Student looking for budget air fryer, rice cooker recs.

Ok, I'd say don't buy a rice cooker, as its so easy to make. Depends on what you like as to which rice you use. Put simply, long grain is more like individual grains of rice and quite bland, where basmati is more sticky and clumpy with a slightly nutty flavour. You don't need to spend a fortune but don't buy super basic/value rice, go one up. So, rather than the 'savers' brand of the store you are in, buy the supermarkets own. If you can afford it, my recommendation is Tilda for Basmati and Uncle Bens for long grain - but that's what I was brought up on, so its what I know best, however, most of the time for everyday meals I get Tesco or Morrisons own. At the moment I'm just working my way through the last of a 10kg deal I got on Tilda Basmati, but I have rice at least twice a week and always with leftovers so we eat a lot of the stuff - fresh, reheated and frozen.

Plain Rice
Right, you need a saucepan and a measuring vessel:
*Saucepan, stainless streel or non stick, with a lid. When you have added your rice and water, the level should be no closer than an inch from the rim of the pan.
*I use an ordinary mug for measurement, a small mug for meals for 3 adults and a bigger mug if we want leftovers too.

Method:
*Add 2 part water to 1 part rice, and about 1/4 to 1/2tsp salt. Put the rice in the pan first, then the salt and water.
*DO NOT STIR.
Put the pan on a low heat, with the lid on, leaving a small gap for venting so it doesn't boil over.
*Bring to a boil, so its bubbling all over, then turn right down to the lowest heat to a simmer.
*The water will gradually be absorbed until you can no longer see it
*Cook for approx 15-20mins
*DO NOT STIR or agitate in any way.

How do you know its cooked?
Well, there are three ways to tell and I use them all together:
1. TASTE. Take a few grains on a fork and taste it - if its like rice you normally eat, soft with no grit or 'bite' then its probably cooked. Take it off the heat and try 2&3.
2, TESTE. Take a slim knife or skewer, plunge it into the rice till it hits the base of the pan. Test it by trying to move the point a little bit across the base (don't stir!), maybe a cm or so in any direction. If the point 'catches' on something a little bit, then the rice has begun to stick and should be cooked. If it feels really rough, you've cooked it too long or too high and its beginning to stick. Leave it any longer and it will burn. If there is no roughness or catch, leave it a bit longer, there is water left to absorb.
3, LISTEN. As the rice has been cooking you will have heard the rapid bubbling as you brought it up to boil, then a less resonant bubble as it simmered slowly and more quietly. Now, remove the lid and lean close to the pan to listen. You will either hear quiet bubbling - leave it a bit longer. Or, you will hear a different noise that's a bit hard to describe. The bubbling has gone and in its place a kind of crackling, dryer noise that no longer sounds wet, is as close as I can get to describe it for you, sorry. If you can hear this noise, its cooked. Leave it much longer and it will stick and burn. Take it off the heat and leave the lid on while you plate up the rest of your meal onto prewarmed plates. Dish up your rice and enjoy.

SIMPLY PUT:
1 cup Rice
2 cups Water
1/4-1/2tsp Salt

Put Rice, Salt, Water, together in a pan,
Don't Stir!
Bring to the boil,
Cook for 15-20mins until soft to bite - but not mushy
Eat and enjoy!


Spicy Rice
Add your uncooked rice to the pan as above.
Add 1/2tbsp Jerk Seasoning Paste, or Chilli Sauce, and the same of garlic if desired.
Add the salt and pour the water over the seasoning to help mix it, but don't stir.
Open and drain a can of kidney beans and add to the pan. No need to rinse.
Fill the empty can halfway with water and add that too.
You can add a tin of sweetcorn and half a tin of water or a cup of frozen sweetcorn and half a cup of water at this stage if you wish. Or peas, peppers, courgette or squash - the volume of veg to 1/2 volume of water.
DO NOT STIR
Prepare as above for 15-20 mins until cooked.
Remove from the heat.
The beans and or corn will have stayed on top
Either serve directly from the pan, using a large spoon to get both rice and beans/corn. Or you can give it a good stir, then serve with something tasty.

Serving suggestions -
spicy chicken wings, honey and lemon wings, stir fried chicken and veg, goat curry, stir through some flaked white fish or maybe some pulled pork or pulled brisket, lamb chops, a good old stir fry of all the leftover veg in your fridge, sausages (pork and caramelised red onion is my fave), or with leftover (hot or cold) turkey or gammon at xmas. Obviously the Spicy Rice is gluten free, but if that is a concern for you, make sure any seasoning is free from gluten - they sneak it in everywhere!!!


Most of all, don't be scared to experiment with flavours and additions and enjoy!

Both plain and spicy rice will keep in the fridge for a few days, or can be frozen. Keep your old takeaway tubs with lids and use them to put it in if you can, or other containers of your choice. I even use a freezer bag sometimes. Defrost before use preferably. Zap in a microwave for a quick snack or for a second days meal of rice/spicy rice. Microwaves vary in power, and portion size varies a lot so I cant really give a time, but I add 1-2tbsp water, cover with a plate, clingwrap or a microwavable bowl cover and start at 4 mins, before a good stir and popping it in for another 2-3 mins until piping hot throughout.

I hope that helps?

BTW - you can get a bag of plain/pilau/basmati/wholegrain rice to microwave for 2 people for around 30-40p in supermarkets if you are feeling REALLY lazy....roflmao! The flavoured ones are a lot more though.

PS: LITTLE TIP:
BURNED RICE TASTE: If your rice does stick don't freak. If the rice still tastes fine and not burnt, dish it up as quickly as possible leaving the stuck part on the bottom and making sure no brown/black bits get onto somebody's plate. The longer you leave it in the pan the more the burned taste will permeate If it does taste burnt, well your choice - drown it in hot pepper sauce so you cant tell, and your taste buds can no longer detect a burned taste, or bin it....

WASHING UP: This applies to Stainless Steel pans only - I don't use non stick. Once you've dished up your `overcooked' rice leaving a layer of burned stuff stuck to the base, add cold water and leave to soak for about an hour. Then you'll find you can scoop most of the burned stuff off with your fingers and just bin it. With a stainless steel pan, you can then go to town on it with a rough, tough pan scrub. Not coming off? Half fill the pan with water, add about 1-2 tbsp of Biological Washing Liquid or powder, and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20-30 mins and then try scrubbing again. Still no luck? Dissolve about a handful of soda crystals in a pan half full of hot water, add loosely screwed up balls of tin foil and simmer for about 30 mins. Leave overnight. Try cleaning with a pan scrub again. Still stuck? - (you'll be more careful next time wont you lol! ), get out some wet and dry paper, or foam backed emery paper, or carborundum sponges or carborundum pan scrubs with a handle on that you can get to shine up the underside of your pots and pans (I get mine on Temu). Last resort, leave outside in your garden where it is dark and moist for a couple of days and let the slugs do their worst. You might want to put an inch of beer in the bottom to lure them in...
Absolutely final resort, look on HUKD for bargains on new pans

Hope that helped a bit? Chances are you'll be living on Ramen🍜 anyway!!!

I buy Ramen cheap and add my own flavours for a quick and easy lunch etc, generally Chicken and Curry seem to be cheapest, again supermarkets own (under 40p), but today I bought a 5pk Maggi Chicken for 39p in Farm Foods - bargain!!


🍜 Super Quick Ramen Recipe for Creamy Thickened Soups 🍜
*Get a big mug, break the Ramen in half or however you can get it into the mug. Doesn't matter if the noods stick up above the rim of the mug.
*Get a cup-a-soup - I like Batchelors Thai Chicken and Lemongrass - and sprinkle it over the Ramen. You can use the flavour sachet too if its compatible with your soup. Your powder will be piled up on your dry noods like a little mountain!
*Add a drop of Hot Pepper Sauce or any flavour you wish. Salt/ MSG etc etc
*Boil a kettle and carefully and slowly, pour the water over your noodle and powder mini mountain.
*Make sure the liquid level is about an inch from the top of the cup
*Leave for 2 mins and using a fork, carefully push down the softened noodles below the liquid level.
*Stir carefully until all the noodles are soft and there is no powder visible - make sure you stir right down to the base of the cup - you don't want a sludgy pile of soup powder in the bottom.
*Put in the microwave for 60-90 secs, and watch so it doesn't boil over, but gets back up to temperature.
*Re-boil the kettle
*Give a really good stir of the now well softened noodles
*Top up with boiling water and stir through.
*Give it a couple of mins and get stuck in. Yum!

🍜Thin Soups with Ramen 🍜
Alternately, using the same method as above, put half a pkt of Ramen in your cup. Add a thinner soup like Szechuan Hot and Sour, Chicken Noodle, Minestrone etc, Add seasoning to taste and stir. Add water, zap, stir, top up, stir, wait a minute or two and eat. Enjoy!

Obviously you can use Ramen as a side rather than a meal, and presumably that was the original concept, but we and the US seem to have gone mad on just flavouring it up and eating it alone. Eaten in a thin homemade broth it's really good and you can add meat and veg to the broth before adding the Ramen.

BTW -Regarding Air Fryers: Dryers

I cant recommend an air fryer as I don't have one, but a friend looking for one has just gone for a toaster oven style for versatility. It has a rotissiary, 3 shelves - 2 mesh 1 drip, a chip basket that rotates to brown on all sides, and a kebab gadget takes advantage of the rotating motor. It present have a discrete zones, but the temp at the top of the oven is hotter than the bottom and its easy to rotate trays. It was about £65-£69 on amazon. I'm waiting for feedback once it arrives. To me it seems most air fryers on HDUK are a decent price, so go for size, and 2 zones if you can, they cook all sorts and are very versatile. It depends how much you are likely to cook and what that might be. I general all rounder will probably be fine and for that I personally would pay no more than £50 -£55. Having said that I've, never used one - never even seen one in action so please feel free to ignore me, everyone else does.... Hope the info helps?

Gosh that was an epic reply! Can you tell I was at a loose end this evening lol!🤷‍♀️

The George air fryer from Asda is a great size and can be had for around £50

Airfryer: hotukdeals.com/dea…031

Rice cookers: Mum knows best.

The Costco one is + £15 online membership if you have no way to get in store but still at circa £65 still best value at the moment. (edited)

Lakeland do lovely little rice cooker for 2 ppl, nice small space 35 pounds

I can't cook either and I struggle to make rice in a pot but I can do fine with a rice cooker

If it was me, I would just get a microwave that can also bake. You can get lots of food that just goes in the microwave or oven.

Just buy a ninja speedi and it does everything so you don't need several machines

Aldi and Lidl are your friends when it comes to Air Fryers .Black Friday is a good time to buy from other suppliers, if you can hold out that long. Also don't go for a tiny one, the more air circulation around your food the better the results. I'd aim for 4L. As for rice either cook in a pan or buy Aldi microwave rice. (edited)

Try this offer - hotukdeals.com/dea…107

Go for a rice cooker with a steamer for vegetables. Look on Gumtree or Facebook as people use items a couple of times and then don't use them again. Try Freecycle near where you live as people post items they don't want anymore for free.

Cheap rice cooker only £20. Grab one if you want.
I use cast iron dish for rice cooking, which is quicker than rice cooker

Alternative you could spend a bit to get an instant pot. And it has rice cooking function. (edited)

amazon.co.uk/Jos…8-3


Bought this when it was on offer and it's been great once you figure out how much water and microwave time.

i got a yum asia - panda rice cooker last year for £80 after seeing the cheaper ones were hit and miss. love it. throw what i want in, set it to be finished when i usually have a meal and even if im late it just switches to 'keep warm'

took a few tries to get the rice just right though but once i figured it was 1 cup rice to 1 and 1/2 cups of water for the basmati rice i get, its been spot on every time. steaming basket in the panda is a little small though

its worth it if youre going to have rice a few times a week, not so much if you only have it occasionally