DASH Mini Rice Cooker Steamer with Removable Nonstick Pot, Keep Warm Function & Recipe Guide, .5 Quart, for Soups, Stews, Grains & Oatmeal - Aqua

Dorm essential; a small rice cooker. This is VERY small however. If you have only one person, it's suitable but if you are dealing with two or more, a 5 cup minimum would be better. The size of this unit is compact enough to toss into a suitcase or store in small quarters.This is a simple rice cooker with a press-down button for turning it on, a keep-warm function and an automatic shutoff. It works by thermostat; as the temperature rises when the water has boiled off and been absorbed by the food, the temperature spike makes the spring contact drop back, and the heat shuts off. No "fuzzy logic" here. Simple operation.Because the unit is small, cooking things like porridge will mean it possibly boils over. I had to put a kitchen towel under it to cook one serving of steel cut oats (they foam up) and it was a bit messy on the lid. The instructions do warn about boiling over. If you're using this, I'd put a towel under it as a matter of course.Cooking:I did regular Japanese short grain rice, steel cut oats, mixed grain porridge and a "Dutch Baby" pancake. The recipe for the pancake is included in the booklet, which has a number of recipes. All of them came out ok; the rice was slightly more wet and less cooked thoroughly than in my regular, large fancy rice cooker but it was fine to eat. The porridge boiled over (as I mentioned) and the Dutch Baby was really good. It's a large recipe requiring several batches to be poured in and cooked for two cycles. I'd halve the recipe next time, but it was a nice little breakfast made with milk, egg, flour and sugar, with a dab of jam or some fresh fruit,powdered sugar or syrup for extrasThe unit comes with a booklet including recipes (useful), a paddle for scooping the rice, and a measuring cup. My cup was cracked (thin plastic) but I already had a standard measuring cup for rice. This cup was a bit on the thin side and didn't survive the packaging.Dash doesn't make a mid sized (6 cup) rice cooker, only a family sized large one, so if you have need of more food than single servings, I'd get a different brand model that can do 5-6 cups of rice, which will feed two or three easily. But for dorm cooking, single person, tiny kitchen or traveling and cooking say, because you need to be gluten-free while traveling, this is perfect and very compact.

Bought 2 of these 15 months ago and the one we're using is still going strong (the other is still in the box as a backup unit, ha!)!After 15 months of daily use, I just noticed a small spot of the enamel in the cooking pot has come off, but doesn't seem to affect the rice.I use this not only to cook White Rice, but also Brown and Black Rice.It seems to adjust itself as there's no extra setting to pick, so that already is better than our larger unit that is quite fancy with multiple settings, bwah! It does take extra time, almost twice as long to cook Brown or Black Rice.We usually only cook 3/4 Cup or at most 1 Cup because Wifey doesn't care for Rice and our children have all grown up and away.I will be honest, that as soon as it's done cooking, I unplug the unit as I don't want it to continue "warming" the rice as since it's such a small amount of rice, that the edges get "crunchy," which I don't care for.

As a longtime fan of quick and easy meals, I can confidently say the Dash Mini Rice Cooker has become an indispensable part of my kitchen. I'm absolutely delighted with this compact powerhouse!While its name suggests rice, this little wonder handles so much more with impressive results. I regularly use it to cook fluffy white rice, perfectly separated quinoa, and creamy, comforting oatmeal. Each time, the results are consistent and delicious – no more guesswork or burnt bottoms!Its small footprint is ideal for my counter space, and cleanup is a breeze. If you're looking for a versatile, reliable, and incredibly convenient appliance for single servings or small meals, the Dash Mini Rice Cooker is an absolute winner. It's truly a mighty mini that delivers perfection in every grain!

I've been cooking rice under pressure in a multicooker for several years, and it always turns out 'perfectly cooked'. I cook a cup of rice in a cup of water in a bowl that sits on the rack above the water level, and then cook it on high pressure for about 4 minutes and let the pressure lower itself gradually over about 10 minutes. All the water is absorbed and the texture is just the way I like it.It's super-easy to do it this way, but a couple of extra steps: I have to add water to the inner pot, get out the rack and a bowl, rinse the rice and add it with water to the bowl, dig out the pressure lid for my Ninja, etc. No, it's not a lot. But an Asian friend has been encouraging me to get a rice cooker, so I acquiesced and decided that a small one like this would be ideal, since I only cook enough rice at any one time for one meal for two people. I already have a lot of counter and cabinet space taken-up by appliances, but there's enough to hide this small cooker away in a large pot.With this, the process is somewhat streamlined. I can wash and rinse the rice in the same vessel, then add the correct amount of water, press the button and wait for it to finish cooking and go into 'Keep Warm' mode. It's easy and convenient, and works well, but not as well as my multicooker method! Every time I've used it so far, I've had a minor amount of near-scorching in a hot spot on the bottom inside of the cooking vessel.It appears that there's a primitive heat sensor that detects when all the water has been absorbed and the temperature begins to rise. It then goes to the Keep Warm mode, which lasts indefinitely. I thought that catching it at the time that it switches from cooking to keep warm might prevent this minor overcook condition, but it did not.It's not a huge problem, but a simple rice cooker like this has one job, and ought to be able to do it perfectly. Mine does not. It's not enough for me to toss it or return it for a refund, so I'll just give it a less-than-perfect review and 4 stars instead of 5.For my, it's good enough, but just barely.It's not extreme, but it's noticeable. There's a patch of rice in this area where it has a glazed appearance, a light brown hue, and is bound together more tightly than the rest of the rice in the vessel, which can be appropriately fluffed.