Zojirushi NP-HTC10 Induction Heating 5-1/2-Cup (Uncooked) Pressure Rice Cooker and Warmer
Perfectly Cooked Rice with the NP-HTC10
Equipped with superior induction heating technology, this 5-1/2-cup rice cooker and warmer evenly distributes heat to ensure perfectly cooked rice every time. Choose from a variety of menu settings including white (regular, softer, or harder), mixed, sushi, porridge, sweet, brown, GABA brown, rinse-free, and quick cooking. Depending on the menu item selected, the appliance automatically chooses from three pressure levels. In addition, its vacuum-insulated inner cooking pan, which features an inner layer of aluminum and an outer layer of stainless steel, quickly distributes heat to the rice without allowing it to escape, plus helps efficiently keep rice at a perfect serving temperature while in keep-warm mode.
Other highlights include an easy-to-read colored LCD control panel with clock and timer functions, a delay timer with two settings, a melody signal to indicate the end of the cooking cycle, automatic keep warm as well as extended keep warm, and a detachable and washable stainless-steel inner lid. For safety, the appliance provides a pressure-control valve, a back-up safety valve, and a pressure indicator on the control panel, which locks the lid during pressure-cooking. The unit's clear-coated stainless-steel exterior not only cleans up in a snap, but it also complements any kitchen decor. Accessories include a rice spatula, a spatula holder, and two measuring cups (for regular rice and rinse-free rice).
Make Every Type of Rice
Brown Rice
This is a menu setting designed to cook delicious brown rice. In order to cook hard rice bran and the rice inside, preheating time is extended for better absorption of water, and is cooked at a lower temperature to allow the rice to cook longer without becoming mushy.
Sushi Rice
Because sushi rice will be processed after it's cooked, it's easier to handle when it is a little firmer. This menu setting is very similar to regular white rice, but uses less water (adjusted by the water fill lines) for a firm finish.
Mixed Rice
Mixed rice is rice cooked with additional ingredients and seasonings. This setting extends preheating for better absorption of seasoning. Also, the cooking temperature is slightly lower than regular white rice, to avoid ingredients from boiling over.
Porridge
Instead of cooking rice in larger amounts of water and risk making it sloppy, use the porridge setting to cook fluffy porridge. Cooking temperature is slightly lower than regular white rice, to be cooked longer for soft texture.
GABA Brown Rice
A newly discovered way of cooking brown rice to "activate" it and increase natural occurring gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an amino acid in brown rice believed to have health giving properties such as lowering blood pressure, improving kidney function and relieving stress. The brown rice is "activated" by soaking it at 104 degrees F for 2 hours before the actual cooking begins.
MICOM (Microcomputer) Technology
Aided by microcomputer technology, this category of rice cooker takes having rice on your menu from occasional to serious. MICOM allows the cooker to have multiple functions on its menu, making it a necessity for any avid rice fan who wants to incorporate rice into her daily diet. The microchip does all the thinking for you by, based on the type of rice you are cooking, from adjusting cooking times, temperatures, and timing the pre-soak of the raw grains to the final "wait" period during steaming.
Conventional rice cookers simply turn on and off in reaction to temperature. The "fuzzy logic" of MICOM fine-tunes this adjustment to adapt to various rice types, such as white, brown, sweet or porridge, which all have different cooking requirements. The trigger to everything is the thermal sensor, a small round button at the bottom of the inner body of the cooker. As the inner pan's weight rests on it and activates the sensor, it starts the cooking process and keeps an eye on the temperature and time.
Induction Heating (IH) system for precise temperature control
Induction Heating took rice cooking to another level by introducing another dimension to the heating process. Where the heating element would normally be located at the bottom of the cooker, IH transforms the entire inner cooking pan into a heat conductor, allowing for higher, more precise and more uniform cooking temperatures.
Induction heating occurs when a magnetic material enters a magnetic field. This is recreated by passing an electric current through coils located at the bottom of the rice cooker's body. As the special, 2-ply inner cooking pan is placed inside, a magnetic field is created, which in turn generates instant heat. The entire cooking pan becomes the heat source, with the ability to cook at higher temperatures, which can be turned on and off instantly for greater control.
Automatically selects from 3 pressure levels
Vacuum Insulated Inner Pan
Our vacuum insulated inner cooking pan distributes heat to the rice quickly without allowing it to escape outside. Vacuum insulation prevents the heat induced by IH from escaping outside, to produce better cooking results.
IH Pressure System
When pressure is added to the equation, even higher temperatures occur, resulting in a change in the structure of the starch within each grain of rice. This change makes the rice softer and easier to digest, and even fluffier to the taste. Rice cooked with pressure has also been found to stay soft for longer periods of time when compared to regular cooked rice.
A specially designed lid keeps the cooker airtight and sealed, which prevents the steam from escaping. As pressure builds inside while the rice cooks, the boiling point of the water increases beyond the normal 212 degrees F. Once the water is allowed to boil, it cannot be heated further; but inside a sealed environment under pressure, higher temperatures can be reached, which penetrates everything in the cooker from the surface of the food to its center.
