Xiaomi Mi IH: A rice cooker to subjugate them all
23.9.2020
Translation: machine translated
Most of the rice cookers available in Switzerland (and at Galaxus) are overpriced electronic waste. Xiaomi promises you the perfect rice for a small extra charge. Can the Chinese do it?
"There's rice, baby!" sang Helge Schneider on the album of the same name from 1993 and got his beloved with rice from the cooking bag in order to force her to clean the next day. The landlady sung about would have been better off fleeing while the grain was being prepared, then she would have escaped her fate. Helge cooks rice from the cooking bag. Only dubious characters do that. An imposition of the cruder kind, both literally and figuratively...
I wonder if Mr Schneider would use a rice cooker today instead of the shabby bags. A melody from the days of the Jamba ringtone empire snaps me out of my hypothetical musings. Shortly afterwards, the Xiaomi rice cooker passive-aggressively announces in the app. "Cooking complete". The double cry for attention is necessary, after all, I have completely drifted off during the hour of cooking time...
The result of my first attempt with normal basmati rice is almost perfect. Nice and fluffy with a bit of bite. The rice is neither burnt nor too watery, even though I only cooked the minimum amount of one cup. This was to be the start of my test. Just like Helge: there's rice, baby! There are two types and three different ways to cook it: Xiaomi, normal rice cooker and pan.
The price is hot
The "Xiaomi Mi Induction Heating Rice Cooker" is a special case in our range. It works with induction. Most other rice cookers work like grandma's old hob: they heat the container with water and rice in it from below. The hob built into the cooker stops automatically as soon as all the water has evaporated. Youtuber "Technology Connections" shows how the whole thing works in his illuminating video.
Induction rice cookers (IH for short), on the other hand, don't just heat from below, but heat the entire bowl. It is the same principle as modern induction cookers. The rice is therefore cooked more evenly, as the heat also comes from the side and not just from the bottom. The only thing better would be induction pressure cookers, but I'm leaving that out as we don't have any such appliances on sale.
IH cookers offer another advantage. They are equipped with sensors and microchips and therefore don't just know "heat at full throttle" and "keep warm", but automatically regulate the temperature during cooking. The result is better cooked rice. This is why induction rice cookers have their price, and rightly so. Galaxus stocks the Korean brand Cuckoo with two IH rice cookers, both well over 400 francs and euros respectively.
Other brands are currently not available to buy, as the European market is apparently not of interest to manufacturers. I have only found IH rice cookers from market leaders Panasonic, Zojirushi or Tiger at Yumi Hana in Zurich, all of which were well over 400 francs.
Xiaomi comes here with a competitive price and delivers - albeit with a few minor flaws.
Easy to use, when it works
Mi offers an entire ecosystem of household appliances that can be controlled via mobile. You can programme your office lamp, air purifier or rice cooker as you wish thanks to the app. You can even programme small sequences in the style of "When the rice cooker comes on, switch on the air purifier". Fortunately, the rice cooker also works without an app.
The basic functions are self-explanatory
Rice: Normal rice, cooking time around 60 minutes
Quick Rice: Normal rice, cooking time around 40 minutes
Congee: Rice porridge popular in China
Keep Warm: Keep rice warm for up to 24 hours
Favourite: Can be booked, I have programmed the reheat function
Once you have booked your "Favourite", you basically no longer need the app. However, it gives you a little more control over your rice. For example, you can choose the texture of the rice. Unfortunately, the app is currently only available in English and the descriptions are on a par with Aliexpress product descriptions.
Other than that, the app informs you what the rice cooker is currently doing, for example "Cook rice over a slow fire. Keep rice warm uniformly to lock lateral heat inside. So the rice will get gelatinised sufficiently". I speak English, but I have no idea what the app is trying to tell me.
In addition to rice and congee, the "Mi IH" has functions for baking cakes, making yoghurt, steaming with the included insert and a "Tasty Rice" function that takes even longer to cook rice than the eternal 60 minutes of the standard function. If you want to test this, let me know in the comments. I'm only testing the rice function here.
Disappointingly, the Chinese version of the app offers many more functions, such as a barcode scanner for the rice packet so that the perfect cooking method is automatically programmed. The local altitude above sea level can also be set there, as rice cooks completely differently at 2000 metres than at sea level. I hope Xiaomi will deliver something for the West. Incidentally, I wanted to test the Chinese version. But I failed miserably.
The rice is hot
So much for the theory. In practice, the rice cooker works like every rice cooker I've ever used. Measure the rice with a cup, empty it into the cooker, fill the water up to the corresponding mark, press the button and wait. I test with two types of rice. On the one hand, the normal basmati rice from the wholesaler, and on the other, the "Bordeux of rice", a Japanese Koshiibuki from Niigata Prefecture, vintage April '20.
I wash the contents of three cups at a time until the water is no longer milky and divide the rice between the "Mi IH", the normal rice cooker and the pan. I then add 1.5 times the amount of water, which fits perfectly on the line at "1 cup" on the rice cookers. The rice cookers then do their thing automatically. I leave the hob with the covered pan on the highest setting until the water boils, then I switch to the lowest setting and leave the rice covered on the hob until the Xiaomi rice cooker is ready. I leave the Tristar rice cooker on "Warm" during this time.
Result
Koshiibuki
My old Tristar brand rice cooker switches to "warm" mode after 18 minutes, the "Mi IH" needs 50 minutes for this amount of rice. Initially, the appliance displayed 60 minutes, but then corrected itself downwards.
Optically, the results of the three appliances do not differ greatly, with the normal rice cooker the rice is slightly burnt and has a slight browning. The rice from the pan seems to me to have a little more lustre.
Tristar
The rice is a little dry and has a slightly burnt flavour. Not very substantial. Almost nothing sticks to the bowl.
Grade 3.0
Pan
Significantly moister and fluffier than the Tristar, almost on the sticky side. The rice sticks to the bottom of the pan but is not burnt
Grade 4.5
Xiaomi Mi IH
Almost perfect texture and full-bodied flavour. Fluffier than in the pan. However, the rice sometimes forms a fine crust around the edges, but this is not a problem after fluffing it up.
Grade 5.0
I found it difficult to decide which Japanese rice to use. It works very well in the pan. In the end, the Xiaomi rice cooker came out on top because the texture of the rice was better than in the pan. The Tristar struggled with the small amount of rice, which is why it received an unsatisfactory score.
Basmati
Very similar results with basmati. The old Tristar cooker was done cooking after 16 minutes, the Xiaomi took 50 minutes.
The rice in the Tristar is also very dry and slightly burnt. The rice from the pan, on the other hand, is a little too moist again.
Tristar
The rice is very dry, slightly burnt and has little flavour. However, the grains are whole and not overcooked.
Score: 4.0 if you add sauce
Pan
The rice is slightly burnt at the bottom, but still a little too moist. Very flavourful when slightly overcooked.
Grade: 4.5
Xiaomi Mi IH
Perfect in terms of moisture, but not really fluffy. A little overcooked. Impeccable flavour and full-bodied, almost indistinguishable from stir-fried rice.
Grade: 4.5
Conclusion: By far the best value for money
For the first time, forget all rice cookers under 100 francs/euros. They may work, but you can cook rice just as well in a normal pan. If you need a rice cooker, invest the money in the Xiaomi Mi. It makes almost perfect rice at the touch of a button and offers you additional options via the app. Trust me, once you've used induction, you won't want to go back. The Xiaomi Mi is by far the cheapest model on the (unfortunately very modest in Europe) market for induction rice cookers. The cooking time in the standard function is quite long at 50 to 60 minutes. If you don't want to wait that long, there is a quick cooking function. If Xiaomi manages to integrate the additional functions from the Chinese app, then I would be completely happy.
Speaking of happy: whether the woman in Helge Schneider's song who was sweet-talked into eating rice bags has become happy is not conclusively known. Judging by the last song on the album, she has run away.
Simon Balissat
Teamleader Editorial
Simon.Balissat@digitecgalaxus.chWhen I flew the family nest over 15 years ago, I suddenly had to cook for myself. But it wasn’t long until this necessity became a virtue. Today, rattling those pots and pans is a fundamental part of my life. I’m a true foodie and devour everything from junk food to star-awarded cuisine. Literally. I eat way too fast.
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