rice cooker

A ball of sticky rice is pretty much the intended end point, so it's probably operating as designed. There *might* be U.S. market models by, e.g., Black and Decker or somebody, that have options to make "Western" style rice. Mine is an old Zojirushi and it, like yours, makes rice aimed at chopsticks and a bowl instead of a fork and plate.

Stopping it as soon as it finishes the cook cycle and enters the warming cycle should not, by design, change the texture all that much.

What you may be able to do is to experiment with reducing the rice to water ratio.

D'oh! that should be "reducing the WATER to RICE ratio."

Like Rich I also have an old Zojirushi which I got at a yard sale, but I found the manual online. It mentions that the texture and stickiness is largely a function of washing the rice before cooking; for sticky rice, don't rinse the rice before cooking it.

To keep it from going mushy, stir it every once in a while. Or, just eat it!

See page four.

For other cookers, same brand:

Also, note the many types of rice the Japanese use:

Mark L. Fergerson

But I like mushy rice!

Then you'll love Tapioca.

-- Politicians should only get paid if the budget is balanced, and there is enough left over to pay them.

I do! My wife hates it. Fortunately you can get Tapioca Pudding cups in the grocery store in the same area that has pre-made Jello :-) ...Jim Thompson

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Democrats are best served up prepared as a hash Otherwise the dog won't eat it :-)

And you can chew it for hours. ;-)

Naaaah! Properly made Tapioca Pudding is smooth and nice :-)

It's amazing how many people have their diet restricted by a one-time (or more if your Mom couldn't cook :-) poorly executed recipe. ...Jim Thompson

Having used (and continue to use) many rice cookers, I agree, the OP is probably using too much water with his (her?) rice. Properly done, once the cook cycle is done, warming is just that: keeps it warm, ready to serve.

=A0 =A0 ...Jim Thompson

=A0 =A0| =A0 =A0mens =A0 =A0 |

=A0 | =A0 =A0 et =A0 =A0 =A0|

=A0|

=A0 =A0 =A0 |

I've been put off by pudding cup stuff ever since I was assigned to sit across Jeff Kerr in 3rd grade and got to watch him eat his pudding cup every day with his mouth open.

You can get rice cookers that make regular rice, sticky rice (similar to rice used in sushi) and rice soup. Fully programmable!

(But, proper sticky rice requires steaming to come out right, and of course the right type of rice to start with!)

When I was in 3rd Grade (1948-49), pre-made pudding cups didn't exist :-) ...Jim Thompson

Unfortunately I only see good Japanese rice in BIG bags :-( ...Jim Thompson

There's good domestic rice, too; I like Kokuho Rose, available here in 5# bags (and larger).

Simple rice cookers just snap off at a fixed temperature-- when the post that's in contact with the bottom of the bowl heats sufficiently (indicating the liquid is gone). All you can play with is the water/rice ratio and the type of rice. Less water makes the rice firmer, more makes it softer.

There are many kinds of rice- avoid the Japanese sushi varieties such as the premium California Kokuho Rose type if you don't like sticky rice. The typical ORDINARY Thai origin rices you'll find in Asian stores (typically in 18-lb bags) are less sticky (but still a lot more than Uncle Ben's rice). There's also Basmati (an Indian type with long thin grains and not very sticky) and the "broken" rice favored by Vietnamese. And also what the Chinese call "sticky rice", which is sweet as well as sticky and also comes from Thailand- used in deserts and wrapped in bamboo leaf or similar with filling as a snack. I suspect if you used Western-type quick cooking rice in a rice cooker, the results would be nothing short of horrific.

OTOH, our Zojirushi fuzzy logic rice cooker does some fancy stuff by optionally slow-cooking initially, so it has a bit more flexibility (but it's not quite as fast as a cheap rice cooker or just using a pot). It can even make congee (rice gruel) but I've never tried it (congee is a typical breakfast food), as well as brown rice (which takes forever to cook).

All rice cookers will keep the rice warm and ready to use for a few hours, longer than that and it can turn bad ("sour").

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Amazon has everything:-

Grown in the San Joaquin valley. Kind of a sad history:

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

My mother was an excellent cook, but some of my aunts weren't. They had no idea how bad they were, but you should have seen their kids ignore their mother's items at the family reunions. :)

Thai rice, always cook with Thai rice--it's the best there is. (And yes, we do buy the big bags...)

Another trick to minimizing stickyness with rice is to add either a bit of butter or olive oil to the rice before cooking. Coats the grains so they don't stick as much. IMHO a bit of clumping is good as it makes it easier to eat.