Rice is a quintessential part of meals in the Asian regions of the world wherein they are served alongside the main course. In order to get the rice ready for meal time, they would need to cook the rice inside a cooking pot over either a stove or open fire (if eating outdoors – such as camping and the like).
However, these days, the work needed to be done in order to cook rice to its best quality has been made easier through rice cookers. Previously rice cookers were simply cooking pots that are powered by electricity and requires the use of a simple switch to start cooking but nowadays there are much more advanced rice cookers that can cook rice more efficiently than before.
One of the brands that’s well known for efficiently-working rice cookers is Zojirushi and in this article, we’ll get to familiarize ourselves with the simple but effective Zojirushi NS-RPC10/18 Automatic Rice Cooker & Warmer. We’ll cover its key features, its strong and weak points and how to properly maintain it so it can function well in the longer run.
Zojirushi NS-RPC10/18 Key Features:
1. Easy one-touch operation with an automatic keep warm system
- All it takes is one press of the switch to make the rice cooker start working on cooking the rice placed within its cooking pot. Just place in the right amount of water and rice and flip the switch and you’re good to go! Once cooking is over, the rice cooker enters into the Keep Warm phase which allows the rice cooker to retain the heat of the rice for quite a long time.
2. Triple heater on bottom, side and lid
- With three heaters present in the rice cooker, it’s no wonder why this is capable of creating very tasty rice. The three heaters found in the bottom, sides and in the lid are responsible for even distribution of the heat throughout the cooker and the result of this is cooked rice that could have the quality that rivals those served in restaurants. Now you can enjoy restaurant-quality rice at the comfort of your own home!
3. Non-stick cooking pot
- Despite of being a simpler Zojirushi rice cooker, it still possesses the recurring feature of a non-stick cooking pot. With a non-stick lining, you won’t need to worry about seeing any leftover rice sticking to the walls of the cooking pot. In addition to that, this makes the cooking pot very easy to clean and maintain.
4. Hinged lid that’s easy to open
- With an opening handle, the lid opens easily. No need to lift up the lid, just press the opening handle and the rice cooker opens up.
5. Detachable power cord for easy storing
- In terms of storing the rice cooker, it has a detachable power cord to make it easy to store inside closets when not in use. You can place the detachable power cord inside the cooking pot when storing away the rice cooker for the time being.
6. Additional accessories
- Every purchase of the Zojirushi cookers always includes a few accessories that could come in handy while you are either preparing to cook the rice or when serving the rice. The NS-RPC1018 comes in with a measuring cup, a plastic spatula and a spatula holder. Please take note that the measuring cup utilizes the Japanese standard for a cup of rice which is slightly smaller than the US-standard 1 cup of rice.
NOTE: Appearance-wise the Zojirushi comes in three appearances, a black metallic-gray look, a Hello Kitty-themed look with a white body and a Tulip-themed look with a white body. It’s all up to you which one of the three appearances would look well with your home kitchen.
With the features now covered, let’s move on to take at where does the Zojirushi NS-RPC10/18 truly shines and some of its caveats or limitations in the Pros and Cons section.
NS-RPC10 Pros and Cons
As said earlier, we’ll be dissecting the advantages and limitations of the Zojirushi NS-RPC10/18 in this section. This might give you some ideas whether you should consider grabbing one in the future for your home kitchen. Now let’s take a look at what the owners have a say about this rice cooker:
Pros
- Simple and easy to use – It doesn’t take much effort to make the NS-RPC10/18 work, all you need to do is to place in the right amount of rice and water inside the cooking pot, flip the switch and then wait whether the rice is ready to be served. This simplicity is what draws in the crowd because there are some folks that do not gravitate to the much more advanced models since they find it a little too complex to use for their preference.
- Great rice quality and excellent heat retention – The rice cooker’s triple heaters and keep warm feature means that not only it will deliver great quality rice upon clearing the cooking phase but it is capable too of keeping the rice warm for a long period of time. In fact, some of the reviewers claim that the rice cooker can keep your rice warm and edible for up to three days!
- Not a hassle to store – The rice cooker is not a problem to store inside the closet when not in use. All you can do here is when not in use, place in the accessories and the detachable power cord inside the cooking pot and then store it away in the kitchen compartments. It should be big enough to entertain both accessories and the power cord.
Cons
- Over-specialized – All it can do is to cook the rice you’ve placed inside the cooking pot, no other cooking options and the like. If you think you wanted more cooking options for your rice, then you are better off settling for one of Zojirushi’s much more high rice cooker models.
- Will need some “babysitting” from time to time – Since the NS-RPC10/18 doesn’t sport a melody or beep noise notification, you will need to return to the rice cooker while it is cooking from time to time in order to check whether the rice is finished or if it is still in the process of cooking it.
Now that we’ve covered some of the notable strong and weak points of the NS-RPC10/18, let’s move onto the Maintenance section on how to properly maintain the rice cooker and ensure that it can run smoothly for a long period of time.
Maintenance of the Zojirushi NS-RPC10/18 Automatic Rice Cooker & Warmer
Keeping your rice cooker well-maintained ensures smooth cooking operations and less chances of the cooker from becoming malfunctional or having reducing effectivity. We’ll get to see the tips on how to care for the Zojirushi NS-RPC10/18 so that it can serve your household well in the long run.
Since this is one of Zojirushi’s much simpler rice cooker models – treat it like a conventional rice cooker. Other than that, let’s take a look at the steps needed to be done.
- Clean the non-stick cooking pot with a combination of warm water and dishwashing soap. Wash and rinse the cooking pot until it is thoroughly-cleaned.
- Check the heating element inside the rice cooker and see if there’s any stray water droplets or leftover rice, remove them with the use of a damp cloth in order for the heating elements to work smoothly.
- The exterior must be cleaned with the use of a damp cloth.
- Clean the detachable inner lid like you did to the cooking pot. Use warm water and dishwashing soap – wash and rinse until the inner lid looks nice and sparkly.
- When serving rice from the Zojirushi rice cooker – only use the provided Plastic Spatula. Do not use metal spatulas or scoopers since they can scrape or scratch the non-stick lining and may reduce its effectiveness over time.
Final Remarks
Overall, the Zojirushi NS-RPC10/18 Automatic Rice Cooker & Warmer is a simple but potent workhouse that’s a great addition to anyone’s home kitchen. By just placing in rice and water and flipping the switch, you are all set to get delicious rice. It does need some “babysitting” from time to time whether to check if the rice is ready but otherwise – it does its job pretty well. Once the rice is cooked, it enters a keep warm phase wherein it is capable of keeping the rice warm for a longer duration compared to that of its much more conventional competitors.
Even though it lacks additional cooking options – it is still a solid investment to consider since there are some folks out there that don’t like complex and flashy features on their cooking utensils so they settle for something that’s simpler to utilize. If you happen to be one of those buyers that’s looking for a rice cooker that is both simple and effective then look no further because the Zojirushi NS-RPC10/18 Automatic Rice Cooker & Warmer could be the answer that you are looking for.
