THE APPLIANCE
Unlike most rice cookers with a flat base, the 1.8-litre Tefal Pro Rice Cooker has a curved one, designed for heat to flow in a circular motion rather than from the bottom up, for more even cooking.
There are four rice functions – white, brown, glutinous and Japanese – and each can be adjusted to your preferred rice texture, from soft to crispy.
Aside from rice, there are 12 cooking functions, from common ones like Steam, Slow Cook, and Porridge, to more unusual functions like Clay Pot, Baking/Dessert, Small Quantity and DIY.
WHAT I LIKED
Fluffy rice
The Pro performed admirably in delivering fluffy grains of white rice. It also cooked brown rice, Japanese rice and glutinous rice equally well.
One-pot cooking
Using the Clay Pot function, I stir-fried mushrooms, Chinese sausages and chicken chunks in the rice cooker (with the lid open) before adding uncooked white rice and water, and setting it to cook. I missed the thick crust that cooking in a claypot gives, but the thin, crispy edge around the rice was rather nice. Thanks to the non-stick pot, I did not have to scrub any sticky bits out.
Also read: RECIPE: Make claypot rice in minutes
A useful DIY function
You can set the cooking temperature at between 40 and 160 deg C, and the timer from fi ve minutes to nine hours. It works great for making perfect soft-boiled eggs – 35 minutes at 60 deg C.
I also cooked Glutinous Rice with Pork Belly with this mode, from a recipe provided by Tefal. I sweated onions at 160 deg C, stir-fried pork belly, and mixed in uncooked glutinous rice before adding water. To cook, I switched to the Glutinous Rice mode. Another one-pot wonder!
Simple baking
My basic chocolate cake turned out well.
Also read: 3 surprising dishes you can make using a rice cooker
Skipping presoaks
I used the Porridge function for tau suan, and the beans came out perfectly al dente after 30min. I could skip the usual hours of presoaking the beans.
A neat display panel
The Pro comes with a minimalist display. By default, only the rice functions are shown; the other modes come up only when you hit the Menu button.
WHAT COULD BE BETTER
The rice functions lack a countdown timer, which is useful when you have a hungry family waiting for dinner.
Also read: RECIPE: Make tau suan in your rice cooker
VERDICT
A reliable and versatile rice cooker that whips up desserts, stir-fries and one-pot meals equally well.
Tefal Pro Rice Cooker RK8055, $499, is available at major department and electrical stores.