There are many must-have countertop cooking appliances and a pressure cooker or a rice cooker definitely qualifies for that. Though both are good and make the cooking process easier, efficient and effortless, they have their own strengths. When we talk of these, they cook the food making use of steam.
How Do They Cook?
A rice cooker has a casing with a coil or heating pad. When you switchon the power in the rice cooker, the heating element heats up the liquid and this forms the steam. It is the heat of this steam, which cooks the rice or food in the rice cooker.
On the other hand, a pressure cooker has a pressure sensor and a lid, which can be either sealed or locked. This lid also has a rubber lining or ring, which prevents the steam from escaping. As the steam builds up inside the cooker, it increases the pressure inside and once the steam gets too much it gets released through the weight or the whistle of the cooker. It is this combination of heat and pressure that cooks the food inside the pressure cooker.
Why Rice Cooker?
A rice cooker, as the name suggests, was originally designed for cooking rice, but now it is a multi-functional appliance. It can be used as a steamer for your vegetables, cooking eggs, thinly sliced meats, soups, daliaand even dumplings.
The best part of cooking with a rice cooker is that you don’t need to be around it while the food is getting cooked. It is the perfect appliance for those who multi-task or are hard pressed for time. It comes with pre-program settings and you can keep everything in it, press the button and forget it. It will automatically go to the ‘Keep Warm’ mode once the food is cooked and will keep it warm till it’s time to eat. So, you are saved from the hassle of reheating the food too. You will never have undercooked or overcooked dish with this smart appliance at your disposal.
One more advantage of rice cooker over the pressure cooker is the delay start feature in the former. You need to be present physically to start and switch off the gas stove in case of pressure cooker. In a rice cooker, you can just set the timer and leave it. At the designated time, the appliance will start automatically and you will get steaming hot cooked food ready when you arrive.
You should choose pressure cooker in case you have an erratic power supply in your area. But, if that’s not a problem or you have a power backup in place, then going for rice cooker makes complete sense. Also, today rice cooker is not limited to cooking only rice. You can cook virtually everything that you can cook in the pressure cooker and that too without the need to be around it while it’s getting cooked.
If you are a dedicated rice eater who likes to have rice everyday, then this appliance makes different types of rice perfectly if we talk in terms of texture, aroma or flavour.
Today, a rice cooker is a versatile appliance like a pressure cooker. Unless you are hell-bent on using the old conventional pressure cooker, the benefits of using rice cooker are much more.
