Do You Trust The "Warm" On The Rice Cooker Too Much?

Do you use your rice cooker to cook rice? You probably do, especially if ulam + kanin is your usual meal. Do you also leave your rice plugged in until all the rice has been consumed? If you do, this means that your rice cooker is set to the "Warm" function the entire time so you're not faced with cold rice for your next meal. 

Here's what you should know the next time you cook rice in your cooker: 

You shouldn't leave rice in the rice cooker for too long. 

If you cook rice in a rice cooker in the morning or even at lunch, you probably leave it on plugged for the rest of day. That's a good six to eight hours plugged in. According to a Midea rice cooker manual, holding time for its rice cookers is recommended at 5 hours. The "Keep Warm" function of a Tefal rice cooker is up to 24 hours. 

Rice wasn't meant to be left cooked for long. All food is recommended to be eaten within two, maximum of four, hours of cooking for best results as well as to avoid food poisoning since warm food encourages bacteria to multiply. In fact, leftover rice can spoil within 24 hours so that's why it's smart to refrigerate cooked rice when you're done eating your meal.

However, did you know that some "Warm" functions on rice cookers may be too hot to keep it just warm? Not only is it a waste of electricity, but it will also dry out the rice the longer it is kept warm. 

Leaving your rice cooker on "Warm" can lead to tutong. 

Scorched rice or tutong is commonly the result of rice cookers left on the "Warm" function.

Photo by Wikipedia/AilinParsa (CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication)

It can also result in tutong. Scorched rice, also known as "tutong" in Filipino or "nurungji" in Korean, is the common result of leaving your rice cooker on the "Warm" function. 

While this is not always a bad thing, especially if that was what you were trying to achieve by leaving your rice cooker "On" all day or night, it's not what you want when you have ulam ready to be eaten with what you assumed would be fluffy steamed rice. 

The next time you cook rice, you can leave your rice in the rice cooker and accidentally make tutong or you can transfer the food into containers and store it properly so you can again have fluffy rice again for your meal. 

See Also

News + Trends

Scorched Rice (Or Tutong) Is Actually A Well-Loved Snack In South Korea

Dec 4, 2022

Cooking

How To Reheat Rice In The Rice Cooker

Dec 13, 2021

Cooking

What's The Difference: Japanese Rice Cooker Vs. Traditional Rice Cooker

Sep 17, 2021

Cooking

Avoid Wet, Mushy Rice By Doing This

Aug 29, 2021

*** 

Thinking about what to cook next? Join our Facebook group, Yummy Pinoy Cooking Club, to get more recipe ideas, share your own dishes, and find out what the rest of the community are making and eating!

Got your own version of the classic dishes? Pa-share naman! Get your recipe published on Yummy.ph by submitting your recipe here.