Return of the pressure cooker

I hadn’t realised how much I had come to rely on "the beast" whilst living in India. Since I have been back in London, I have utterly lost my cooking mojo. Everything I want to cook I really needed a pressure cooker for, and this is not just me adding to my collection of “essential” cookware.

As I have mentioned before, the key to authentic Indian food is a pressure cooker, however it also brings with it fuel, time and financial savings as a bonus. This full size beast was a gift for my recent birthday (strange to some I know), but I was thrilled, if not a little anxious about how to use this full size version.

For those of you who wondered what had happened to my beloved mini Indian pressure cooker, I can tell you, it sadly never made it out of Delhi. I had other heavier purchases to bring home. But it does have a happy new home feeding the family of our lovely maid Vreeja.

Watch this space for more adventures with a pressure cooker, and maybe eventually some wisdom, tips and recipes. Although I have no idea how this big boy will behave!

Related posts:

How to use a pressure cooker (albeit an Indian one)

Adventures in pressure cooking

Returning home...

Curled up on the sofa, snuggled in my block print Fab India quilt, wearing my hot pink pashmina, eating a bowl of homemade dal, rice and ratita I listened to the rain lashing the window. No, the monsoon has not arrived in Delhi. I am home.

I returned to London over a week ago, with a two week detour via friends in Australia, but have so far been in denial that our Indian adventure has come to an end. I couldn’t bring myself to post on here... Only tonight as I ate a late supper to the sound of the rain did it sink in - I am in London for the foreseeable future.

Don’t get me wrong, London will always have a place in my heart. However living in Delhi was the most incredible, laughter, adventure and food filled six months of my life and I actually got kind of used to life Indian style. By comparison, England seems seriously tame. Memories of driving up the road the wrong way in a disco rickshaw, random people asking me the most personal questions whilst grocery shopping, the man who nearly fell off his bike cause he was staring at us so much, taking local cycle rickshaws and getting lost, getting lost a lot, and trying to speak Hindi all made the experience so unique. I got used to anything happening at any moment, learned to go with the flow and slow down. You cannot rush in India.

So I do apologise to any Londoners who get really hacked off walking behind me... I have still yet to get my London pace back. Although I’m not sure I really want to. I like a slower life. I like batch cooking too... knowing that after a night on the town with friends, a bowl of mellowing dal is waiting to be devoured – my ultimate comfort food.

The dal I have made in London is a little different from what I would have cooked in Delhi, using more store cupboard ingredients and without the beloved pressure cooker. Unfortunately, the pressure cooker never made it back to London. My maid had her eye on it, so I gave it to her as a leaving present, along with the contents of my fridge and larder. A new, larger and hopefully calmer vessel is on the birthday list... but until then I am cooking my dal British stylee with quick cooking red lentils, tinned tomatoes and a simple tarka.

Store cupboard Dal

1 cup of red split lentils

2 cups of water

½ tsp turmeric

1 dried red chilli

2 tbsp vegetable oil or ghee

1 onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic crushed

½ a tin of chopped tomatoes

2 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp chilli

Salt to taste

Method

Rinse the lentils thoroughly in cold water and boil in the 2 cups of water, with the turmeric and dried red chilli until soft.

In a separate pan, heat the oil and crackle the cumin until it splutters, then add the onion and garlic.

Fry until the onion starts to brown, then add the tomatoes, coriander, chilli and salt to taste.

Cook until the oil separates from the tomatoes and onion, and add to the cook lentils.

Best served the day after, with plan rice and raita.

How to use a pressure cooker

Using a retro piece of kit like a pressure cooker may seem like a bit of a faff, but I have to admit that I am a complete convert (although this could be due to the luxury of not working here in India and “running the home”). However, particularly in these cost and environment conscious times, pressure cooking is a great way to cook cheap ingredients (dried beans, pulses, lentils, slow cooking meat cuts) using much less energy and water. And whilst I remain a little jumpy at the Indian pressure cooker whistle, I know I will continue to use it for all the authentic Indian recipes I have learnt here (rajma, channa pindi, channa dal, mossor dal to name a few).

I have an old fashioned model, the cheapest and most straight forward to use (if you don’t like the look or cost the new digital style ones). Using this type, as my mother did when I was a child also means you have people to ask when you get a little uncertain about its behaviour.

So here are some guidelines for how to use a pressure cooker, but please note: these are mere guidelines, and you should always refer to the manufacturer’s instructions. Living in India, where everyone uses one and knows the intricacies how they work, my instructions were a little basic ... so much of this is based on my own learning, mistakes and frantic google-ing.

• First of all don’t be scared of it. Know that it will make a racket and with all the safe guards on even the most basic models, it is extremely unlikely to explode!
• Ensure that the rim of the pan is free from dents as this will affect the seal
• Ensure the rubber seal is intact and dry
• Ensure the hole through which the steam comes is clean
• Ensure the weight is clean and its holes are clean
• Have a timer / phone / alarm to hand for accurate cooking times
• Ensure you have the right amount of water to solids so that the ingredient doesn’t dry out and there is enough steam to release the pressure. Use this site for guidance and the amounts I often work further on
• Make sure the handle of the pan is secure (mine comes undone every now and again) and affects the pressure
• When you are ready to pressure cook, secure the lid on the pan as instructed and put on a high heat to bring the liquid to a boil
• When there is a gentle jet of steam (not a gushing of lentil water, as in my first attempt) place the weight on top of the spout ensuring it is firmly in place with a click (or not so much of a click like my baby Indian version). Run you hand above the spout and you should feel a stream of air.
• Leave the pan on a high heat and in a few moments the weight will start to wobble and spurt. Leave it alone (this was the moment that I got really scared and chickened out). You must wait for the “whistle”.
• Only when you get a right old spurt of steam coming from underneath the weight or a “whistle” should you then turn the heat down to a low setting.
• My Indian pressure cooker makes no whistle at all, only a noisy spurt, but I believe others actually whistle.
• Leave the Pressure Cooker to cook as long as required.
• You may get water or cooking liquid coming out from the weight, but this is ok.
• Mine “whistles” every 30 seconds or so, but I believe (or rather hope) the bigger ones are slightly less often.
• When the time is up, turn off the heat and remove the pressure cooker from the hob.
• DO NOT TRY TO OPEN THE LID. Leave the pressure cooker to cool down and pressure release until no pressure is released.
• This should take about 20-30mins but you can check the by lifting the weight GENTLY with the tip of the knife. If it’s still spurting steam, leave it alone.
• Most recipes include the cooling down time as part of the cooking time, as the ingredients are still under pressure and therefore still cooking, so it’s best not to try and rush this phase as you may end up with half cooked beans.
• Once the pressure has all gone, undo the lid and check you ingredient is cooked. If not, you can replace the lid and repeat the whole process again until what you are cooking is complete.

Water measurements and pressure cooking time for 1 cup of ingredients:
Chickpeas : 3 ½ cups of water - cook for 30mintues
Rajma (kidney beans) : 3 ½ cups of water - cook for 30mintues
Channa dal (chickpea dal) : 3 cups of water - cook for 30minutes
Arhar dal (yellow dal) : 3 cups of water - cook for 10minutes
Urad dal (black lentil) : 2 ½ cups of water cook for 30minutes

Note: Using 1 litre of milk to make paneer gives you just over what you need to make dal with the whey using 1 cup of lentils.

Cooking Kidney Beans (rajma) in the pressure cooker

After a break from cooking, I have returned from holiday with renewed foodie vigour, determined to cook and learn as much as I can about Indian food whilst I am here. We have guests staying throughout the whole of June so this is the perfect excuse to get in the kitchen as I want to impress them by cooking up an Indian feast (and use them as my guinea pigs).

One of the dishes I have been served most often when eating in friends homes here is Rajma. The ultimate comfort food of spiced kidney beans in a tomato based chilli sauce infused with cinammon and black cardamom – like a Mexican dish with an India twist. The first time I cooked it using an unusual variety of kidney bean that was creamy white with little red splashes, which I ambitiously bought in a local organic shop on one of my food scouting trips. Three months later, I discover it cooks quicker than the common red kidney bean but is not traditional in this Kashmiri dish.

As I mentioned in previous posts, beans and pulses are sold here dried, so attempting this dish meant dragging out my favourite Indian cooking vessel – the pressure cooker. Kidney beans take about 30mins to cook so long as you have soaked them overnight in water. If you are in a rush, you can leave them for 2-3hours in boiling water (ie boiled water poured over the beans) and then cook for 50min in the pressure cooker. Luckily for me and my nerves (yes the spurting still makes me jump) I had remembers to soak my beans.

So, its a pretty simple dish, which I have cooked a couple of times but hasn’t once turned out like the home made versions I have tried so far. The women in my landlord’s family are having a Rajma battle, competing for his preferred dish ... I don’t think I will be entering my version yet, but at least I can now do 30minutes of pressure cooking feeling a little less rattled.

This recipe below comes from my honourable and knowledgeable teacher Amita Koshla (plus a few tweaks of my own) who has been teaching me everything I can absorb about Indian food. She runs fantastic cooking classes in Delhi through Domesteq and I would highly recommend a class if you are ever in Delhi.

RAJMA

Ingredients

1 cups of kidney beans

3 cups of water

2 tbsp cup oil

½ tsp cumin seeds

1” ginger ground to a paste

3 cloves of garlic crushed

1 large onion finely chopped

1 ½ cups tomato puree

Spices

2 bay leaves

4 black cardamom

2 sticks of cinnamon

2 tbsp coriander powder

½ tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp garam masala

½ tsp chilli powder (or to taste)

Fresh coriander to garnish

Method

Soak the beans overnight in a pan of water. Drain and pressure cook for 30minutes with salt and 3 cups of water.

Heat the oil in a large heavy based saucepan and fry the cumin seeds until they crackle.

Add the ginger and garlic and fry a little.

Add the onions and fry till they are light brown in colour.

Add the tomato puree with the whole spices (bay leaves, cardamom and cinnamon) and keep cooking till it starts leaving oil on the surface – about 15minutes on a high flame.

Stir in the turmeric, coriander, chilli powder and garam masala.

Add the boiled kidney beans and about two thirds of the cooking water to the masala and mix well.

Cook on a medium flame to simmer for about 20minutes until it thickens.

Garnish with fresh coriander and a sprinkle of garam masala

NOTES

For the tomato puree, you can use half fresh tomatoes, and half canned puree or all fresh if you have access to them.

If the beans are not sufficiently mushy, break some of them down with a masher or back or a spoon as this will help thicken the sauce.

For a speedy version, use tinned kidney beans.

More adventures in pressure cooking

Since my adventures with a pressure cooker, I have begun a regular Indian cooking class with Amita - a very skilled and knowledgeable cook. The first lesson we were making Dalcha, a lentil dish with lamb on the bone cooked in 2 pressure cookers for speed – one for the lamb and one for the dal. But first I need to set the scene. My classmates are British and Americans expats who have already taken a series of classes with our teacher. As part of this course they toured the bazaars of Old Delhi for authentic spices and cooking implements (plus a few pearls and yards of fabric for good measure). One of the purchases they each made was a pressure cooker. So, back in Amita's kitchen, as the steam started to pssssssschhhht out of the pressure cooker spout we all jumped out of skin. It seemed I was not alone in my fear of this speedy cooking beast.

As Amita attempted to talk over the immense amount of pressure being released on the stove, she looked calm and relaxed. This was exactly the steam explosion I had been witnessing in my own kitchen... “was this the whistle?” I wondered.

Breaking the silence and admitting my fear and trepidation of using my pressure cooker – the others each chuckled bashfully admitting theirs were still in the wrapper - they too were scared!

So Amita, whilst trying to contemplate the thought of cooking meat on the bone without the speedy pot, confirmed that the racket coming from the stove every minute or so was indeed the “whistle”. I had been waiting for the gentle steam train sound I recall from the days my mum made lemon curd hers... but my baby was an Indian pressure cooker. Mine was not the same.

So, after a hugely informative and enlightening class, I returned home to face my demon. Determined not to be beaten by a glorified saucepan I pulled out my dal recipe, took a deep breath and washed my dal thoroughly - in four changes of water, just to be sure. I measured the dal and water as instructed, secured the lid and waited for the steam to shoot through the nozzle, when I whacked on the weight.

I waited for the screech. It screeched. Really loudly. But I remained calm, utilising some yogic breathing from my dawn yoga class. Whilst anxiously holding my breath, I waited for the pressure to subside and noise to stop, which it did. Result! I had made it through my first whistle... only one more to go. I braced myself...

So this pattern continues. I am not sure if I will ever stop jumping each time the pressure is released with a hiss from the pan – but I have felt the fear (of the dal exploding all over my rented ceiling) and cooked it anyway. And according to my resident guinea pig this was my best yet!

Below is the recipe for my best dal yet, which I now use on a weekly basis at least. Dal is an staple dish on every Indian table. It varies depending on whether I have fresh tomatoes in the house, but one thing is consistent – I use my Indian pressure cooker every time!

My best yellow dal yet

Ingredients:

1 cup of urad (yellow) dal cooked in the pressure cooker with 3 cups of water for 6 minutes (2 whistles)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1tsp cumin seeds

1 onion finely chopped

1 green chilli finely slices

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger

2 cloves of garlic minced

3-4 fresh tomatoes diced or half a can of tinned or packet tomatoes

3/4tsp tumeric

3/4 tsp garam masala

1 1/2tsp ground coriander

100ml water

Method
Heat the oil in a meduim sized heavy based pan and fry the cumin seeds until fragrant and spluttering.

Add the onion, chilli, ginger and garlic and fry until the onion goes brown

Add the tomatoes fry for a couple of minutes

Add all the spices and the water and simmer for about 1ominutes, or until the oil has risen to the surface.

Add the mixture to the lentils and cook for a few minutes to meld the flavours and serve with basmati rice.

NOTE 1: This dish best made ahead and eaten a day later when the flavours have developed.

NOTE 2: If you aren't brave enough to use a pressure cooker, you can cook the lentils in a saucepan for about 30-40mintues. Break the lentils down with the back of a spoon so that you get a pressure cooker style texture on them and a thicker sauce.

Adventures in pressure cooking

Beans and pulses are a gluten free cook’s dream and are widely used in Indian cookery. Sold here in their dried form rather than canned, there are hundreds of beans to play with and they make a refreshing base to rice – which I have to admit I not tired of yet!

It seems the key to cooking in India is based on forward planning. You buy the vegetables when you need them as they don’t keep in the scorching heat, and the milk or paneer when you need it before it sours. Likewise with dried beans you have to plan when to cook them so you can soak them as required over night or when you are work.

I have also discovered the secret to Indian recipes is a pressure cooker. Both energy and time saving – especially when cooking chick peas which can take hours on the hob – cooking curries in a pressure cooker also creates the unique texture and holds onto those exquisite spices.

After much debating (how will I get a pressure cooker back to the UK?), I opted for a little 3 litre version to begin my adventures with. I have been studying the manual for days. I am a total novice pressure cooker and stories of my mother’s exploding jam made me a little nervous about using it for the first time to say the least.

I planned to spend today doing some cooking – perfecting some recipes in anticipation of visiting family – so remembered to soak some chickpeas overnight. Plump and ready for cooking, I researched online the amount of water and time needed to cook them in a pressure cooker. I stumbled upon this great site with a huge table of cooking times – invaluable for a novice like me.

Armed with quantities and timings I set about cooking the beans, only to have water spurting out of the spout, even before the weight was put on top. After much stressing, huffing and online researching (google-ing “why is my pressure cooker spouting water?) I let the pan cool down and went in for a second attempt.

Making sure this time there was a constant stream of steam coming out of the spout before I clicked the weight into place (as per the instructions please note) and had the same issue again. Argh! So I gave up. I let the pressure subside – in my own head and in the kitchen – and wrote it off as experience.

Returning later to clear up the mess, I took out a chick pea to see if I could rescue it as I hate to waste my time and food. They were cooked. All of them! Don’t know how, but the great thing was it meant I could continue to make the channa pindi I had planned which turned out to be a triumph.

Granted this is not the nicest picture, but channa pindi is the most delicious dish and even better the day after when the flavours have had a chance to come together

No doubt there will be many more adventures in pressure cooking. I am determined to master this way of cooking, if not just to cook all the beans I have bought.

Channa Pindi

This is a pretty quick to cook dish so long as you have the chick peas cooked. Personally I think tinned chick peas pick up a metallic flavour (which is why I have been battling with my pressure cooker) but for convenience you can't beat them.

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil or ghee, plus extra for tempering at the end

250g cooked chick peas

1tsp cumin seeds

1tsp mustard seeds

1 onion finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

1" ginger peeled and finely chopped

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp red chili powder

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp turmeric

2 ripe tomatoes diced

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4tsp ground cloves

1 sliced green chili

Method

Heat 2 tbsp oil or ghee and crackle the cumin seeds and mustard seeds.

Add the garlic, onion and ginger and cook on a low heat until brown

Add the ground coriander, red chili powder, garam masala, turmeric and stir well to combine

Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until the oil separates (be patient)

Add the chick peas and cook until fairly dry

Heat the remaining oil in a small pan and fry the cinnamon powder, clove powder and fresh chili until fragrant (you just want to release their flavours). This should take just a few moments otherwise they burn.

Add to the dish and serve with rice or roti and devour.