Looking for a digital rice cooker with a stainless steel bowl and steamer tray? You might not have to look any further than the Aroma Nutriware NRC-687SD-1SG digital rice cooker, with its 7-cup uncooked (14-cup cooked) rice capacity. My Aroma Nutriware rice cooker review considers its key features, advantages, and disadvantages before reaching a verdict.
Aroma Nutriware: Key Features
- 7-cup uncooked rice capacity (180mL measuring cup size!)
- Automatic keep warm function and power button
- Food-grade stainless steel inner cooking bowl
- Four cooking functions: White Rice, Brown Rice, Saute-Then-Simmer, Steam
- Rice measuring cup
- Serving spatula
- Stainless steel steamer tray
- Tempered glass lid
Overview
The Aroma Nutriware digital rice cooker can be summarized in five words: stainless steel inner cooking bowl. That is the big reason to buy it. The 7-cup uncooked, or 14-cup cooked, rice capacity might be too small for people who eat a lot of rice or for large families. Nevertheless, the Aroma Nutriware digital rice cooker is competitively priced.
The steam vent hole in the glass lid might be a little too big. The steam that escapes might splutter starchy water around the rice cooker. However, rice cookers with glass lids will all splutter like that from time to time. It is unfortunately the biggest disadvantage of a pot style rice cooker with a glass lid. It can be a messy cooker when starchy steam bubbles out from under the lid. One person commented that leaving the steam tray inside the cooker while cooking rice might reduce the spluttering.
People usually buy the Aroma Nutriware digital rice cooker for its stainless steel inner lining. They want to avoid the nonstick coating that eventually peels off after regular use. Of course, the rice will stick much easier to the bottom of the stainless steel pot. Therefore, it takes a little more patience to clean the pot after use. Just let the pot soak in water for a while before cleaning it.
Brown rice takes more than an hour to cook. Some people do not like the results when using the Brown Rice function, so they simply use the White Rice function for cooking brown rice. However, do not leave the brown rice on keep warm for long because it seems to spoil quickly. Remove the brown rice from the pot immediately after cooking and serve it in another container.
A lot of people love the stainless steel steamer insert that is included with the Aroma Nutriware digital rice cooker. They use it for steaming vegetables. However, using the steamer while cooking rice in the pot below might not produce good results. It might be better to use the steamer on its own without cooking rice at the same time. You do not have to worry about whether the steamer tray is BPA-free. This is what makes a stainless steel steamer insert so great.
Owners also use the Aroma Nutriware rice cooker to prepare other dishes besides rice such as eggs, potatoes, oatmeal, pasta, stew or soup.
You should keep three things in mind when cleaning the stainless steel pot. First, soften the rice that is sticking to the bottom of the pot with water before washing. Second, never submerge a hot pot in cold water because it might cause warping. Third, one reviewer suggested washing it with a mixture of dishwashing liquid and white vinegar so that it will dry spotless and completely grease-free. This might keep the stainless steel pot looking like new for a longer time.
Advantages
- Food-grade stainless steel pot and steamer tray.
- BPA-free and Teflon-free digital rice cooker.
Disadvantages
- Stainless steel pot without nonstick coating, therefore rice sticks to bottom.
- Water might bubble out from under the rim of the lid or out of the steam vent hole.
- It does not have a delay timer function.
Aroma Nutriware Rice Cooker: Verdict
The Aroma Nutriware NRC-687SD-1SG is an affordable digital rice cooker with a stainless steel bowl. Its control panel buttons are easy to use. Its only serious drawback is the combination of small cooking capacity and glass lid. This probably increases the problem of the steam vent spitting water.
I suggest that you read some customer reviews and check current pricing on Amazon (paid link). You can decide for yourself whether the stainless steel pot is worth the splutter.