Because I’ve been eating rice more often I realized via my energy bill that cooking in a pot on an electric plate for 30 minutes consumes massive amounts of electricity. Therefore I’m currently browsing for rice cookers, but the info on energy efficiency leaves much to be desired.
What would be the most efficient method to cook brown rice? Which appliance would be recommendable and ideally be in line with the Buy It For Life philosophy?
I don’t have numbers for brown rice, but when I cook 1c of dry white rice I see
- rice cooker: 226Wh
- 3qt instant pot: 90Wh
The IP also requires less water. Both the energy and water consumption are important in my case because I live in a campervan offgrid.
Guessing no meaningful difference, but I’m curious how the IP would compare to a regular pressure cooker on an induction pad.
The IP has decent insulation and doesn’t have to vent pressure to regulate temperature. I think there would be a measurable difference. I don’t have an induction-friendly pressure cooker to test the idea, but it’s interesting to think about.
Pressure cookers seem pretty efficient and fairly versatile.
I can cook wild rice in my ninja foodie (a pressure cooker) in 10 minutes. I do white rice in 5. I think it uses 1500 watts but it is all computer controlled so it stops heating as soon as it reaches temperature.
You can cold soak rice to cut down on cooking time, it additionally helps break down things in brown rice to make it more digestible.
At least according to this site. https://www.chefsresource.com/can-you-cold-soak-rice/
Microwaves are 900W on high, microwave cooking rice doesn’t take too long.