Pressure Cooker: A Default Essential Kitchen Commodity

Can you imagine your kitchen without a pressure cooker? Most of us will agree that any kitchen is incomplete without this robust, sturdy-looking default essential commodity. Without it, a kitchen looks empty and soulless. Invented in the 17th century, this age-old appliance has undergone innumerable modifications till this date and has gained an irreplaceable place in almost every home.

The necessity of speeding-up the cooking process and reducing the cooking time demanded an efficient appliance and pressure cooker came into being. The earliest models were made from cast iron. Today, they are available in stainless steel and aluminium varieties.

This portable appliance features mainly four parts, a metal pan body, a lid

with a gasket, a pressure regulator and a metal plate to keep utensils above the water level. As the cooking process in the pressure cooker involves high pressure build-up in a short period of time, it comes with appropriate safety measures. It usually has interlockable lids and two or three safety valves.

A pressure cooker is mainly used to prepare rice and dal in India. It can also be used to cook many different vegetarian and non-vegetarian cuisines. You can make delicious chicken recipes and spicy vegetables with this appliance in hardly any time. It is used for various other purposes. It is used to disinfect baby milk bottles and jam pots. Sometimes, it is used for medical sterilization in rural areas where electricity is not available to use an autoclave. It can also be used for food detoxification.

Latest models of cookers are made of hard anodized, corrosion resistant material which has increased its life and productivity to an amazing extent. Some versions have

a pressure indicator and induction bottom which enhance their usability. They are available in the wide range of capacity starting from 1.5 litres to 9 litres.

Numerous brands offer pressure cookers in a wide price range. You can find a model which costs as low as?500. Some cost as high as?5000. Prestige and Hawkins pressure cookers are pretty popular in India. Different online shopping portals and websites offer many other brands like Citizen, Vamtek, Essenza Italiana, Hercules, Sigma and Tuffware. If you go for buying one online, you can get a fair comparison between the various brands with respect to sizes, capacity, shapes, prices, warranty, types and colours. Buying a pressure cooker online offers a leisure of choosing from a huge variety at the best prices from the comfort of your home. You can browse through many popular online shopping websites featuring home and kitchen department which may also offer great discounts. You can pay for the selected product with your debit/credit card, netbanking or cash on delivery and get it delivered to your home.

Divya Kumari is a passionate writer who is interested in writing articles related to Kitchen & home appliances, jewellery shopping tips.