One of the most important kitchen appliances of all times must be the rice cooker. This is especially true where Asian homes are concerned. I bet every household would have at least one in the kitchen. Well, we have three. One for everyday cooking for 4 persons, another for use during festive seasons like Chinese New Year, and a really small one when i need to cook chicken rice for my kids.
With the advancement of technology, the humble rice cooker has undergone lots of changes over the decades. The ones my mom used when we were just kids can only do one thing; cook rice. When i was still single and living on my own, mine can cook porridge as it has a “slow cook” function, as well as a “keep warm” button. Well, not only did i use it to cook both rice and porridge. I even made soup and tong sui like “hung tau sar” (red bean dessert) with my rice cooker. Innovative, hoh.
The latest version of rice cookers in the market today allows us to cook many different kinds of foods. Different types of rice requires different cooking time. The more advanced rice cooker have lots of preset functions which allows the aspiring cook to experiment with lots of rice dishes effortlessly. Think sushi rice, nasi lemak, brown rice, etc. Terms like Microcomputer Technology and Neuro Fuzzy Technology are something the first time buyer have to understand and digest, lol. My sis has one.
Lately, we even have rice cookers that can bake a cake. No joke. I nearly bought one of that for the fun of it when my MIL asked me to replace ours when it conked out. Can you believe a rice cooker can have a built-in cake baking function. Honestly, i was rather tempted. Reason i didnt is because my FIL likes to keep the rice warm 24/7. Forget about using the cake baking function. It’s also for this very reason that we have to replace ours so frequently, not to mention how it literally sucks money from our pockets due to the high electricity tariff.
The rice cooker is your best kitchen helper when you are busy and do not have much time on hand to cook. What you see here is just an example of how we use the rice cooker to steam some chicken to go with the rice. Today’s basic rice cooker will come with a steamer basket. Just place it on top of the rice cooker, and by the time your rice is cooked, so is your chicken/fish/vegetables/eggs. And yes, my steamed chicken tastes really good with just soya sauce. Top it with some chopped spring onions when you serve it. Delicious, yet nutritious at the same time. Have a great weekend 
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