Electric rice cookers are present in most kitchens in Costa Rica. A few staunch traditionalists who favor wood burning stoves and earthenware pottery may disagree, but one thing that Ticos who keep households or spend considerable time in the kitchen know is that rice cookers can easily adopt to our cuisine and meal patterns.

In a recent article published by Panasonic for its web series “Around the World“, the use of a rice cooker in a typical working-class Tico household in the Greater San Jose Metropolitan Area was featured. Silvia Ross, the lady of the house, described how she could simultaneously prepare rice and a dish of steamed potatoes and sausage (a sort of picadillo with papas and salchichon) while getting dressed in the morning.

The potatoes and sausage dish with rice form part of the home-cooked brown-bag lunches that Ms. Ross lovingly prepares for her husband Francisco Chacon and their daughter Patricia. Clearly a multi-tasker, Ms. Ross prepares gallopinto with yesterday’s rice and beans while tomorrow’s rice and lunch for that day are cooking.

How does Ms. Ross prepare three dishes at once? The Panasonic rice cooker has a steaming basket that holds the side dish above the rice, cooking both at the same time. It’s an appliance that saves electricity and time, making it perfect for Costa Rica, a country that highly values environmental sustainability. “The glass lid makes it easy to check food and is heavy enough to keep steam inside”, explained Ms. Ross.

The rice here is typically long, thin and non-glutinous. Properly cooked Tico rice does not stick together, and thus rice cookers are ideal. The trick is to get the right proportion of rice, water and oil into the rice cooker and letting it take care of the rest.

For cooking steamed side dishes, which are far healthier than fried, it helps to consult the rice cooker manual and find the steaming guide. For example, a cup of diced chayotes will probably take around 10 minutes to be fully steamed, while a chicken breast or quarter will take around 20-25 minutes. Most fish filets will only take about 15 minutes to steam.

Simultaneous preparation of meals in a rice cooker is a low-tech sustainable solution for any kitchen. Cooking times are lowered, and so is energy consumption. Rice cookers don’t take up too much space, their use lessens the number of cooking utensils when preparing meals, and warming up dishes prepared therein saves time and energy.