Japanese rice is medium-grain rice and is used for daily cooking in Japan. Japanese rice gets sticky when it is cooked. Rice is cultivated all over in Japan. It�s convenient to have a rice cooker when you cook Japanese food. Japan is the manufacturer of some of the best quality rice cookers in the world. While buying a rice cooker the features that you should keep in mind are, size of the rice cooker and types of the rice cooker. The average Japanese household uses a 5-cup capacity rice cooker. Though they are available in many sizes from 3 cups to 14+ cups. The few basic types of rice cookers are On/Off Cookers, which includes Cook and Turn Off where the rice cooks and the unit shuts off automatically. This is the least expensive yet highly flexible machine. The Cook and Keep Warm cooker where the rice cooks, reduces the heat when the rice is done then maintains it at a "warm" temperature.
Some rice cookers are designed specifically for steaming vegetables and are provided with streamer trays. Steaming can either be done as the rice finishes, or you can use the pan in the steamer to do only vegetables. These cookers offer multiple steamer baskets that sit above the rice so you can steam as the rice cooks. Some cookers feature the reheat function that warms rice back to proper temperature in about 5 to 10 minutes and then maintains the heat. Some more qualities you should keep in mind while selecting a rice cooker are, choose one with a non-stick pan, measuring lines in the pan would be helpful, Plastic lid is preferable because it's light and safe, timer and keep warm settings are useful.
