Art of Pressure Cooking (Aug 2009 Newsletter)

What is so important about cooking? Is it the food itself or is it the process or is it the objective of making sure everyone is fed at the end of the day - somehow? How often do we stop and think about the menu for the day? Except for the special occasions, which are usually very rare, none of us give ‘food’ the thought it deserves. The reason for this is the fact that there are extremes in the society, one that believes that cutting down on certain food will make sure they remain 'healthy and fit' forever and hence emerges the 'diet' food. And then there is the other extreme, which cooks food the old fashioned way, with loads of butter, red meat, frying, limited vegetables and finishing it off with a huge dessert. Why? Well, because this is the way it has been done and it is the only way of living they have known. Then there is another category of people who doesn’t think about food that can be cooked at home. All they think about is the lack of time and convenience of ‘drive thrus’ and ‘deliveries’.

Have we ever thought that there may be a middle path? The food is energy for the body but for the mind, it is the nourishment. We can, if we want, not only cook the food that tastes good, keep ourselves healthy but also quickly in matter of minutes. Indian cuisine has certain categories of dishes that cater to this very need. The food doesn’t have to be any kind of diet food, but the change in the cooking technique makes any food healthy. One such process is pressure cooking. The idea is to cook the food under steam pressure which not only cooks it in half its time but also keeps all the nutrients locked. The entire process is quick and simple.

In the upcoming workshop, Flavors of Landour will show you a demonstration of Pressure Cooking technique with different kinds of pressure cookers. The participants can learn about the benefits of pressure cooking and also two different Indian Vegetarian recipes which they get to taste too. This workshop will give you an idea of the various ways the pressure cooker can be used including for the other regional cuisines of the world. You can keep your recipes unchanged but just by introducing the pressure cooking technique in your kitchen, you can even create your old favorites in a new healthy way.