You don’t need a rice cooker. Just use a regular pot. I never wash/rinse the rice unless there is significant visible trash in it. The only variable factor is the kind of rice you are cooking. Take basmati for example. That long grain white basmati is really great. Put rice in post and cover it with one inch of water. Put lid on and put pot on heat to boil. When it boils turn heat down to low. Lift lid after about ten minutes. If grains look cooked and the pile of rice is puffed up then it is done. Serve and enjoy. If it is brown basmati use same method but put slightly more water in the pot. I never measure the water, just check to see that it looks like one inch in depth and add more or pour off extra as needed. This works just fine. Other options include adding oil and/or vinegar (like rice or suchi vinegar). I never add salt but that is also an option. Adding oil does make it more interesting as does vinegar. Long/medium/short brown rice, brown or white basmati, jasmine are all cooked the same way. The Asian brown, black, red rice would be cooked more carefully to make sure it is fully cooked and not scorched. A cast iron pot or pressure cooker can also be used, method is same as previously described and with rice to water ratio. It doesn’t matter what size pot you use, always add one inch of water above the rice, a little more for brown/unpolished. It is usually better to add less water than more and use lower heat and longer cooking times. This produces a delicious just-barely-done rice, particularly good with white long grain (they are really long when cooked) basmati. Cooking rice is easy and can produce near perfect or perfect results with little effort.
absolutely never. it is not needed. just cook until done and serve hot