Just to close the loop .......
As I said a few posts ago I ordered the Zojirushi ZAQ10 a couple of days ago which arrived an hour or so back and I've just cooked my first Jasmine Hom Mali rice. I'm thrilled to bits with the result ... much better than I was producing manualy and the difference was greater than I expected. Even my wife who was sceptical about spending on a rice cooker is surpised at how good the rice is and thinks it was very worthwhile.
I'm looking forward to my first batch of basmati - I hope it's seperate grains and not too much like chinese in style!
During the course of my reading I've read some interesting things about how rice cookers has changed the lives of people in Thailand. Quite a difference between getting up at 4am to light the charcoal in order to have the rice ready for breakfast!
From my own point of view this will add a new dimension of not only improving my rice - and I want to increase the number of meals with rice and decrease the number with potato - but also cooking "to the point". Up until now all cooking and eating times revolved around the time that the rice would be as close to perfect as I could previously manage. Now - it's ready when I'm ready. It keeps warm!
The combined effect of my sous vide cooker and the rice cooker (where they are both used in the same meal) should give me a much more relaxed approach to when we sit down to eat because it'll now be ready when we're ready.
Thanks for all the pointers and help in deciding!
ps I found this list interesting - hope it's of interest to others!
Did You Know?
1. Rice is the staple food for two-thirds of the world's population. The simple
grain has been a popular life-sustaining food for thousands of years
because it is nutritious, versatile, economical, easy to prepare and tastes
good!
2. Rice is a complex carbohydrate. Humans need complex carbohydrates in
their diet because they fuel the body. Complex carbohydrates are stored
in muscles and released as energy as needed.
3. Rice protein, when compared to that of other grains, is considered one of
the highest quality proteins. It has all eight of the essential amino acids,
necessary building blocks for strong muscles. Rice is also a good source
of other essential nutrients -- thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, phosphorus, iron
and potassium. Rice contains no fat, no cholesterol and no sodium. This
along with being nonallergenic and gluten free makes rice especially well
suited for persons with special dietary needs.
4. Rice offers versatility unsurpassed by any other food. It can be made part
of any meal in recipes for soups, salads, main dishes and desserts.
5. In Asia rice is considered sacred. In Japan there are shrines to the god of
rice.
6. Honda means "main rice field." Toyota means " bountiful rice field."
7. Arkansas is the largest rice producing state in the U. S.
8. Rice can be indefinitely cropped in irrigated fields. Some rice fields are
believed to have been continuously cropped for more than 2,000 years.
9. There are over 29,000 grains of rice in one pound (based on long grain
white rice).
10. In Japan, rice grains are affectionately called "little Buddha’s," to
encourage children to eat rice for the rest of their lives.
11. The Greek poet, Sophocles, in 495 BC mentioned rice in the Tragedies.
12. Louis Armstrong signed his autograph "Red Beans and Ricely Yours..."
13. In China, the typical greeting is "Have you had your rice today?" The
typical answer is "Yes."
14. In India, it is said the grains of rice should be like two brothers: close but
not stuck together.
15. In Thailand when you call your family to a meal you say, "Eat Rice."
16. The Japan word for cooked rice is the same as the word for meal.