This one's for mom!

Mom, you've taught me so many things that magically seem to make themselves useful in scenarios I could never had imagined. But more than anything, I love how you would explain the rationale behind something while teaching me about it. FYI, that has set me up for a lifetime of annoyance with people who refuse to use their brain.

Image Source: yachtpals.com

Take for example, using the humble pressure cooker. I still remember how my mom taught me -  our cook-masi was trying to tech me how to cook with a pressure cooker; how to open it, how to close it, the subtle nuances of how many whistles are too many whistles, etc. when she over-rode her and told me "this is pressure vessel, its job is to build up steam and increase the pressure so that the things inside boil faster and cook faster. So once the steam is built up, if you keep the flame on high all the time, you're basically wasting energy. Only chickpeas and kidney beans take more than 10 mins to cook" That was all the wisdom I've ever needed. Years later, in Physics class I learnt that a liquid's boiling temperature is a function of its vapor pressure; but my mom had beat Clausius and Clapeyron here.

So the next time you're cooking with a pressure cooker, try this: keep the flame high till you hear a steady low hum issuing from the safety valve (or what we call the whistle). At this point turn the heat down while ensuring that the "hum" is steady and set a timer to "Hum" time. Promptly turn off the flame when the time is up and allow the steam to escape. If you're too impatient, you can plunge the whole thing under a running tap in the sink. Below are proportions and tips that I've gleaned from my mom and experience, that heartless bit*h:

To Cook	Water Proportion	“Hum” Time	Remarks
Soaked Rice, Daals, Khichdi, Pulao, etc.	2 cups of water for every cup	10 min	The daals will come out very thick and creamy. They can be diluted to one’s taste
Un-soaked Rice, Daals, Khichdi, Pulao, etc.	2+ cups of water for every cup	10 - 12 min	This is not an exact science. Remember you’re still in a kitchen
Broken Wheat / Cracked Wheat / Porridge / Dalia	2.5 cups of water for every cup	10 min	You’ll have to use your discretion here. If the grain size is kinda small, go for 2 cups instead of 2.5.
Soaked whole legumes like green gram (मूंग), Bengal gram (चना), etc.	2.5 cups of water for every “dry” cup	10 min	This is for people who like bite in their food and don’t want to eat boiled mush.
Un-soaked whole legumes like green gram (मूंग), Bengal gram (चना), etc.	3 cups of water for every cup	15 min
Soaked chickpeas, kidney beans, etc.	3 cups of water for every “dry” cup	25 min	These things tend to expand a lot on soaking – don’t mess this up.
Un-soaked chickpeas, kidney beans, etc.	4 cups of water for every cup	45 min

Now that I've told you this, go experiment. Do it. Also go make this bowl full of awesomeness. It was a part of this fantabulus meal I mentioned here.