Fuzzy/induction/Zojirushi rice cookers

meester

The induction mdel is still elusive .

angelit

I tried afew brands of rice cooker eversince i started staying alone in the uk. Got so fustrated with the quality of rice cooked i could get from john lewis and frasers. It's juz not the same. Finally, i carried one in my luggage to uk all the way from home.

My mom however is a great supporter of Tiger. She swears by it. Few years back, toshiba started advertising quite alot of their new rice cooker models. (IT COMES IN PASTEL PINK!!! I actually think that looks nicer then any of zojirushi ones and am so tempted to get it instead. haha...) One of my friends got one and think it's great.

I got a 3 cup Zojirushi, makes soft rice all the time, never have any rice at the bottom burnt or brownish, never any rice at the bottom is hard and never any water spilling out of the rice cooker. Think ppl who use rice cookers would know what i am talking about. I tried their porriage function afew times (threw in pork and other times sweet potatoes)and it turns out really good (i mean rice porriage not oats). The timer function like most rice cookers work perfectly.

Went to the yum asia website given above and is far too expensive. You can get it half the price for the same model in asia.

angelit

Oh... and i forget to add the most important thing. VERY EASY TO WASH.

Usually for rice cooker, you can only take out the cooking rice part, i mean the one you take out and put in your rice and wash your rice with, for the model that i have, it comes with the cover part which you can remove as well, as it's like a 'pot thingy' in a rice cooker. So when i can't finish my rice, i juz remove the 'pot thing', complete with the cover and puts it in the fridge. Unlike for normal rice cooker, since it doesn't come with cover, i have to transfer it to a container thingy before i keep it in the fridge.

chucky66

Considering that YumAsia import the cookers and pay all import duty, VAT, shipping and stuff for Europe and UK customers and the really bad exchange rates we are getting to the british pound and Euro plus that they also offer a returns policy, I think their prices are very attractive/reasonable...I would certainly not say that they are expensive!

Im really happy with my NS-LAQ05 purchase and my friends and family have bought also and we are making perfect rice everytime with the Zojirushi's. Angelit, you right about those non stick bowls, a quick wipe and they are clean and I love the timer functions. When I get in from work the rice is there warm and waiting for me. I have yet to try the Brown rice function but my mum tried it and says that it takes a little longer to cook but is very good.

Hope this helps

Dan

ps: does anyone know where I ca get a Zojirushi elephant teddy bear?

thelawnet

angelit wrote: »

Went to the yum asia website given above and is far too expensive. You can get it half the price for the same model in asia.

They're quite expensive in Singapore. About £250 for the top model (better than anything Yum Asia sell, admittedly). And the Japanese models run on different power.

imposter

I used a 'Cuckoo' rice cooker when I lived in Korea and I loved it. I've just been looking into getting one from Korea, but it seems the frequency is different even though the voltage is the same. So I started looking at Zojirushi instead

From what I can see, the import duty on rice cookers is low, at only 2.7% - so if you can find a reliable source in Hong Kong or Singapore where they manufacture applicances with our archaic 3-pronged plug (and that's quite an if) to ship it at cost price, you could get yourself quite a cheap UK-spec Zojirushi rice cooker for much cheaper than Yumasia are offering them for (after all, that's exactly what they're doing).

Even better, pick one up on your next holiday to Singapore or HK - or pick up 10 of them, and sell them on to all of us wanting one for a small profit

chucky66

Imposter, m8, your calculations are incorrect. The actual importation charge is 17.7% because you have to also pay VAT on all items coming into the UK/EU and charged also on the postage you pay. So thats 15% VAT and 2.7% import duty and 'yes' customs are seizing just about 'everything' at the moment. My friend just imported a £100 coffee maker from Singapore and was slammed with £60 charges and a parcelforce £14 charge and customs held it for 6 weeks whilst they investigated the price.

I asked someone in Singapore to look at the price of rice cookers there and the Zojirushi TGQ10 is around £120 (S$260). Add delivery charges and customs charges and you start to realise that its not actually as cheap and easy as you make out.

Cuckoo are good rice cookers (although a bit gimicky) athough as you say, they are nearly all at 60Hz and not 50Hz so the electronics will eventually mess up on 50Hz power.

Dan

ps: I still haven't found my Zojirushi elephant teddy bear

GonzoAston

I looked at these types of things, and even got the in-laws to bring me back a rice cooker from Iran (and tell me how to use it, as its all written in farsi).

I didnt like it, and eventually my MIL gave up her secret to perfect fluffy Iranian Rice.

Im not going to presume anyone wants to read it, but ill post it anyway (They always use Basmati rice)

Boil the rice in water, oil and salt for about 5-10 mins, or until its just undercooked. Strain it into a collunder(sp?) and discard the water.

Add a little oil to the pan, and put heat on very low (I have it on low, and use one of those heat diffusers also.)

Put some bread in the bottom of the pan, covering the base (Break it up if need be).

Then fork or spoon the rice a little at a time into the pan trying to make it even out.

Add a little water to the pan (about 1/4 glass full). The put a t-towel over the pan, put the lid on and cup the remainder of the t-towel on the top (so its not hanging down the sides.

Leave like that to steam for about 30 mins to an hour. You will smell once its done. Then you will have perfect fluffy rice (took me a couple of times to perfect it, burnt the bread the first 2 times).

Also, use a spoon and scrape the bread from the bottom of the pan (called Tadik in farsi). Have this with your meal, its yummy.

HTH someone, somewhere, lol

imposter

Thanks Dan - you appear to be very knowledgable about this importing rice cookers lark.
Just a stab in the dark... you wouldn't happen to be affiliated with YumAsia, would you?

chucky66

imposter wrote: »

Thanks Dan - you appear to be very knowledgable about this importing rice cookers lark.
Just a stab in the dark... you wouldn't happen to be affiliated with YumAsia, would you?

No m8, Im knowledgeable about all things customs and importation related. You need to be because its a minefield. I searched for years for a Zojirushi rice cooker and looked into importing one just like you said. I did a lot of research with the costs and even phoned Customs to see what they would charge when it got to the UK (had to spend about an hour trying to get through to them on the phone!). Eventually I gave up on the idea of owning a Zojirushi because of the hassle of importing and then by luck I found Yum Asia who I bought from.

Like I said in my other post Customs have got stricter recently - my mate was really stung with his coffee machine and had to wait so long to get it released and I've ordered other things from the US which have been stopped and Customs have ended up charging about 30-40% of the value of my shipment.

I was just letting people know about this potential problem that you didn't seem aware of. Sorry if I spoke out of turn