In the battle between fast food and slow food, a third party has jumped in saying fast cooked slow food!
That's OPOS— one pot, one shot. And with minimum equipment—a 2-litre pressure pan with lid and weight, a tablespoon, knife and a measuring cup if you cannot get the quantity right by experience. And yes, OPOS is copyrighted.
Welcome to a different way of cooking. I chanced on this when the post of a “member” of an OPOS Facebook group landed on my timeline. Curiosity kindled, I checked out one or two more from the group, and became friends with them. In a few days, I left the group. Not because I had a problem with the group, its founder or what they were posting. It was so popular, scores of posts deluged my page, wiping out what a professional with a range of subjects to read, can simply not afford to miss. The serious Modi memes, amazing news stories from the world, and updates from family and friends were getting buried in the OPOS posts flood.
And pray, what's new about it? The founder, an apparently middle-aged man, discovered a different way of using the pressure cooker, in a way disrupting the way it was meant to be used.
Remember the old days when the pressure cookers came with three separators, so that you could cook three things at the same time? When you counted the 2 “whistles” for rice, four for “arhar dal” and 8 for “rajma”? As you got the hang of it, you kept track of the time, and ensured the steam built up inside, did not whistle its way out of the cooker. It was promoted as a fuel saving, time saving device. And the logic was—the latent heat of steam is more than that of water, so the steam built up inside the cooker actually speeded it all up
OPOS people tell you a bit more. That you have to use no more than two tablespoons of water. And stack up the other ingredients in a way that the rice that takes more time is atop the water, the next layer is the hard vegetable, like a carrot or a potato, and right on top the lightest veggie that takes minimum time to cook.
The OPOS people also count whistles. But generally no more than two that seem to be over in less than two or three minutes. The reason is you turn the gas on high. The water converts to steam and hisses in no time. And if you don't switch off then, there is a very slight chance that the dish inside will either be dry or burnt. To ensure that it does not get overcooked or the vegetables don't end up looking sad and discoloured, OPOS members tell you to release the trapped steam immediately.
Almost any dish an average foodie can think of has been cooked the OPOS way and posted. There are posts where a five course, six course, seven course and even a nine course meal, has been made in that one pot, in one shot. Busy working women have hailed it. Mothers of kids who bring happy friends for lunch to surprise their moms, are grateful.
And yes...it does take less time than cooking fast food at home. An FB page worth checking out.