Bought this to replace my Instant Pot. All I needed was a basic rice cooker that did the job without burning. This is everything I could want and more! It’s very sleek and elegant, which is nice bc unless u have a lot of storage space in ur kitchen, this is going to reside on ur countertop. I’ve got plenty of cabinets so I can tuck it away when not in use. It comes with a steamer basket, measuring cup and utensils. Everything is made to be easy to clean, just wipe and rinse. Obvs u can use soap but I’m avoiding it on the inner cook pot bc it’s coated with a non-stick material inside and out—I try to not use anything even remotely abrasive on those things. The directions are sadly lacking…there’s zero info on how to use this beyond hit the start to power it up, select from the menu button and start again. The display is totally not helpful. It just will show an “L” and a red led line will do laps around the screen. Apparently that’s it’s way of telling you it’s working. I was expecting more but it is what it is. The buttons are odd and kinda creepy. It’s a mix of old 1980’s “button swathed in plastic overlay” and nearly-touchscreen-esque. What I thought was a label was actually a button—that’s what I mean about touch screen…it doesn’t look at all like a button. Anyways, it’s easy to select ur cooking menu—I did brown rice. I saw a video on YT and the person opened the lid and stirred the rice a couple times during the cooking process, something you can never ever do with Instant Pot. I’m not sure if u need to stir or not, but I did. At some point, the rice seemed to be nearly cooked, and I was worried it would burn. But I let the cycle continue. Then a 12 minute timer appeared and it beeped as it counted down…the rice was cooked and it was cooling down or downshifting to “keep warm” or something…I think to make sure the excess water is absorbed. I opened the lid and stirred again…very fluffy and lovely!! At the end, it beeped and was done. My rice was text book perfect….fluffy, a bit sticky, and not a single burnt or overcooked grain. Probably the best rice I’ve ever had outside of a restaurant…perfect Asian-style rice…not that sad boxed stuff u can cook in 5 minutes. Cleanup was easy. I put the rice in a big ceramic bowl, and washed the cooking pot with water and a clean dish cloth, and dried it. I used paper towels to wipe and dry the inner pot ring and the edges…it wasn’t very damp or dirty, just needed to be dried for storage in the cupboard. The inner cooking pot seems like you’ll need to clean it carefully…I don’t know how sturdy that finish is, so I say use water and a soft cloth. The unit itself is like the $300+ machines…authentically Asian-made so it’s designed to cook rice properly, unlike Instant Pot. If rice is a dietary staple, ur gonna know how to cook it properly—and the people who designed this know their stuff when it comes to good, sticky rice. It’s going to be fun to try recipes where u add things to rice and steam things on the upper basket. Overall, this is perfect for making rice and typical Asian dishes…congee, steamed cakes, etc. I think it probably performs as well as the more expensive machines..I can’t imagine they do anything that this can’t do. It makes a superb pot of rice! I think it takes just a few minutes longer than Instant Pot…maybe 5 minutes more. But it’s 100% successful, doesn’t scorch or mess up. Plus it’s super quiet—Instant Pot can be hissy, beepy and irritating—besides the whole ‘burn everything’ or blow itself up thing…not at all an Instant Pot fan. This however, is light years ahead of I.P. and makes amazing rice. The price is insanely low—I’d grab one for anybody u know who cooks rice a lot—super great deal on a fab machine! My new fave kitchen gadget!!! And that’s from someone who hates to cook! Def a must have appliance!!!
