Inomata Plastic Japanese Rice Washing Bowl with Strainer, 2 quart

There are two versions of the Inomata Japanese Rice washing Bowl with Strainer, and I purchased them both. Below I’ll describe them and outline the differences: PURPOSE: These bowls were designed for rinsing rice before cooking, and they do so quite well. Rinsing rice is one of those challenging activities where you can’t use a traditional colander because the holes may be too big and the rice will pass through, and a standard bowl is tricky to get all the water out without pouring some rice out along with it. You could use these bowls for rinsing other things as well, like beans, faro, fruits or vegetables. You may or may not have good results with smaller grains like quinoa for example, as quinoa is quite small. Both bowls are made in Japan of Polypropylene and are stamped “PP” on the underside. They indicate a minimum temperature of -20 °C (-4 °F) degrees and a max temperature of 120 °C or 248 °F. Polypropylene, according to Wikipedia, will melt at 171 °C, or 340 °F. Since water boils at 100 °C or 212 °F, you should theoretically be able to use this as a strainer for pasta (as many shoppers have asked) but it drains so slowly that you wouldn’t want to. I have also heard that Polypropylene can be damaged (cosmetically) by prolonged contact with boiling water, so I did not want to test this out. The small bowl nests inside the large bowl, although not completely perfect. Both bowls have a reinforced hole in the handle (if you can call it that, it’s really just a small tab) which you can use for hanging if you have a small hook. Note the measurements for each bowl described in the listing, where the small bowl is listed as 2 qt or 8 cups, and the large bowl is listed as 2.5 quarts or 10 cups. Note that a customary “cup” for measurement in the United States is 8 fluid ounces, or about 236.6 milliliters. Most rice cookers come with their own measuring cups which are designed to measure out a portion of rice, which is usually less than a standard customary “cup” in US measurement. My Zojirushi, for example, came with two cups, one for white rice (which actually holds 180ml, or just over 6 fluid ounces, or a generous ¾ cup) and one for brown rice (which actually holds 171 ml, or about 5.7 fluid ounces, or slightly less than ¾ of a cup). I measured the capacity of each bowl in customary fluid ounces by lining each bowl with plastic wrap and then filling with water. More on that test below. SMALL BOWL (2 qt): This bowl is 8 inches in diameter, 6 inches tall, and the diameter of the base is 6 inches. The small bowl does not have holes in the bottom, only drainage holes on the spout. If this bowl were solid, and filled completely to the top, it would hold 8.5 cups of water. To use it for it’s intended purpose, you wouldn’t want to fill it that high since you’d spill rice out trying to rinse it. You can rinse a maximum of about 8 (customary US cups) cups of rice in this bowl, 5-7 would be more comfortable (7-9 “rice cooker” measuring cups!). Because this bowl doesn’t have holes on the bottom, you could leave about some water standing if you had any reason to soak something in the bowl. For this, you can fill the bowl with 4 cups before it starts spilling out the spout. LARGE BOWL (2.5 qt): This bowl is 8.5 inches in diameter, 6 inches tall, and the diameter of the base is 6 inches. This bowl has small holes in the bottom in addition to the drainage holes on the spout. These holes are about the diameter of a large paperclip, unfolded. The base is raised slightly higher than the small bowl to allow for drainage. If this bowl were solid, and filled completely to the top, it would hold 10.5 cups of water. To use it for it’s intended purpose, you wouldn’t want to fill it that high since you’d spill rice out trying to rinse it. You can rinse a maximum of about 9-10 (customary US) cups of rice in this bowl, 6-8 cups comfortably (10-12 “rice cooker” measuring cups!). Because this bowl has holes on the bottom, all the water would eventually drain out so you can’t soak anything in it. I would like to point out though, that the holes on the bottom are very small, and will drain slowly, so you don’t need a constant, heavy stream of water for rinsing. They are so small in fact, that the bowl will retain a shallow pool of water because the weight of about ½ inch of water wouldn’t create enough pressure to completely drain through the holes. The holes are about the diameter of a large paperclip, unfolded. I hope this review helps anyone interested in purchasing these bowls. I couldn’t make up my mind, and since they were a good price, I bought both, but if I had to do it again and buy only one, I’d choose the larger one with holes in the bottom since it’s more functional (and holds a little bit more, without taking up much more room).

Read about this particular bowl when reading an article elsewhere. Searching, I found there are many rice washing bowls more or less like this. Trusting the praise from that article, I ordered this one, and the praise was accurate. I can't tell you if this one is better than some of the other offerings, but I can tell you that it works very well, is easy to use (and for me, rinsing rice satisfactorily has always been a messy job somehow), and is easy to clean.

Works great! It is just the two of us and when I make rice of course it is not a lot and should be made fresh for best quality. I have rinsed in pans and tried to get water out. I have rinsed in my mesh strainer and tried to get the rice out. It is a pain! So I dont make rice often, and then dont bother to rinse which is not so good. I saw this recommended in an article and after researching, I did in fact order this one, in the 2 qt size. I like it in that it has a solid bottom rather than a sieve on the bottom like the 2.5 qt has. I can soak my rice for a bit, I can also put a solution for cleaning my veggies and fruits in it, let it soak for a bit and then easily drain it on the sides. Yes, a couple of rice kernels did escape through the side but not enough to get all wadded up about at all ! When I was done I gave it a spray of dishwashing solution, wiped and dried and and voila, all ready for the next time. YAY!

This rice washing bowl is seriously one of those “why didn’t I buy this sooner?” kitchen things. The built-in strainer is super handy — you can rinse rice really well and drain the water without losing grains down the sink or having to juggle a separate colander. It makes the whole rinse-and-repeat process faster and way less messy.

Excellent rice, Japanese rice, rinse bowl, to rinse your Japanese rice, before cooking, in a Japanese rice cooker. Good Construction quality and ease of cleaning.

Our 13 year old granddaughter is very happy to have this for Thursdays. This night is her chance to provide supper. This is a welcome addition to food prep! Note: lots of uses, like catching egg shells while pealing boiled eggs under running water…..

It works great when wash rice. You don’t lose any rice .

Really easy to use. Cook rice about twice a week, and I am so happy I bought this.

El bol con colador INOMATA combina funcionalidad y diseño compacto para simplificar tus tareas en la cocina. Fabricado en plástico de alta calidad, este utensilio japonés de 2 litros es perfecto para lavar, escurrir y preparar alimentos con facilidad. Ideal para frutas, verduras, arroz o pasta, su diseño ergonómico y duradero lo convierte en un aliado esencial para el día a día.

I love this bowl. I debated a long time before I bought it (really, a bowl mainly for washing rice?) but as we mainly eat rice as our staple grain, I splurged. (Yes, on an inexpensive bowl) This is a perfect size for washing 3 rice-cooker cups of rice at a time ( our usual amount) and I use less water to wash and rinse. This ALSO works really well to wash berries, peas, and lentils. I havent put it in the dishwasher, I just wash it by hand immediately after Ive finished using it, and so far theres no wear or anything.

Me parece que cumple su función, sin embargo puedes hacer lo mismo con un colador o poniendo tu mano en el recipiente para interceptar a los granos de arroz como lo hacían en la vieja escuela, pero por un precio alrededor de los 100 pesos no está mal.

Good

My family eats a lot of Japanese rice, the short grain or the sushi rice as it is called here. This is perfect for washing it and taking out all the white starch. The plastic is sturdy and the product well made. Made in Japan! Perfect for the job, speeds up my routine of cooking rice.