What is Panda by Yum Asia?
Panda completes Yum Asia’s range of rice cookers. Yum Asia has been the home of Zojirushi in the UK and Europe for over 10 years; we have worked with Japanese rice cooking technologies and learned exactly how they work and their best and most useful features. We realised that the cookers did not always fit into everyone’s budget. We also realised that whilst some models ticked all the boxes of what a customer wants from a rice cooker, sometimes certain models didn’t tick all those boxes. We therefore spent many months thinking and designing a rice cooker with functions that were most appealing to people that love Asian food with the core emphasis being based around cooking great tasting rice along with features that small models usually do not have.
I don’t understand the capacity
Panda has two different types of capacity. It is a 0.6 litres, 3.5 cup rice cooker or 1.75 litres multi-cooker.
Let’s take the first two capacities – 0.6 litres or 3.5 cup. Rice cooker capacities are always referred to in litres or cups. Panda is a 0.6 litres capacity rice cooker and it can therefore cook 3.5 cups of uncooked white rice or 2.5 cups of uncooked brown rice – each cup is 180ml/g. So, if you want to cook 1 cup of white rice, that would be 180g or if you want to cook the full capacity of 3.5 cups, that would be 630g of uncooked rice.
The third capacity of 1.75 litres refers to Panda’s multi-cooking capacity. This means that the inner bowl can hold a maximum of 1.75 litres of liquid.
What is the inner bowl made from?
In our years of selling Zojirushi rice cookers, we realised that all of rice cookers on the market in the UK and Europe only had teflon/similar non-stick material inner bowls.
Based on a lot of customer queries and opinions, we took the decision to supply an inner bowl with a premium and durable 2mm thick ceramic coating. We have ensured it is BPA-free and PTFE-free and is hard wearing. The inner bowl also has easy lift handles.
What voltage is Panda and what plug is it supplied with?
Panda is a 220-240v rice cooker and it is factory made for UK and European power. It is supplied with a 3-pin UK plug. However, if you live in Europe you can opt to add a 2 pin EU plug for £2.50 extra – select using the available options before adding to cart.
What is the outer casing on Panda made from?
Panda is a stylish Asian design and is made from the best quality hard wearing thermoplastic polymer. It is easy to clean, very durable and hygenic.
Is there a warranty?
Yes, we offer our own comprehensive 2 years warranty on Panda. Please refer to the warranty card in the box or see www.yumasia.co.uk/warranty for further details.
Where is Panda made?
Panda is manufactured in dedicated Chinese factories which also make premium brand rice cookers like Cuckoo, Cuchen and Tiger brands. Our factory conforms to the highest international standards and has comprehensive quality control and manufacturing procedures which we have had independently inspected.
What is micom fuzzy logic?
Micom Fuzzy Logic is the ‘brain’ of Panda – it helps the rice cooker to automatically make adjustments in temperature and cooking time depending upon the programme entered by the user. These cookers are called micom rice cookers because they are fitted with a micro-computer chip.
This ‘brain’ makes the cooking of rice foolproof – instead of the cooker simply switching on and off reacting to temperature, the rice cooker now makes small adjustments in temperature and cooking time according to what the thermal sensor senses. With fuzzy logic it means you can also have different programmes for the rice cooker which include cooking white, long grain, short grain, brown rice and porridge (both rice and oat varieties of porridge).
The additional multi-cooker features available with Panda like cake baking, steaming and slow cook are also controlled with micom fuzzy logic which means these features work as perfectly as the rice cooking programmes.
How long can I keep Panda on ‘keep warm’?
Panda (like our other rice cookers) has a 24 hours keep warm cycle, so it means you can cook one big batch of rice which can keep feeding your family for longer! The keep warm feature keeps rice at an ideal serving temperature until it’s ready to be served and there is a handy count-up on the display so you know how long the rice has been left on keep warm.
Does Panda have a timer?
Yes, Panda has a pre-set timer feature. You can set this for up to 24 hours in advance, so you can have yummy rice ready for you when you get in from work or lovely hot porridge on a cold, winters day ready for breakfast!
How does Panda compare to other rice cooker brands?
We spent many years thinking about and designing a rice cooker with functions that were most appealing to people that love Asian food with the core emphasis being based around cooking great tasting rice. We decided that the cooker would not only have to function extremely well but look great and have superior reliability comparable to the Zojirushi brand of rice cooker. Every part of the cooker from the display panel, moulded materials, inner bowl, packaging and instruction manual was designed with meticulous detail to ensure that customers would get the very best value for their money.
The factory we chose to manufacture Panda also manufacturers highly thought of brands like Cuckoo, Cuchen and Tiger.
We have extensively tested Panda and we conducted blind taste tests with the Yum Asia team and we are all in agreement that Panda produces rice which is every bit as good as the rice from a Zojirushi! We also included several features that aren’t usually available on small/mini rice cookers, like a steaming function.
How is the inner bowl heated?
Panda has a heating element on the inside bottom of the unit, however, it also has a unique 3D heating technology as well. This means that the heat from the heating element is dispersed around the bowl through a reflective coating on the inside of the unit and heat also comes from the lid to apply heat down into the inner bowl as well. This 3D heating technology ensures the even cooking of rice and other dishes with a superior keep warm technology.
What types of rice can I cook in Panda?
We designed Panda to primarily be a rice cooker and it cooks different types of rice perfectly. Panda has different options for cooking rice:
‘LONG GRAIN’ setting is for cooking long grain white rice (for example, basmati, jasmine or Thai fragrant rice)
‘SHORT GRAIN’ setting is for any type of white short grain rice like pearl or sushi rice and Thai sticky rice.
‘BROWN’ setting is for cooking long or short grain brown rice
‘QUICK COOK’ setting (for white rice only) for when you want the rice completed a little faster.
How does Panda cook the rice, is it boiled?
No, Panda does not simply boil the rice. As it is a micom fuzzy logic rice cooker, is designed to cook rice using 7 distinct phases to produce perfect rice every time and to carefully retain nutrients. These phases are Preheat, Absorb water, Heating, Boiling, Braising, Absorb water and then finally Keep warm (in this order). This phased cooking and adjustments in temperature are what produces perfect rice every time.
What add-on functions are there on Panda and are they any good?
As well as being a fantastic rice cooker, we hand chose the add-on multi-cooker features of Panda ourselves based on customer feedback we have received over the last 10 years.
The add-on functions we chose are:
Porridge (for rice or oat porridge), Steam, Slow cook and Cake baking.
We have extensively tested each function with excellent results. You can cook soups, casseroles, whole joints of meat, delicious cakes, steam any kind of food and much more in Panda with amazing results.
How can I buy Panda
Visit Panda’s page on Yum Asia’s website for more information about Panda
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