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Cooking tips for Indians - Pressure cooking

2006-03-15T20:02:00.000-05:00

Advantages of Pressure Cooking:

I have seen many Indians reluctant to use a pressure cooker for making curry, the key part of an Indian meal. Probably they think that pressure cooking does not bring about much taste to the curry. May be there is a little truth in it, since adequate water is required to pressure cook. Much time is saved by pressure cooking compared to open cooking. While cooking openly, one has to watch continually, stir it so that it is not burnt, and be attentive all the time, taking atleast half an hour. Pressure cooked curry tastes a little bit different from that of an open cooked curry, probably because of more water. However, it's not a full trade off. The loss of taste is less, compared to the time saved. However, it is an individual decision. If one thinks the best way to use his/her time is to stand by while open cooking, it is his/her decision. With proper technique and experience, one can cook fine-tasting curries with a pressure cooker. And curries cooked in water are healthier than those cooked in oil. One can look for pressure cooking Indian recipes in the Cooker company's brochures. I don't think the loss of vitamins is much compared to open cooking. Though pressure cooking occurs at higher temperature, loss of vitamins is less since less water is lost.

Tips for pressure cooking:

Don't use too much water. Use water to just immerse the vegetables, and not any more. Actually, water can slightly less than immersing. Fry the green peppers, curry leaves, onions, turmeric, spices, etc. first and then put the cut vegetables, red pepper and salt, and stir, and finally pour water and close the lid. You will learn the adequate number of whistles to cook and the time to wait before opening the lid, by trial and error.

Choosing a pressure cooker:

Size: There is a trade off between the size of the cooker and cooking time. Generally, for six servings of curry (3 people*2 meals), a 5 liter cooker is sufficient. Choose your cooker size based on your needs.

Type and Brand: Pressure cookers with external seal (gasket) take more time to cook, and it is costly as well as cumbersome to replace those gaskets frequently which do not last long. An example is Prestige (India). Those with internal seals like Hawkins (India) cook much faster and the seals do not need replacement usually. The ISI marking in India is not really based on standards in reality. I would suggest you to go for Hawkins, a bit expensive by Indian standards, or any other internal seal cooker. Cheaper brands too are safe because of the built in safety valve.

Metal: The best cookers are non-stick, stainless steel, and aluminium-alloy - in that order. In the first two types, you can keep the curry in them without transferring it to a different container. But in the third type, since a curry corrodes the aluminium alloy which is harmful to health, you have to transfer the curry to a different non-corroding (non-aluminium) curry as soon as the curry cools; this requires washing an additional utensil.

Shape: It is easier to mix in a wide-bodied cooker, and it heats up faster as well.

So, I would recommend a Hawkins, Non-stick, Wide bodied, 5-7 liter pressure cooker.

Please let me know if have more information and recipes.

I wish you a happy and great-tasting cooking!

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2005-12-30T22:11:00.000-05:00

Hi there,

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I give here the links to various Cable and DSL Internet Service Providers. You might be knowing what Cable/DSL is available in your area. Just click on the appropriate link and you are ready to go. I'll add more links later.

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I'll add more info on Time Warner/Road Runner Cable Internet later. Until then, enjoy!

WHAT'S YOUR CREDIT SCORE?!

2005-11-21T20:42:00.000-05:00

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This is abstracted from a WSJ article dated Nov 19-20. In U.S., your credit score is an important piece of info on you.

FICO Credit Score (Range:300-850) Factors:

(It is a snapshot of a person's creditworthiness at a particular moment. Lenders, Cell-phone providers, Insurance companies and even Employers use it. Above 700 or so is a good score)

35% - Bill Payment History

(Missed payments and 'Paying just minimum' lower your score)

30% - Balances Owed

(Credit Utilization Level or Balance-to-limit Ratio or Percentage of available credit being used for each credit card - It is usually better to carry smaller balances on several cards than to pile everything onto one card. In fact, simply using 50% or more of a limit can decrease the score)

15% - Length of Credit History

(Don't close older credit cards as it increases the length of credit history, even though you are not using them. Also it lowers the balance-to-limit ratio.)

20% - New Accounts and Diversification

(Opening new credit cards frequently makes the person look risky. Consumers with diverse credits including auto loans, mortgages are thought less risky by creditors than those with only credit cards. They feel that consumers well versed in a variety of credit types pose a lower risk.

You can get a free credit report every year of Equifax, Experian, and Transunion each, as mandated by government from www.annualcreditreport.com. Check your report to correct any mistakes in them.

BEWARE OF SMALL RESTAURANTS, AND WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP

2005-08-30T18:01:00.000-04:00

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Coming from an underdeveloped country - India, and being a medical doctor, I had all the information that diarrhea (infective) is a third-world disease. I mean that it is far more prevalent in third-world than in U.S. and other developed nations. But data can be misleading. Probability may be less but possibility is there!

When my brother who was coming back to U.S. after visiting India asked me if he should get me 'metronidazole' tablets, I told him haughtily not to worry about diarrhea in the U.S. Ironically, I had to 'pay' for that statement. (Most drugs are 50 times expensive in U.S. than in India.)

A few days back, I dined at a small Chinese restaurant and now I caught diarrhea. (There is an incubation period for every infection). In India, infective diarrhea is mostly Amebiasis while it is Giardiasis in the U.S.. Both are transmitted by fecal-oral route, which means the bugs that are in the feces of an infected person contaminate food and water and infect anyone who ingests them. Food-handlers transmit the disease to much more people than others because of their profession. When a person with diarrhea goes to toilet and washes his hands without using soap, the organisms stick to the hands, however hard one may wash - if one doesn't use soap. And when he handles food or water, or touches fomites such as door-knobs, taps, flush-buttons or food containers, those bugs are transferred to them. Whoever ingests the contaminated food/water gets infected. Whoever contacts the fomites, 'eats' those bugs when he takes food. Also there is a state called 'carrier'. The carriers don't have symptomatic diarrhea but harbour diarrhea causing organisms and transmit them.

Hand-washing with soap is the solution. When we wash our hands with soap, the micelles formed by the soap wash away all the dirt including microbes. Unfortunately, most people do not know this and fail to wash their hands with soap, spreading diarrhea all around. If you make it a habit to wash hands thoroughly with soap, after using toilet and before meals as well, you don't get those microbes from fomites. But this doesn't solve everything.

But if you have meals, for example, in small family owned restaurants, despite you washing hands with soap, you can catch diarrhea from the food you eat and the water you drink. For this, the only solution is not to go to small, cheap restaurants. You might visit larger restaurants though there can be some risk. The safest bets are food chains like Pizza Hut, Subway, KFC, Taco Bell, etc. The management here sees that hygiene is maintained in every franchise. But no restaurant is guaranteed.

[What the government can do to prevent diarrhea from food handlers is this: It should mandate all food-handlers to take a course (e.g. at home video) on hygiene and conduct a certification exam. It should also make it mandatory for all food-handlers to undergo monthly stool examination for diarrhea-causing and other microbes.]

The bottomline point is, 'Wash hands thoroughly with soap after using toilet and before meals. And avoid dining at small restaurants.'

Health is Wealth!

___Info U Can Use___

Cooking tips for Indians - Pressure cooking

Get HIGH SPEED INTERNET (Cable/DSL)

WHAT'S YOUR CREDIT SCORE?!

BEWARE OF SMALL RESTAURANTS, AND WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP

_Info U Can Use_