Eat real food.

I love this “rice cooker.”

The first time I heard about rice cookers, I thought the idea was silly. Why would I want a separate appliance on my counter, just to cook rice? But when I got one as a gift (see it at Amazon: -> snazzy Zojirushi rice cooker) I changed my mind completely. It was really great to be able to start the rice and walk away knowing it’d be perfectly done when I was ready for it, and kept warm until the right time.

There were some disadvantages. I wasn’t so happy with how rice would stick to the bottom of the thing. But we got used to just leaving a layer of rice on the bottom. The rest of the rice was perfect. The fact that the pan was made of aluminum with a non-stick coating wasn’t ideal, either, especially after a kid scratched the coating, but it was too expensive to replace, so we overlooked it. But both of those problems were overcome by this awesome low tech rice cooker I ran across not too long ago.

The “perfect rice cooker”

It works like a double boiler. You put the rice and water inside this ceramic pot, then put the whole thing in a bigger stockpot with some water in it. The heat allows the water inside to turn to steam and cook the rice.

I love how it works with any kind of stove, even a campfire, in a pinch! And the rice actually does come out perfect, with none stuck to the bottom. It doesn’t take up much room on the counter, and it looks great on the dinner table. All that, and it’s inexpensive, too!

I found it at my local Down to Earth store, but their online catalog doesn’t have it. If Amazon offered it for sale, I’d link to it and try to sell you one. But I can’t, so I’ll tell you instead that my quick search today turned out like this: -> perfect rice cookers search.