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I always cooked rice in a pot, though never trying it in a rice cooker thinking that it was going to come out too dry or just wondering why I needed one. Let me tell you, I love this little rice cooker, not only can you cook just about any rice or grain in it, you can steam veggies at the same time!!! Get all your sides done in one go and just worry about the protein, That's awesome!
The Aroma Rice Cooker
The Aroma Rice cooker is my first foray into the rice cooker world and I'm liking what I'm seeing. Not only does it make my life easier but it is multi-functional which is a great plus, as well as easy on the wallet. If you buy this rice cooker you get a 3/4 US cup measuring cup, steamer tray, serving spatula, nonstick inner pot, a manual, and the rice cooker itself. The maximum amount of dry rice it says you can put into is 4 cups, which then turns into 8 cups of cooked rice!
Button Layout
The Aroma comes with an easy to use button layout!
White Rice-press when wanting to cook white rice (the one I use the most)
Keep warm-Keeps the food warm (the manual tells you not to leave it in this mode for longer than 12 hrs)
Delay Timer-your able to put the ingredients into the rice cooker and set it within 15 hrs for cooking
Power Button-Turn on and off
Brown Rice- when your ready for that brown rice in your life
Steam- The option for when you just want to steam some stuff up, with this option you can use the -/+ options to add or subtract time to the steaming for different ingredient
Flash Rice- A way to cook rice a wee bit faster than the regular setting
Thing I Learned
Some neat things I learned about this little rice cooker is that it has a little condensation collector on the side that will gather all the excess liquid that is created in the cooking process. Make sure you pop that thing out so it doesn't overfill after cooking with it. The inner lid also can come off for the initial cleaning as well as when you're ready to deep clean it after a few uses! Not only that but there is a handy dandy little holder on the side for the spatula which I find does not hold it the best but it's ok for a quick second.
How I Use My Cooker
The way I cook my rice and broccoli in one go is I put two measuring cups worth of rice into the inner pot then add water till it is at the 2 1/2 cups level on the inner pot. Once I get the rice out of the way I then start washing and cutting up the broccoli and adding it to the steam tray and pop that on top. After all that is done, I turn it on and then let it run through the whole cycle with the broccoli inside and it comes out perfect for me. You may want to fiddle around with the steam time for your own taste and how soft or crisp you want it. I wouldn't add more rice than two scoops full because it already presses up against the bottom of
the steam tray as you can see in the next picture.
Oatmeal is another ingredient I tried to cook in this rice cooker ( and boy oh boy did I make a mess) I didnt read the instructions (which tells you to only use 1/2 cup) so I put two whole cups of oatmeal inside the rice cooker and some oat milk and let me tell you that thing boiled over. It took me forever to clean it. So then I tried it following the directions of only using 1/2 cup of oatmeal but I used a cup of oat milk as well as regular milk in two different trial runs but even with that it boiled over and made a mess both times. I was hard set on figuring out a way to make oatmeal in this thing so I tried it once more with a cup of water instead and it worked, it didn't boil over (got close though so you might wanna keep an eye on it). So if you are set on making oatmeal in the Aroma I would say to use water because for me that was the only way it didn't boil over. If you find another way please let me know in the comments cause I love me some oatmeal in the morning!
Cleaning
The Aroma Rice cooker is very easy to use as well as clean. Just remember to pop the inner lid off before the first use as well as from time to time to keep it nice and clean because a lot can build up behind that thing. The way I pop it off is by putting my finger against the metal tab in the center of the inner lid and slowly pulling the inner lid towards me from different angles of the lid till it pops off. The silicone does not pull off so you're just going to have to give it a thorough cleaning once you take the inner lid off. Then pull off the condensation collector and clean that so it doesn't overfill or get all yucky. Don't forget about the inner pot that one they ask you to wash manually to increase how long it will last and don't wash it in the washing machine because it could cause it to discolor. Make sure the inner pot is nice and dry before you put it back into the rice cooker, so you don't damage the heating element inside the Aroma.
Is It Worth It
Coming from a household that eats rice with just about every meal (even pizza) and normally always making it with a pot. I never thought I would enjoy using a rice cooker as much as I do! I love how versatile it is and how easy it is to use it. I can cook rice and steam veggies at the same time that is a game changer. I love how you can just set it up and forget so you can work on the other parts of what you are cooking. I think that if you're on the fence about getting a rice cooker I say give the Aroma Rice Cooker a try. It's easy on the wallet and very easy to use and if you get lost you can always look at the manual it gives you cooking times and how much rice and/or grains to use with how much water!
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