Bharati Pawaskar
PANAJI
Rekha Joshi is a home-maker in Ponda, but she's a social worker too and is associated with multiple organisations that are involved in various activities uplifting the society. Living a very busy schedule but without compromising on the quality of food cooked at home, she manages to spend less time in the kitchen and yet always offers fresh, healthy food on the platter for her family. How does she do that?
"For the past five years, I am using charcoal to cook our food in a steam cooker that has made my cooking not only easy, hassle-free and cheap but very tasty too. Actually someone had given this Sarai cooker as a gift to me and I should say, it was the best eco-friendly gift I ever got from anyone," smiles Rekha, adding, "What is more beautiful is that this device works on the principle of slow cooking, thereby preserving nutrients and flavour in the food. This is because the limited energy of the fuel cooks the food, but does not permit overcooking or burning. After the first course of food is cooked, we use the residual energy for heating milk or water, while the ash acts as a natural dishwashing powder."
Apart from daily meals, Rekha also cooks delicacies like gajar or dudhi ka halwa, basundi, kharvas, tavsale, bangain bharta, idli, dhokla, aluvadi etc. It takes only 150 gm of organic coal to cook the food for the entire family of four in the cooker, which is available in different sizes, small and big.
There is no need of monitoring, there are no shrill whistles. The cooker remains hot for hours, without changing the taste of the food or charring it. Explaining that Sarai, a stainless steam cooker, that has won the Ashden Award for Renewable Energy 2002, is a non-pressurised cooker that needs 150 ml of water and 150 grams organic kandi coal to cook a meal in three pots, one on top of the other, she demonstrates it live. All she needs is a piece of camphor and a match stick to light the coal, which burns slowly, emits heat gradually and the best part is the process is absolutely smokeless.
After pouring in about a medium glass of water on a wire cage, the three pots are lowered in the steam pot and the lid is kept closed while the food is being cooked. The charcoal burner provided the heat. After the coal catches fire, the steam pot containing the food is placed on the stove. A hollow cylinder, also made of stainless steel, surrounds the entire assembly, including the stove.
This Sarai Cooking System is primarily a charcoal fuelled steam cooker and can cook up to three different items at a time. This simple devise developed by Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI) in Pune stands out in terms of sustainable energy and is supplied by Samuchit Enviro Tech Pvt Ltd. One can purchase it from GEDA (Goa Energy Development Authority) or Nirmal Vishwa, Ponda. There is government subsidy available too on the purchase of the Sarai cooker. Nirmal Vishwa also provides the organic kandi coal.
"Our volunteers collect coconut shells and leaves, twigs and waste wood etc from Ponda city and we process these to make this special organic coal. Currently we have more than 300 kilos of it in our stock," shares K D Sadhale, founder Nirmal Vishwa.
But sadly there are few takers. Bought by only those who have Sarai cooker, the kandi coal is a nice way to make use of disposed waste and turn it into something useful and organic.
How long will this limited resource (liquid petroleum gas) last on the planet, is a serious question and one has to start looking out for options and alternative cooking systems. Rekha has already taken a positive step in this direction. It needs a very limited space and can be set even in a balcony. The structure of this cooker is simple but sturdy. It has a stainless steel grate to hold the fuel. The fuel could be coal, charcoal or biomass briquettes. There is an outer cylinder that envelopes the pot with cooking vessels, to hold back maximum heat in the system. The food to be cooked is put in containers similar to those of a pressure cooker with adequate amount of water.
