, you can leave it in for an indeterminate amount of time (on the scale of hours, not days) and take it out when desired.

I like the idea but cooking in plastic bags is also somewhat of a concern for me.

I do homemade Cava bowls in it! Less salt, fewer pesticides, and fewer preservatives than the actual thing.

Lately I’ve been using more microwave rice just because it’s less cooking and cleanup, but still good overall.

Take care of it, don’t scratch it too much while cleaning otherwise the non-stick can leak out. Then it becomes a serious health issue.

Yeah thankfully I went with ceramic, not nonstick.

Rice cooker is great. I also use my Instant Pot a ton. Incredibly convenient and an invaluable time saver.

We use our IP to make yogurt (discussed in depth above). Easy to make and when strained, better than any store bought Greek yogurt.

Also decent for sous vide. I use a big glass jar instead of plastic bags, which are a health concern.

Have you tried making kefir? It’s much easier and likely better if you’re going for probiotics.

You can make quinoa in a rice cooker also, turns out great.

I don't get the rice cooker hype. Its so easy to make rice in the pot already. Cup of rice. Cup and a half of water. Pinch of salt. Bring to boil then set to simmer. Put lid on. 15 min timer. Perfect rice.

The way people talk about making rice online and having to seek out a rice cooker makes me wonder what they are even doing when they fail at making rice.

When Jobs came out with the iPhone were you like “I don’t get it just use a phone and a mp3 player perfect”

We are talking about cooking rice here...

Clean up is much easier with a ceramic vessel and properly sealing rice cookers use less water.

We are talking about a cup of water here. And cleanup wise its pretty easy. I use a stainless steel pot. After I've finished with it, soak in water, come back in 10-20 mins, it just sloughs out.

Mēh

I used to cook a lot of rice and have always used a simple pot

Very easy....

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