I asked and you delivered. You are the best bunch that a
blogger could ask to support an event to refute an opinion stated as a fact by
a slow cooker cookbook author (now say that fast!). You cooked in your Indian
pressure cookers, clicked pictures of them and narrated stories and adventures
you have had with them. Thank you for validating and proving that Indian
pressure cookers are indeed safe and easy to use. Here is the roundup in the
order I received them. If I missed any of your entrees, do let me know and I
will add you promptly with my sincerest apologies.
During her courting
days, Anita would visit her in-laws and help out with the Sunday morning ritual
of cleaning the weekly vegetables and preparing a simple lunch that included
sada varan bhaat. After marriage, she learnt that overcooking toor dal to make
sada varan bhaat wasn’t frowned on South of the Vindhyas. The girl from North of the Vindhyas
now overcooks her toor dal without any qualms and feeds her family this
comforting meal every Sunday.
Preeti talks about her first taste of momos (steamed
dumplings) she had in Bhutan as an air force base kid. She hadn’t liked the
look of them but when she tried one she couldn’t have enough. She decided to
relive that memorable trip with her friends and family by steaming some momos
of her own in her pressure cooker.
When Soma moved to America with her husband, she couldn’t
bring her pressure cooker with her. It was fortuitous too because she made
friends with another girl and borrowed her pressure cooker whenever she needed
to use. The lending and borrowing of pressure cooker blossomed into a lifelong
friendship. And yes, she did eventually buy her own pressure cooker and
recently, a spanking new Futura in which she cooked this delicious lahsuni dal.
After getting
hitched, Priya’s techie man brought a 3 ltr Contura based on her specifications
and she has never needed another cooker since. She says it “serves all her
purposes”. She makes this Kerala potato curry in her pressure cooker all the
time and so far the cooker hasn’t blown up in her face.
Siri grew up watching her mom cook in not one but sometimes
two pressure cookers simultaneously. It is now an integral part of her
household as well. So much so that she “literally wakes up every single morning
with the sound of the whistle whooshing across the kitchen till our bedroom”.
In case you are wondering, it is her mother-in-law who is using the pressure
cooker in the mornings. She made a filling one-pot achari chana pulao in her 3
ltr pressure cooker.
Princy calls her prized Hawkins pressure cooker her “best
pal” in the kitchen. She uses it every day, sometimes twice a day. She cooks
this scrumptious and filling egg biryani when she is feeling lazy but still
wants to eat something spicy and yummy.
Lata remembers her mother and grandmother using the pressure
cooker since the appliance was first introduced in the market. She remembers
them cooking dal for rassam and sambhar and steaming idlis and vegetables in
it. She made a delicious dhal kalbeliya, a blend of three lentils pressure
cooked and then sautéed with tempered onions, garlic and tomatoes.
Growing up, Sandeepa never cared for her grandma’s famous
and much in demand Gota Sheddho. A traditional meal in Bengali families the day after Saraswati Pujo, she usually swallowed a morsel of the cold dish and called it a day. Now all
grown up with kids of her own, she revived the tradition with a few changes of
her own. A one pot dish, she cooked the Sheddho in her pressure cooker and ate it
hot with a squeeze of lime.
Manisha learnt to use the pressure cooker when she was 9
years old. She now lives in a high altitude area of 5320ft
and values her two pressure cookers ever more. They are indispensable tools in
her kitchen. She not only cooked a delicious whole red lentil curry (massorichiamti) in her pressure cooker but wrote an excellent post to demystify urban
legends about pressure cookers not blowing up in people’s faces.
Pavani owns half a dozen
pressure cookers that serve different purposes in her kitchen. She uses them to
cook rice, lentils, veggies and curries. She showed her love and appreciation
for her pressure cookers by making this tasty Goan Mixed Vegetable curry and
jeera rice in her two Prestiges.
Shri wrote an almost poetic odeto the workhorse of the Indian kitchen and wrote down detailed directions on
how to cook chickpeas and lentils using the separator pans in the pressure
cookers. Check out her beautiful photographs and her post here.
Mandira owns three pressure cooker and all of them are put to good use including the small Hawkins which she uses to cook lunch for her kids. She made a nutritious moong dal with peas and carrots in her pressure cooker.
The girl who hosts A Mad Tea Party recently posted her dad's tomato-beetroot soup recipe that is strikingly similar to my mom's tomato-beetroot soup recipe. As if that was not enough, both of them pressure cook the vegetables and then puree them to make an amazingly delicious, nutritious soup that is ready with the rest of the meal. The next time you are craving some soup, make this in your pressure cooker and you will be glad you did.
Mandira owns three pressure cooker and all of them are put to good use including the small Hawkins which she uses to cook lunch for her kids. She made a nutritious moong dal with peas and carrots in her pressure cooker.
The girl who hosts A Mad Tea Party recently posted her dad's tomato-beetroot soup recipe that is strikingly similar to my mom's tomato-beetroot soup recipe. As if that was not enough, both of them pressure cook the vegetables and then puree them to make an amazingly delicious, nutritious soup that is ready with the rest of the meal. The next time you are craving some soup, make this in your pressure cooker and you will be glad you did.
This brings us to the end of the
roundup which was a little shorter than I expected. My contribution in defense
of the Indian pressure cooker is here and here.
I had a lot of fun visiting
your blogs and reading about your experiences with the Indian pressure cooker.
It is heartening to know that they are such an integral part of your kitchens.
Pressure cook on.
