Kosher Food and Drink

My kids are creatures of habit, and they absolutely demand one thing every Shabbos: rice. I don’t blame them, because I also love rice. It may not be one of the sheva minim (seven species), but it ranks near the top when it comes to our table.

It’s easy to not like rice, though, because I feel like a lot of people never grew up with good rice. Cheap supermarket rice isn’t very appealing on its own, doubly so if made incorrectly. I won’t say I splurge on truly high-end rice, but we do mostly use Kokuho Rose (medium grain) from Costco, which is some of the better stuff you can easily find in bulk.

In 2013, my wife and I decided we needed to find a little more time in our lives, so we bought our first dedicated rice cooker. I don’t really do much by halves, so I bought a nice one: a Zojirushi NS-YAC18. This model is long-discontinued, and replaced by the Zojirushi NL-GAC18BM in the Zojirushi lineup, but it still continues in service with our household to this day.

It has a bunch of modes; I almost exclusively use the Umami and the rinse-free modes. However, I’ve used the brown rice and porridge modes very successfully, too.

While a rice cooker isn’t quite a one-trick pony, let’s face it, it’s really there to do one thing: cook rice. I think a lot of people see that and go “why should I bother? I can make rice in something else.” They’re not wrong, but…

What rice makers get you – especially the really good ones – is perfect rice every time. Some people will scoff at that and tell you that they can do it perfect every time in a pot on the stove, but that requires a lot more intervention and careful watching. A rice cooker is set-and-forget, and is super easy to clean up afterwards.

One other thing I absolutely love to make in our Zojirushi is rice congee. This is a porridge that you make with stock (chicken or beef) and rice, and it’s an amazing comfort food during the winter. I’ll often use some leftover matzo ball soup stock and make congee using it during the week, and it comes out fantastic. The Zojirushi’s congee mode makes this quick and easy.

Is it a luxury? Yes. If we still lived in our first apartment, I’m not sure I’d consider it worth the space versus just making rice in an Instant Pot. But if you’ve got the space and love rice, it’s simply indispensable. My Zojirushi is not only a fantastic rice maker, but it has been in service for a dozen years with no sign of slowing down. If it dies an honorable death, I’ll be replacing it with the latest-and-greatest.