I have been debating for years over whether or not to buy a rice cooker.  My family loves rice (and sushi) and we do tend to cook a lot of it, but I had a hard time justifying buying an appliance that only performed one function like that.  Counter space and cabinet space are pretty limited now, and rice cookers can take up quite a bit of room.  Thankfully, the Smart Kitchen Multicooker promised to be the appliance I've been searching for.  Although the same size as a rice cooker, it does much more than just cook rice.

This appliance will also steam vegetables, fish and more as well as sear meat and vegetables, in order to make healthy stews and sauces.  I couldn't wait to get started and learn how the Smart Kitchen Multicooker could help me prepare these dishes with less oil and butter due to the George Touch nonstick coating.

When I opened up the box, I found the following items included:  Smart Kitchen Multicooker Cooking Pan, Tempered Glass Lid with Adjustable Steam Vent, Steaming Basket, Intelli-Probe Digital Controls, Rice Measuring Cup, Serving Paddle and Instruction Booklet.  Since my family eats a lot of rice and I have been longing for a rice cooker for so long, I decided to prepare some rice to eat first.

The Smart Kitchen Multicooker is actually designed to make preparing both white and brown rices easily.  The Intelli-Probe Digital Control even has dedicated settings for both of these varieties of rice.  I turned to the instruction booklet to find out how to use the rice measuring cup and inside markings in the multicooker (both shown above), and was astounded to discover that the instruction booklet didn't say!

All that the very vague instructions say to do is to "measure desired amount of rice with the rice measure provided".  This measuring cup is the first one I've ever seen which has numerical markings but absolutely no units whatsoever.  What do the numbers 120 and 180 mean if there aren't any units following them?  Next, the instructions tell you to "place rice in the cooking pan and add water or other liquid.

Use the water level markings inside the cooking pan as a guide for adding the right amount of water".  Once again, I was completely clueless as to what this meant.  The numbers on the inside of the cooking pan don't match the rice measuring cup numbers, so if there is some correlation, that would have been nice to include in the instruction manual.  I couldn't believe that the instructions for this machine were written so poorly.  Finally, the instructions say to go to www.georgeforemancooking.com to find recommended rice cooking guides and steaming charts.

Aha!  This must be what I'm looking for, though I didn't understand why I would have to travel to the internet to find this information.  I went onto their website and searched extensively for the guides mentioned in the instruction booklet and couldn't locate them at all.  I even googled these rice cooking guides and found nothing there either.  This is a huge oversight on the George Foreman Healthy Cooking company and was very frustrating to say the least.

I decided to just follow the instructions on the package of rice itself and added one cup of rice and one cup of water to the Smart Kitchen Multicooker.  Next, I clicked on the power and adjusted the cooking mode to "white rice".  The red display then said "on" and the cooker began to do its thing.  Within minutes, the water began boiling inside and small amounts of steam began to seep from the adjustable steam vent located on top of the multicooker's lid.

About fifteen minutes or so later, the red display went from "on" to "--" signaling that the cooking process had completed.  Then the multicooker automatically switched itself into "warm" mode so that the rice would be at a perfect temperature to eat when served.  The rice paddle was very helpful at removing large servings of rice from the multicooker and the rice came out fluffy and fully cooked.

I was very pleased at the results, but have to admit that it would be nice if the multicooker had an audible alarm that sounded when it switched itself into warm mode.  The instructions claim that food shouldn't be left in warm mode for longer than fifteen minutes, but how do you know the food's been warming that long if there's no warning sounded when the cooking completes?

If you are cooking anything other than white or brown rice, you simply use the multicooker as you would an ordinary oven or stovetop.  For instance, to steam vegetables, simply fill the steamer basket with your vegetables and the cooking pan with at least 2 cups of water.  Then, set the mode to "steam" and set the timer with the desired cooking time.  As soon as the water begins to boil, the timer will begin to count down.

The Smart Kitchen Multicooker is perfect for making soups and stews too and you can even brown and sear the meat used right inside the cooker itself.  Set the cooking temperature to 350 degrees and begin browning the meat inside the cooking pan.  When the meat has been browned to your liking, simply add the meats, vegetables and liquids in the pan and stir until well blended.  Then, set the temperature on the Intelli-Probe as well as the cooking time.

One of the best features of the Smart Kitchen Multicooker is how easy it is to clean.  All of the items can go directly into the top rack of your dishwasher, except for the Intelli-Probe and the cooking pan itself.  In order to clean the nonstick surface of the cooking pan, just add a little liquid soap and wash with a soft sponge or brush.  Everything immediately comes right out and the ulticooker is ready to cook, steam and sear all over again!

I was very happy with the cooking capabilities and versatility of the George Foreman Smart Kitchen Multicooker.  It is very easy to use and seems to work well.  The rice measurements are still a mystery to me, but other than that, this is a quality kitchen appliance.