SistemaMicrowave Collection Rice Cooker, 87.2 oz./2.6 L, Red

My electric rice cooker started overheating and shutting off half way through the cooking process. This, of course, was inevitable because I used it everyday at least once oft though I would have to cook a second pot of rice. Now my big pressure cooker can cook rice too/I prefer to save this 8 quart cooker not take up residence on my counter. I hadn't taken the time to look for another cooker and was using the pan on the stove method. He has no patience. He saw this Microwave Cookware Rice Steamer by Sistema while looking for salad containers for his lunch. I wasn't real thrilled, I think I might be turning into Eeyore.Well, we got this steamer and I read the directions that said not to use fat while cooking. I instantly thought that I can only use water in the steamer to make my rice because isn't chicken broth also have a fat content. I was bummed. I cook using broth and coconut butter and several other ingredients and now I'm stuck with plain rice.Making rice with the Sistema Microwave Cookware Rice Steamer is simple enough. Just put in the right amount of rice to the ratio of the water. I use the normal cooking time depending on what type of rice between 7-10 minutes. The rice comes out perfect each time.I only cook about 3 cups of dry rice even though it says 8 cups cooked which should be about 4 cups of dry. It comes out pretty full and you watch the water bubble up into the lid. I hate cleaning up the mess so I just haven't tried maxing this thing out.After I found the recipes I was much happier with this steamer because then I knew I could make rice the way I normally do. I quickly replaced the water with broth, added the vegetables, seasoning and just a little fat. So much better. So much happier too. I can still do almost all the things I did in my electric cooker: steam vegetables, make soup and stew.I still miss my electric steamer but for smaller batches this is great. I have something that will work for the larger batches. I would recommend this especially if all you are doing is cooking for 1 to 4 people.I finally found the recipes that the reviewers were talking about and my

I've had this cooker a few days now and have used it to cook rice, macaroni noodles, spaghetti noodles and stovetop dressing. They all turned out perfectly. We are especially happy with how it cooked Jasmin rice. We like sticky rice so we can use a fork or chopsticks. One cup of Jasmin rice, two cups of water and hit the cook rice button on the microwave and rice for four in no time and perfectly done. We'll experiment more but so fa so good.I was a bit confused about the dimensions of this cooker as the product description seemed fuzzy to me so when it got here I measured it myself with just an old ruler. We only have a medium size microwave. The height is 6.5" from the bottom to the peak of the cover. From the tips of the handles it is 8.5" wide. The interior (where the food actually goes) is 6.75" all the way around. It is perfect for our microwave. The double tops and four clamps are nice. I like the legs vs. it sitting flat on the bottom. The scoop that comes with it is a nice touch. It is perfect for our microwave.I would recommend this cooker and am going to look at some of their other microwave products.

Let me start by saying that this smallish rice cooker works quite well. It may not work well with all types of rice. It likely won't work well for rice requiring long cooking times (at least not without some cooking intervention). It's also not super big, so don't expect to feed more than about 2-4 people with what comes out of here in one go.The best type of rice to use with this cooker is precooked rice, such as minute and parboiled rice. The reasons for this should be self-evident. Both minute rice and parboiled rice have some of the starch removed because they have been precooked. Precooked rice means shorter cooking times and, because of reduced starch, substantially less chance of burning.I've read a number of one star reviews on here saying how unsafe this cooker is and showing burned plastic and rice fused together. This won't happen as long as you understand the rice type you're cooking (i.e., how much starch it contains) and you attend to it during cooking. Microwave cooking *requires* stirring, there is no way around this. Microwaves have hot pockets which ensure that you must stop cooking your food at intervals and move it around. Stirring prevents uneven cooking. This is no where more important than when cooking rice. Why is that?Heavily starchy rice can clump together inside this unit and form air pockets where no water exists. Microwaves are perfect for burning stuff when air pockets are present. Because rice is basically starch, when it dries out in an air pocket, it will easily begin to smolder and possibly catch fire. For this important safety reason, you must periodically interrupt the cooking to stir the rice and make sure the water is evenly distributed. This pot won't do this on its own. Stirring ensures that each grain of rice remains evenly coated with water and cooks thoroughly. How do you know if your rice is starchy? Any rice that is not precooked has a much higher amount of starch. Though, some rice has more than others (i.e., short grain sushi rice, Arborio rice and sticky rice). This means that you shouldn't try to create Risotto in this pot without stirring.You should also rinse your rice thoroughly until it runs clear before cooking (as the unstructions suggest -- not a typo), you should be prepared to stir the rice at least every 5 minutes of cooking time, being sure to add more water when it gets low and breaking up or removing sticky clumps.The one downside to this product is its unstruction phamplet. I'm calling it unstructions because it really doesn't instruct you on anything and gives only vague suggestions of cooking times based on metric weights. The lack of instruction is the reason for the reduction in a star on this review. However, if you've cooked rice in the past, you know that the cooking proportions to be 1 cup of rice to 2 cups water. Though, because the microwave is excellent at boiling water heavily, I might suggest a little more water than that ratio. Also. if your rice is particularly absorbent, you'll want to add even slightly more water. About every 5 minutes, you'll want to stop the microwave, open the container carefully away from your face so as not to get burned and stir the rice (adding more water if needed).After cooking has completed, you'll want to stir the rice one more time and let it sit for about 5-8 minutes to complete the cooking. I'd also suggest that if your rice requires longer than 25 minutes of cooking (i.e., brown or wild rice) not using this cooker and instead use a dedicated rice cooker or the stove top method. Leaving foods cooking unattended in a plastic microwave container for excessive amounts of time is a recipe for failure. Better, if you stick to using precooked rice in this container, you should be able to serve fluffy rice each time. So, how long should you cook the rice? As the unstructions suggest, you should start with 9-12 minutes (stirring once during cooking) and then add time in 3 minute intervals. Remember that you're also to let the rice sit for 5-8 minutes for additional cooking time. If you do want to use brown rice, I'd suggest minute brown rice or stir your brown rice frequently and test for doneness every time you stir.Finally, be sure to close the top so that the inner holes are not aligned directly over the outer holes to avoid spillage while cooking. I will also caution that this cooker gives off excessive amounts of moisture in the microwave. If your microwave is sensitive to high moisture content, you might not want to use this. Some less expensive microwaves do not properly shield their electronics from excessive moisture buildup and can cause the microwave's controls to fail or the microwave to act up. This product is also not safe for microwave & convection oven combos when using convection cooking. For these microwaves, use only the microwave mode.