Rice is a staple food in the Japanese's diet, so they know how to prepare it. On the other hand, many people do not know how to cook rice or how to use the rice cooker. Follow these steps to help produce excellent tasting rice:

1. Wash the rice 2. Soak the rice 3. Cook the rice 4. Wait for a few minutes before serving the rice

To begin with, washing the rice before cooking is important. Not only does it remove the dirt by washing, the real reason behind it is to remove excess starch found on the surface of the grain. Start by measuring the desired number cups of rice into the non-stick cooking bowl of the rice cooker. Add some water, enough to cover the rice. Start swirling the rice and water, notice that the water is becoming a milky color. Empty the water down the drain once it turns into a strong white color. Repeat the process three (3) times, which is the traditional way of doing it. But if you think that the rice is not clean enough, you can wash it repeatedly until the water stays clear even after swirling the rice and water.

After washing the rice, make sure that the right amount of water is added to properly cook the rice. Do this by simply filling the bowl with water up to the numbered mark, which is located at the side of the bowl, the same as the number of cups of rice inside the non-stick cooking bowl. Put the bowl in the rice cooker. This is the soaking part, where the rice sits for a few minutes. Soaking the rice allows it to start absorbing some of the water. Wait for 5-10 minutes before plugging in the rice cooker.

After soaking the rice, turn on the rice cooker and wait for it to finish cooking. The easiest part is the cooking part because you do not have to do anything but wait for the rice cooker to do its job. But the preparation before cooking is important to make sure that the result is the best tasting rice possible.

Lastly, after the rice is cooked, let the rice sit for a few minutes before serving it. The heat setting may be turned down also. Letting the rice sit for a few minutes before serving will make it less likely to stick to the cooking bowl. Before serving the rice, rinse the serving spoon first to reduce the quantity of rice that sticks to the serving spoon. These are the easy steps to follow to get great tasting Japanese rice each time.