In an earlier post I had expressed the generation gap between me and machines. Today I found out that it spreads to kitchen appliances also. Some of them flummox me! I have no clue how to handle them well. Take for example today morning's caper. Yesterday night I "benevolently" decided that I would make breakfast. Why this came to pass was because my mom-in-law is not in station. So in the morning with a happy tune on my lips I entered the kitchen. With full gusto I took out my enemy of all appliances to use. The pressure cooker. I know it was invented with "Simplicity" in mind but give me a vessel with water to cook rice in any day. If you haven't guessed it still I am terrified of and intimated by the pressure cooker. It stems from a "small" incident of the cooker bursting the first time ever I tried to use it. The phobia has stayed with me since. Just when I think I have made a slave of this appliance its evil face comes up to show me who is boss.
I am not the best judge of the measure of water that is needed for cooking a certain measure of rice. But I had started feeling a little more confident about it until today. I kept rice and water in the cooker and started doing other chores around the house. After half an hour I realized that the whistle hadn't blown off and at the same time also noticed a burnt smell permeating through the whole house. Rushing into the kitchen, switching off the stove and opening the lid showed me that due to lack of sufficient water the whistle was on Silent Protest and the cooker had burned the rice. No I had not. It was all the problem of the stupid cooker.
I am clued into Innovation these days. And you know what I think would be an awesome innovation in cookers? Measure markers on the inside for every litre till the full capacity. Now this would be something very useful for people like me who become life long sworn enemies of the pressure cooker!
5 comments:
Stopped using the cooker to cook rice long back, many suggested that I try using the microwave and I did but I am yet to get the proportions right....That is why I prefer to boil the rice in a bowl and when cooked drain off the starch....this way I get it just the way i like it.....getting the proportions right is one of the many things I need to learn from Ma this time.....
..btw me too was initially scared of using the cooker...my roommates used to laugh at the way I used to handle it.... but then with time got used to it.....
Swats I love it that am not alone in this battle :). When I told people at office about this incident they all sympathised with the cooker!
Siri, frankly I cannot imagine you even boiling water :-) . Let alone using these modern gadgets lie Pressure Cooker. Opening the freezer is more like Siri. Well now you know I have not changed much in the judging department.
However, if it really comes down to using the pressure cooker in everyday life, I have a lifesaver of a suggestion. Get a Hawkins Futura Pressure cooker. If you could master the art of shutting down at the proper times, you will turn a new chapter in the culinary epic. Just for starters - No more counting whistle, just a gentle and elegant chuck chuck that would take you all the way to food Nirvana :-)
He he nice suggestion Boni. Let me try convincing my m-i-l and mom who have been using the whistle variety for nearly half a century!
And I cook pretty well now thank u ;)
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