There is perhaps no one in India for whom rice is not a staple diet. The proportions may vary across regions, but Indians consume rice in one form or the other. The rice is consumed on the large scale by the south Indians, while North Indians consume it in the form of other delicacies such as Khichdi, Biryani or Pulao. The conclusion would be that rice is an integral part of every Indian cuisine.
If you are a south Indian, you would recommend a vast number of dishes made from rice. That is precisely why an electric rice cooker or steam rice machine should be what would make it one of the best options you would want to go with.
The Best Rice Cookers in India – the Comprehensive Buying Guide
Well, rice cookers come with different features and options. That would make it one of the difficult choices to make among the variety of options and models that are offered to you. That is where checking out a few buying factors assumes a lot of importance. This would be helpful in picking the best electric rice cooker that offers you precisely the same features that you are looking for.
Type of Rice Cooker
There are different rice cookers with varying features and functionalities. The type of cooker would depend on the exact features that you are looking ahead to. While the significant functionality of a rice cooker is to cook your rice, but there are other features that it offers you.
The On-Off rice cooker switches itself off when the cooking is done. There is ideally no LED indicator to let you know that. You would need to check the flip switch to find whether the cooker is in on or off position. Keep Warm cookers are designed to keep your food warm for longer periods. Then, the third option is electronic cookers that work on through the means of electricity.
Size & Capacity
The capacity of a rice cooker is calculated in terms of cups of rice. The larger capacity of the rice cooker is ideally around 6 litres. The size or capacity rice cooker you pick would be dependent on the size of your family and the consumption of rice.
For instance, if you are a family of 5 to 6 members, you would find that a rice cooker with 3 to 5 litres of capacity should be a better alternative. This would ideally translate into a three cup or 6 cup rice cookers. If you are looking for a rice cooker for commercial purposes, you will find it a great option to go with a 10 cup rice cooker.
The table below should give you a better idea:
| Capacity |
Size of the family |
| 3 cups |
4-5 members |
| 6 cups |
5-7 members |
| 10 cups |
15 – 20 members |
| 20 cups |
35 – 40 members |
Style of Cooking
Rice cookers are offered in two different cooking technologies. One of them is thermal convection, while the other is heat induction. Most of the rice cookers currently available use the thermal convection method for cooking. This will ensure that the pan is not heated up, but heated air passes through the rice.
The heat induction option is yet another technology used in the rice cookers. This process provides you with consistent cooking.
Ease of Use
A single touch operation would be one of the best options on a rice cooker. Electric rice cookers come with a host of features and a wide range of digitised features. Options such as self-timer, delay start, slow cooking, steaming, automatic keep-warm would be an added advantage.
The additional features would make your task easier and thus much preferred. However, that should not mean you would go with a rice cooker with all the best features. Just opt for the ones that offer the features that you are looking ahead to. A cooker that does not need you to monitor it constantly would be a better option.
Power Cord
The power cord on a rice cooker should either be retractable or detachable. This will ensure that you would be able to store it safely. A longer power cord would be one of the huge options that would ensure that you would be able to use it wisely enough. A high-quality power cord that has been made of best material would help you get access to the best quality performance.
Recommended Reading – Best Pressure Cooker in India
Best Electric Rice Cookers in India You Can Check Out
Well, having understood in detail about the best features you need to look for in your choice of best rice cookers, we will list out the right options that would be of good use to you. Equipped with the best possible knowledge about the right features, let us check out a few bright choices you can check out among the best rice cookers.
Prestige Delight PRWO 1-Litre – Best Electric Rice Cooker in India
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We will make a beginning with the best electric rice cooker for a limited space. In fact, it should be one of the excellent options if you have limited space in your kitchen. In fact, it has been one of the best options for cooking a wide range of other options such as porridge, soup, stew, pulao, idlis, and vegetables.
The keep-warm feature should be one of the excellent options. The total capacity of the cooker is 400 grams of rice. If your family size is around 2 to 3 people, the cooker should be a great choice. The cool-touch handles can be yet another excellent option which makes it extremely easy to use.
The detachable power cord is one of the added advantages that assist in better portability and storage. The cooker automatically switches to keep warm feature that would keep the rice warmer for around 4 hours.
Pros and Cons of Prestige Delight PRWO
Pros
- The cooker comes with a close fit lid
- A design that gels well with your kitchen ambience.
- Extremely affordable design
Cons
- The lid does not offer a see-through glass
One of the popular electric rice cookers, the Pigeon by Stovekraft Joy Rice Cooker should be the right option for a family of 3 to 4 members. The stainless steel cool touch handle can help you handle it without the need of burning your fingers. Your cooker also comes with an auto-off feature so that you do not need to monitor it.
The rice cooker provides you with a keep warm functionality that keeps your food warm for 4 to 5 hours. The aluminium cooking plate should be an excellent option for offering a universal and even heating. You have access to high-grade stainless steel lid that comes with steam vent. This enhances the cooking efficiency and prevents lathering and overflowing. The cooker comes with an additional pot that can be stacked together.
Pros and Cons of Pigeon by Stovekraft Joy
Pros
- Easy to cook with better cooking features
- A great option for bachelors or small family
- A lightweight design
Prestige PRWO 1.5 Litre – Best Electric Rice Cooker for Big Family
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Are you looking for the best possible smart cooking functionality? Then the Prestige PRWO 1.5 Litre Red Colour Rice Cooker should be your prime choice for most of your needs. The cooker does provide you access to a wide range of delicacies apart from rice. It can be used for cooking a wide range of dishes that include porridge, soup, stew, pulao, idlis, boil vegetables.
The Prestige Delight Electric rice cooker comes with a durability par excellence. The double wall strong body protects the cooker from dents and damages. The cooker comes with two options viz Cook and Warm. The cooker comes with a detachable power cord. This would help you improve the portability of your cooker.
Pros and Cons of Prestige PRWO 1.5 Litre
Pros
- Extremely power efficient cooking performance
- A close fit lid provides you access to an improved functionality
- A five year warranty on the heating plate
The Panasonic SR-WA10 450-Watt Automatic Cooker can cook rice that weighs around 600 grams. Made from a premium quality food grade material, you can be assured of a highly durable functionality. The handle is heat resistant and helps you avoid burning your fingers. The minimalistic look offered by the cooker should further make it a great choice.
The cooker comes with an anodised aluminium pan that helps you prevent the food from sticking to the pan. The more extended warranty is yet another huge advantage. Some of the enhanced features we found impressive would include auto off, auto cook, and a convenient bridge handle.
To sum up the prime features offered by this cooked, this is very cheap, but still one of the best electric rice cookers in India!
Pros and Cons of Panasonic SR-WA10
Pros
- Compact size and affordable pricing
- Easy to use design
- A low power consumption
- Premium quality material
Cons
- It does not have keep warm feature
The brand iBell is known for this range of cookware and has been the prime option for an enhanced experience in terms of a premium quality steam pot. The cookware is made of a 100 per cent stainless steel cookware. The rice cooker comes with a 1 kg capacity that should be more than enough for a larger family.
The iBell 1Kg Premium Stainless steel steam Pot helps you save time and fuel. If you are looking for the best possible experience when it comes to hygienic and quality level cooking. The side handles provide you access to a genuinely efficient handling. The high-quality rubber gasket should be something you would find rather impressive.
Pros and Cons of iBELL SS Steam Pot
Pros
- Best suited for a family of five members
- It retains heat when cooking and does not let you waste fuel
- Keeps your food hot for prolonged periods of time.
Types of Electric Rice Cookers
Well, there are different types of rice cookers available. Each of them come with their own advantages.
Here are the types of electric rice cookers you would find when choosing the right options.
Standard Rice Cookers
These are the basic rice cookers and offer you an affordable price tag. It offers you an extremely easy to use functionality. Just add up rice to the cooker and water. And you would push the ON button; the cooker start cooking your rice. Most of the times, you would get access to a detachable cord, non stick coating and other advanced features.
Improved Rice Cookers
The rice cooker comes with additional improvements, and that should be one of the added advantages. It will offer you a huge list of advanced features. They would include a digital timer, heat warming and options for cooking different recipes.
Multifunction Rice Cookers
The name should ideally let you understand the concept behind these rice cookers. They provide you access to multiple cooking options apart from cooking rice. They would offer you advanced control options. You would also be able to cook a variety of recipes.
Rice Cookers vs Pressure Cookers – How do They Differ?
Well, when it comes to the operating principle, both pressure cooker and rice cooker come with similar properties and the same working principle. Both of them use steam for cooking your food. They also tend to provide you access to a better cooking speed when compared to the other cooking methods.
However, they are not the same. The rice cookers and pressure cookers come with their own differences.
Working Principle
A pressure cooker is the steamed vessel that uses the water or other similar liquid to cook food. The system comes with a lock for the lid and thus takes considerably lesser time to cook the food when compared to the traditional method. It would also require less water to cook your food.
A rice cooker, on the other hand, comes with a thermostat, a cooking vessel, and a heating arrangement within. It comes with an automated option and lets you cook rice or other grains rather faster and quicker.
Flavoured Food
Flavoured foods such as biryani or pulao can be better cooked in a pressure cooker. They would help get the aroma getting into your food uniformly. You will find that pressure cookers come with a great taste.
A rice cooker may not offer you the same degree of aroma with your flavoured foods. The rice cookers can be the right choice for the standard rice preparations. Of course, you can cook other dishes with a rice cooker, but the taste would be better with a pressure cooker.
Cooking Efficiency
Cooking efficiency offered by a pressure cooker is extremely better than that on the rice cookers. Pressure cookers provide functionality where both heat and pressure is used for cooking the food. A rice cooker, on the other hand, uses only heat to cook food.
Rice cookers can be the best options for cooking rice and other grains. A pressure cooker can cook a variety of foods such as chicken, fish and meat.
Quantity
Pressure Cookers come with a cooking capability of a large amount of food. No matter what is the amount of food may be, the pressure cooker would be able to handle the food better. Rice cookers are limited to a few types of rice and grains only.
The significant difference between a rice cooker and pressure cooker lies in the fact that the rice cooker comes with singular functionality of cooking your rice (or the variants of rice). A pressure cooker, on the other hand, comes with a few extra features and can cook a host of other foods apart from rice. That would mean a pressure cooker can cook rice, but a rice cooker may not be able to handle the other tasks taken care of by the pressure cooker.
Of course, the fine line between a rice cooker and a pressure cooker quite thin and many rice cookers today offer multifunctional activities.
What are the Advantages of Rice Cooker?
Well, now that we have understood a few things about rice cookers, how about checking out a few advantages offered by the rice cooker? We will check out the high-end advantages provided by a rice cooker.
While the prime advantage that rice cooker would provide you access to faster cooking, it also provides you access to a few enhanced experiences.
- Rice cookers come with an option of speeding up your cooking efficiency. They can help you cook rice faster.
- They would also provide easier and better measurability of water and rice. That would translate into the rice that has the optimum consistency.
- The rice cookers neither overcook nor undercook the rice
- A few rice cookers come with a keep warm functionality that keeps the rice warm for around 4 to 5 hours.
- You need not monitoring the cooking process, as most of them shut down as soon as the rice is cooked.
Disadvantages of Rice Cookers
Well, just the way rice cookers offer you a host of advantages, they also come with a few disadvantages. Let us check out a few disadvantages associated with the best rice cookers:
- The rice cookers may be one of the excellent options for cooking rice faster, but it may not work with certain varieties of rice.
- Choosing the actual size of the cooker that you need maybe a little cumbersome.
- They may be bulkier and would need a larger space to store them
The Closing Remarks
Well, rice cookers have been one of the best options for your cooking requirements. They do provide you with a wide range of versatility options and offer a cheaper option when compared to the pressure cookers. The kind of reliability offered by them stands proof of their need to be in your kitchen.
Check out the best options that we have outlined in this compilations and gain an insight into the better understanding the rice cookers.
