Pressure cooker

tigerlily · Nov 2nd, 2009, 08:47 AM

Does anyone use one? I was given one by my mum but have never used it.

What do you use your pressure cooker for? How long would it take to make a lamb curry?

NJMasti · Nov 2nd, 2009, 09:05 AM

Pressure cookers are good for quick foods.

I had used it to make rice and meat. It cooks meat in 20 minutes.

Khumar · Nov 2nd, 2009, 09:15 AM

mostly cooking meat. or daals. daals are best left for pressure cookers.

lamb salan would take about 5-7 minutes for the meat to cook, and then however long it takes you to bhoonafy and cook salan.

nadeemnirvana · Nov 2nd, 2009, 10:02 AM

anyone have a recipe for daal cooked in a presure cooker? Step by step please, do u soak the lentils first?

funguy · Nov 2nd, 2009, 11:10 AM

I use it to tenderize red meats and also to cook daal.

I add meat, little water and pressure cook for 10 minutes. Separately I make whatever I am making and add the tender meats as soon as garlic, ginger or onion (if needed) is bhoonafied.

tigerlily · Nov 2nd, 2009, 11:36 AM

Thanks for the replies, so at which stage would you add veg is make a meat and veg curry?

funguy · Nov 2nd, 2009, 11:39 AM

Don't cook veg and meat together in pressure cooker.

Make curry base separately in a wok/pot
Add tenderized pressure cooked meat to wok/pot
Add veg to wok/pot
cook until veg is done.

TabuB · Nov 3rd, 2009, 05:37 AM

My way of making daal-yellow daal

use 1 cup daal and wash it and leave to soak for about 15 minutes

In the meantime in the pressure cooker add about 4 cups of water-use same cup as daal...in the water add the following: 1 tbsp ginger/garlic paste, 1 tspn garam masala, salt, haldi, mirch, dhanya powder etc

wait for water to boil...once it starts boiling, drain the daal and add to pressure cooker...

now cover the pressure cooker with lid..leave for about 20-30 minutes on medium heat...then switch off heat...be very careful when u open lid..usually you have to wait about 15 minutes-on the lid theres this part which goes down which shows its safe to open..

once open..check if daal is soft...put on high heat and keep stirring...using a whisk...whisk manually to break the daal down a bit-use can also used madaani...then if consistency is too thick add a bit of water..or leave as it is..

in a frying pan add 1 onion and oil and fry...once a bit brown add to daal..

daal is now ready

its a very easy dish to make..

im sure ppl make it in different ways..this is my method as my mum taught me..

good luck

tigerlily · Nov 3rd, 2009, 06:30 AM

Brilliant, thanks for all your help guys. I'll give my pressure cooker a go tonight.

Khumar · Nov 3rd, 2009, 07:54 AM

If you're making channay ki daal, you only need to soak it for about half an hour. If you're making kidney beans, or maash, then you do need to soak those overnight.

Once you've done it, add it to the pressure cooker and add enough water to cover the daal, and then some. On about medium-high to high heat, cook it for about 10 mins max. When i say cook, i mean start counting the time from when the weight thingy starts to move around.

Sufi_Bhai · Nov 3rd, 2009, 12:06 PM

Also be extra careful with pressure cooker. Once my aunt was cooking something and its cap just blew up and all the daal spread on walls and roof. Its heavy cap hit the roof. Luckily no one was in the kitchen at that time.

NJMasti · Nov 3rd, 2009, 12:57 PM

^ Sufi Bhai - that has happened to me twice! It's very dangerous.

The first time it happened - I really did not know how to use a pressure cooker. I was right there - and the entire steam just like a big fire ball went right up. The cover/cap/whistle everything just every where - it was terrible. Luckily I was safe.

The second time it happened I was a little more experienced - but it still happened. I was not in the room but my 6 yr old was - and he was scared. Luckily he too rushed out without any incident.

I have stopped using cooker since then.

Sara516 · Nov 3rd, 2009, 02:24 PM

DAMN!!! how often does this bursting thing happen?

Khumar · Nov 4th, 2009, 01:44 AM

Not often or never if you're careful.

Sara516 · Nov 4th, 2009, 01:48 AM

so hwo does it happen?

Lusi · Nov 4th, 2009, 01:56 AM

I use it all the time for lamb, mutton, chanay, beans, etc

Lusi · Nov 4th, 2009, 01:59 AM

Sara, once I was too impatient, tried opening the lid before the pressure was released, ended up with a huge mess in my kitcken, learned my lesson. Now if I am in a hurry I put my cooker undercold running water, it helps the cooker to cool down and release the pressure quickly.

Khumar · Nov 4th, 2009, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sara516

so hwo does it happen?

it can happen if the pressure doesn't have the right avenue to be released while it's cooking. so for example if your weight isn't moving then it means it's just building and building. the lid can also not be closed properly. or you could have waaaay to much in the cooker, like liquid wise so there is too much pressure but not enough space for it to go anywhere. and like lusi siad, you have to give it enough time to like cool down before you try to open the lid.

tigerlily · Nov 4th, 2009, 06:34 AM

So what do you do if you notice the weight isn't moving?

NJMasti · Nov 4th, 2009, 06:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sara516

DAMN!!! how often does this bursting thing happen?

I think it depends on the type of pressure cooker you have.

I noticed that both times that it happened - it was one of those extremely small sized pressure cooker from desi stores.

I thought a smallest size would be perfect for me to cook for 2. Turns out that the cute looking cooker is not built safety... or perhaps it was my fault in someways too...

I threw out those tinnie ones. I have another one but it's too big for my use and I hardly use it. The newer one I have is from JCPenny.

I have used it couple of times only - without any incident.

..but remember the tinnie cooker I had - I used it every single day after work... so maybe the ring needed replacement? I don't know...