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I often cook basmati rice with my rice cooker, or (more often) my mother cooks it for me. You are really supposed to rinse it first, but often we just put the water, rice, and maybe a little bit of butter or ghee in the cooker.
I cook rice in a rice cooker but I never soak it. If you want loose rice don't soak it. If you are making the sticky rice, then I believe you have to soak it.
I didn't know soaking the rice longer will make it sticky. I've always bought sticky rice which it is different from plain rice. I usually rinse my rice and cook it (by rice cooker or steam).
This has been my observation with hinode calrose medium grain white rice. If you soak the rice for a period of time, the rice changes in appearance. Instead of translucent rice, the rice turns bright white after a good soaking. If you do give your rice a good soaking, you should use a little bit less water to cook it than if you didn't soak the rice. This type of rice will be a bit drier and firmer. If you don't soak your rice, it will be a bit more fluffy and it will fall apart easier.
It depends on the rice. I soak Calrose rice, and rinse off the Basmati rice. I don't soak wild rice. I also use my rice cooker for quinoa, which needs to be soaked for 12 hours prior to cooking, rinsing is not enough, INMO...love to use rice cooker for oatmeal.
I have two different cookers, in different kitchens. I always wash my rice with several changes of water.
One is an ordinary $12 rice cooker which turns off the high heat and dings a bell when the water boils off. I mostly cook brown rice in it, 2 portions of water to one part rice. I put in a pinch of sea salt, which yields slightly softer rice because it raises the temperature of the boiling water. Works OK, but it always slightly burns the bottom layer.
The other is a high tech "fuzzy logic" cooker that automatically adjusts time and temperature, producing perfect rice ever time. It will even keep the rice warm and tasty for as long as several days. I discovered that feature by accident.
I does have one other feature I like, and use occasionally, when I think to start it in time. Starting with ordinary brown rice it will automatically cook High GABA rice, aka sprouted brown rice, which increases the healthful amino acids in brown rice by holding the uncooked rice in very warm water for several hours before cooking to activate the sprouting enzymes. It's highly nutritious, and much softer than ordinary brown rice, so I like it a lot. I just don't usually remember to start it early enough to take advantage of the feature.
I am from Japan, if I'm cooking plain white rice (sticky Japanese type) I rinse it a few times then add water, and if the time allows soak for about 15 minutes. If I don't have time, no biggie. Other kind of rice, like if I'm making Mexican rice or something, I don't soak at all. Right now, I don;t have rice cooker, so I cook in regular sauce pan on stove, it turns our just fine too.
^^^ Wash/Rinse 3 times, let soak, cook. After about 10 minutes "fluff" and use "day old" rice for fried rice. "Botan" brand.
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I've always bought sticky rice which it is different from plain rice. I usually rinse my rice and cook it (by rice cooker or steam).
