Wednesday 24 May 2017

Song-Cho Rice Cookers - Why It is One of a Kind!

April and May have been eventful, both on home front, but also on the work front for me.  Yes, if you do not know, I am a full time working mother.  And I get people asking how I juggle, without any external help, i.e. helper or maid.  Well, my children are in full time day care and I have a pretty hands-on hubby, so I am really not that super.  I place priorities on different things - my house is always messy, my laundry basket is always full and so on, thus, I am not that overwhelmed on a daily basis.

But one thing for sure.  I try to cook as much as I can, although I know how we mothers feel after a long and tiring work day.  Which is why I rely a lot on kitchen gadgets.  And one such gadget is the rice cooker.

One may say that a rice cooker is just a rice cooker, why and how can any be so special?  I agree that the rice cookers in the market now are features-packed.  Apart from cooking rice, they can be used to steam and bake too.



But the rice cooker I am using now is different because of a very important component.  Its stainless steel inner pot!



Those who personally know me knows I am very particular over certain things, especially when it comes to feeding the children and things for the children.  Through reading and researching, it seems that we should just go back to basics, and that is using stainless steel for cooking.  I have had non-stick, teflon coated inner pots and pans and I get upset each time I see the peeled coatings.

I shall be very bias here as to why Song-Cho rice cookers then?  It is because they are the only rice cookers makers with stainless steel inner pots.  Totally what I am looking for.  Apart from the fact that it is made from food grade stainless steel, there is also no chemical coatings, thus making it perfect for use in cooking.  Plus, many I know often change their inner pots.  This, I think will last quite a long time.

For an idea of why I so much prefer a Song-Cho rice cooker with it's premium inner pot, this visual description explains everything.


Credit : Song-Cho (Imp & Exp) Pte Ltd 


One of the newer range of rice cookers, the SC-FCM58 model has 12 different modes of cooking.  But seriously, cooking rice and porridge are my favourite because a rice cooker is a rice cooker!  For the different ranges of rice cookers Song-Cho carries, click here!

My boys love the porridge cooked using the rice cooker.  Me too!  No longer do I need to stand by the stove, stirring the grains, hoping it will not get burnt.  Using the Porridge function, I get "sticky" porridge which my boys love in just an hour.  Tell me about achieving more in an hour.  The porridge is good for toddlers too!



Due to it's superiority in heat conductivity, one-pot rice cooker claypot chicken rice is easy.

By using the Reheat mode, I stir fried the ginger in the rice cooker itself with a little sesame oil, and added in bacon as I did not have Chinese sausage.  Thereafter, I put in the mushrooms.  It is quite uncommon to see ginger and bacon in our traditional claypot rice but we realise that with ginger, it makes the rice more fragrant.  Bacon was an adventure test that I did and interestingly, it adds a tinge of "saltiness" a.k.a the giam giam (Hokkien) at every bite.



Closed the lid to let it heat up and mixed in the chicken slices and rice after that.




Once mixed and water added, I closed the lid and started the cooking process by pressing the Start button after choosing the Crust mode. 



The see through glass cover will be useful especially when the bake or soup mode is used.  Don't you love it when you can see the food you are cooking when it is almost done?  I thought it was really cool as I love peering at my food.



So, here's my kind of one-pot rice cooker claypot rice.  I used to fry the items at the stove before putting them into the rice cooker but with this rice cooker, it's everything one-pot.  Totally for strapped-for-time-yet-want-variety parents like me.



One-Pot Rice Cooker Claypot Rice

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast - cut into small chunks
3 dried Chinese mushrooms - soaked and sliced
1 Chinese sausage, or a slice of bacon  - sliced
Garlic and ginger - chopped and sliced thinly respectively
2 cups of rice

Marinate
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp dark soya sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce

Method:

1. Marinate the chicken with the items under "marinate".
2. Using Reheat mode, stir fry ginger and garlic with a little of sesame oil in dry inner pot.
3. Add in Chinese sausage or bacon and stir fry till fragrant.
4. Add in Chinese mushrooms.  Close the lid to heat it up slightly.
5. Add in chicken slices and stir fry till chicken is partially cooked before adding in the rice.  Mix it well.
6.  Using the measuring cup, add in 2 cups of water.   (This is for white rice.  For other rice, add in the appropriate amount of water for the different rice types.)
7. Cancel the Reheat mode and press start for the Cook mode.
8. When the rice cooker beeps, the claypot rice is ready!  Drizzle more dark soya sauce if preferred and enjoy!


Disclosure: We were given the Song-Cho Rice Cooker for product review purposes.  No monetary compensation was received.  All photos and opinions are true to my own unless otherwise stated.

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17 comments:

  1. Love your one pot recipe! Is the stainless steel bowl easy to wash? I get headaches with the coating of my current cooker too. It keeps peeling off!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! Yes it is. If there are sticky bits, just soak with water and it comes out easily and seriously, I don't worry about scrubbing as there won't be any peeling off.

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  2. I haven't been using rice cooker for ages (depended on my multi-tier steamer instead). But this looks pretty easy and I love the all in one pot recipe

    Phoebe
    BPDGTravels

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I guess we all love one-pot received. I have no idea about using a steamer to cook rice. Must have been easy too, I'm sure!

      Delete
  3. I learn something new today, not all rice cooker are the same.
    Thank you for sharing the recipe too.

    cheers, Andy
    (SengkangBabies.com)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes Andy, not all are the same though they may have the same or similar functions. Choose one that suits your family needs and concerns. :)

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  4. I love the one pot recipe but using the pressure cooker for cooking at my home. Rice cooker looks interesting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you use the pressure cooker to cook rice too? Or do you mean one-pot recipes? I'm interested to know how the pressure cooker works for cooking rice.

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  5. I use Rice cooker regularly. Didn't know that this one can cook claypot rice and all..Will check out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I believe most rice cookers can cook claypot rice. My concern is the ones whereby the inner pot coating peels.

      Delete
  6. I really love your one-pot recipe and also the durability of that rice cooker. Very useful for moms who multi-tasks! I got to check this out. Thanks!

    Mich
    TheChillMom

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  7. Oh yes I hardly see cookers with SS pots! Good find!

    Ai @ Sakura Haruka

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  8. What an awesome rice cooker! Does it take long to fry the ginger using reheat mode?I absolutely love the see through top because I find that I'm always opening the rice cooker to check!

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  9. Hi for this song-cho, does the rice keep warm if you switch off the power? Does this work like thermal pot too??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Yu Ting, for this rice cooker, there is a keep warm feature which is for up till 24 hours but for rice, it's definitely not recommended to keep it warm for such long periods of time. Unlike the thermal pot, the electricity needs to be switched on, unless it's only for a short period of time whereby the stainless steel inner pot can help retain heat.

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  10. I already have a rice cooker but now I feel like I need this one!!! :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. Am going to change to this !

    ReplyDelete