Considering ZOJIRUSHI Rice Cooker

For those of us who love to cook, convenient countertop appliances is a must. For example, my sexy red color Kitchen Aid mixer is my baby! I can't live without it!

I was reading this blog about the review of Zujirushi Rice Cooker, seeing how this product can elevate a cook's skills to a whole new level.It looks indeed fun and the review is quite promising. But at another part, I knew it well that Zujirushi rice cooker does comes with a big price tag.

At 1st, I was attracted by the Zojirushi’s new Umami rice cooker. According to the blog, Umami means it’s the “delicious” flavor, and Zojirushi is putting forth the claim that by cooking your rice on their Umami setting, your rice will have enhanced deliciousness.

I was totally sold by this! Pearl White color! Nice!!!!

After I did abit of google here & there. I was kinda quite confirm what I want. But what about the price? I'm unsure about the price. So, I asked Max to drive me to Orchard to take a look.

Urgh! The price tag! Although it doesn't surprise me, because this model has "slow cook" function that it can be used as a slow cooker. But still, it makes me swallow my saliva real hard when I saw it.

Takashimaya : 5 cups - S$378 / 10 cups - S$428
Tangs : 5 cups - S$376 / 10 cups - S$408

And when I see the actual thing, I realized that they don't have Pearl White color that I liked. The one selling in Singapore is greyish color. Urgh!!! After the salesperson gave me a brief introduction, I get to know that the "slow cook" function is kinda redundant to me. Because the maximum level of liquid for "slow cook" function... to me, if I were to cook a pot of soup, it can only serves 3. And the slow-cook function can only allow you to cook 4 hours maximum. This is not the "slow cook" that I'm looking for. So, I concluded that, thou this rice cooker can cook great fluffy rice that I long wanted. I have no doubt. But also, there's no point paying extra for such "slow cook" technology (thou it's good to have).

So.... I hesitated buying and I think I need to consider.
Aside the Zojirushi’s new Umami rice cooker, the salesperson recommend me the newest model. Zojirushi’s Induction Heating Pressure Rice Cooker - claimed that it uses precise heat control and pressurized cooking to create perfect rice. Cooking rice with pressure helps turn beta starch into alpha starch, which makes the rice softer and easier to digest. It sounds so fun!

Let's see...

Again, Singapore doesn't sell this color. The one I saw is slightly more copper kinda glossy brown. It looks like a Star-Wars helmet to me. Hahaha!
So, what is it so good about this?

According to Zojirushi website. - A pressurized system elevates cooking temperatures to higher levels for softer rice. Vacuum insulated inner cooking pan distributes heat to the rice quickly without allowing it to escape outside. I saw the real thing. The good about this rice cooker is that the inner rice bowl & inner top cover where it has direct contact with the rice bowl are stainless steel, and Zojirushi Umami's one is just standard aluminum. The moment when I hold the stainless steel bowl, I'm so in love with the heavy weight of that bowl. But now I have a bigger problem here....

The Price!
Takashimaya : 5 cups - S$499 / 10 cups - S$539
Tangs : 5 cups - S$539 / 10 cups - S$599

This is a good slap on my face! A rice cooker that cost S$500?! Although I'm really sold by the fact that the inner rice bowl & cover is made of stainless steel that makes me uncontrollably gone "Whoaaaa!!!" for awhile. And I knew that it is fun to use. But the fact is that... the price of this Rice Cooker is 10 times more expensive than what I'm using now!!!

What should I do?




UPDATE : I realized that Singapore doesn't carry these two models. For Asia Pacific market, it does carry the model that has simillar function, which is NP-HBQ10/18 and NP-YSQ-10/18. Zojirushi Umami NS-YAC10/18 & IH Pressure NP-HTC10/18 is only available in USA market.