How To Maintain A Rice Cooker

By Philip Yiga | September 4, 2015

A rice-cooker is one of the most important appliances to have in a kitchen especially if you live a busy lifestyle. This is because a rice-cooker can cook rice perfectly without consuming a lot of time and you can even use this kitchen-appliance to cook other food/ingredients apart from rice.  On the other hand, in case you have recently bought an electric rice-cooker but when you’re actually not sure on how to keep it clean or maintain it, then you will need to read through this article in order to get some of the best tips on how to maintain a rice-cooker. In fact, rice-cookers can be cleaned simply and quickly if you have any basic dish-washing tools at your disposal. All in all, in order to maximize the benefits of a rice-cooker, you need to know the following safety and maintenance tips about this kitchen-appliance.

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ELECTRIC RICE-COOKER SAFETY AND MAINTENANCE TIPS:

1. Read the user-manual: before using your electric rice-cooker, always read through the user manual in order to get proper instructions on how to operate a particular rice-cooker. This will actually save you from making any mistakes while using a rice-cooker which is a good thing.

2. Avoid touching the rice-cooker when under operation: avoid touching hot-surfaces of the rice-cooker with your bare-hands when under operation. This will actually save you from getting severe injuries or burns. But in case you have to touch your rice-cooker when under operation, then use protective kitchen-gloves so that your hands don’t get burnt.

3. Place the rice-cooker in the right position: always place your rice-cooker on a flat and stable surface so that it does not stumble or slide over while under operation because this will lead to serious mechanical problems.

4. Never place a rice-cooker under water: don’t ever try to immerse an electric rice-cooker into water because this will affect the internal components resulting into a faulty rice-cooker.

5. Don’t fill the cooking-pan above its maximum water line/level: never fill the inner bowl/cooking-pan with food or ingredients above the maximum water line/level. Keeping below or just at the maximum point will help to avoid overflowing when water boils while cooking with a rice-cooker.

6. Avoid switching-on the rice-cooker when empty: you should avoid plugging-in or switching-on a rice-cooker when it s empty or when not yet ready to cook because this will leaving to serious electric and fire accidents. Additionally, avoid operating a rice-cooker with damaged power-cord because you may end-up getting shocked with electricity of even cause fire accidents.

7. Disconnect the rice-cooker when not in operation: always disconnect your rice-cooker when not in use in order to prevent any fire outbreaks. Additionally, in case you are going to clean your rice-cooker, then you have to first unplug it from a power-outlet for safe, quick and easy cleaning.

8. Keep the face and hands away when opening a hot rice-cooker: always keep your hands and face away from the rice-cooker when removing its cover after cooking. This is very important because it will prevent your face and hands from getting burnt by the hot-steam escaping from the cooked rice/food after opening the cover.

9. Allow the rice-cooker to cool-down before cleaning it: you should allow your electric rice-cooker to cool down first before you actually begin to clean it. In fact, you should give a rice-cooker about 30-minutes to a full hour before starting the cleaning process but the cooling-time may also vary depending on the size and model of a particular rice-cooker.

10. Use warm and soapy water to clean the inner: try using warm and soapy water to clean the inner cooking-pot for best cleaning-results. On the other hand, you can even use a dishwasher to clean a removable, inner cooking-pot but the only drawback is that the dishwashing detergent may discolor the outside-section of the cooking-pot because it’s usually made of anodized aluminium. Lastly, always rinse and dry the cooking-pot/bowl thoroughly before placing it back into the rice-cooker base or using it.

11. Avoid using abrasive cleaners on the rice-cooker components: try to avoid using abrasive cleaners on the non-stick coatings inside the cooking-pot because this will remove the coating which not good when cooking rice and your overall health.

12. Use a damp-cloth to clean the exterior: only use a damp cloth to clean the exterior of your rice-cooker. This is because immersing the exterior of the rice-cooker into water during the cleaning-process will let water move into the rice-cooker which can result to malfunction of the inner-components.

13. Clean the heating plate thoroughly: always clean the heating-plate thoroughly using the rice-cooker. This is because food-debris stuck onto the heating-plate may interfere with cooking-process and this is why you need to make sure that the heating-plate is thoroughly cleaned.

14. Avoid using a rice-cooker with a cracked cover: try not to use a rice-cooker incase the cover is cracked most especially for rice-cookers with glass-covers. This because the steam-pressure inside the rice-cooker can actually lead to a fatal accident or burst while cooking and this can actually be very dangerous in case you’re nearby.

15. Remove any bits of burnt-rice: another important thing to remember when cleaning an electric rice-cooker is to remove any remaining bits of burnt rice from the cooking-pot because the longer you ignore these grains, the more they will solidify and the harder they will be to remove. So, you will need a spoon or fork to gently pry out these burnt-grains but makes sure that you don’t scrape too-hard in order to avoid damaging the non-stick coating inside the cooking-pot.

16. Clean the rice-cooker after each use: always clean your rice-cooker after every use even when it appears to be perfectly clean after removing all the rice. This is because rice-cooker produce moisture while cooking and if this is not properly cleaned-off the cooking-pot surface; it may result in development of mold or mildew.

In conclusion, electric rice-cookers are very strong and durable kitchen appliances as long as you properly maintain them. In fact, a rice-cooker is capable of lasting for several years or decades in case you keep it in a tip-top shape. Additionally, it is also very important that you follow the user-manual/instructions provided by the manufacturer on how to operate and maintain a specific rice-cooker for best result.

RESOURCES:

http://www.bestricecookerreviews.org/safety-and-maintenance-tips-for-rice-

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/4-electric-rice-cooker-cleaning-tips