5 things to consider before buying a pressure cooker

If there is one name that springs to mind when you are short on time but still want to put home made food on the dining table, then it is the pressure cooker. It is designed to efficiently halve the meal preparation time and retain all the nutrients, bringing out a meal which is both healthy and delicious. Capable in more ways than one, this appliance is good at making short work of the slow-cook dishes, ideal for tenderizing hard meat and consumes only less energy.

If you’ve never used a cooker before, then this is the right time to go raiding a home appliance store. But before you march into a shop and spend an arm and a leg on a random pressure cooker, pay attention to these things to pick the right one to fulfill your needs.

1) Material - Aluminium & Stainless Steel

It is important to consider the types of pressure cookers as varieties of them are now available in the market, each with its own unique benefits. In most cases,they come in two types, aluminium pressure cooker and stainless steel pressure cooker, the former being the most commonly used in Indian households.

Aluminium
They are lightweight and generally the budget option for a lot of Indian home cooks. A good conductor of heat, they can cook food faster than its peers and is easy to maintain. Also purity of the material used is a key factor to consider as any adulteration can affect texture and taste of the meal, leading to health issues. For the best alumium cookers, one can choose from various models of the Impex aluminum pressure cookers, which source its material from Hindalco, one of the most trusted brands.

Stainless steel
Simple to use and long lasting, these types are blessed with a high heat resistance capability. Stainless pressure cookers undertake different cooking tasks and are generally dearer than their aluminum cousin. Considered a healthy cooking option, stainless steel is known to never affect the acidic components, as is the case in most others, of the food even though they cook different meals at high temperatures. As the name suggests, they also leave you with very little to worry about post meal preparation, with washing only taking much less time than their peers. Choose from the long line of Impex stainless steel pressure cookers .

2) Cleaning

Pressure cookers should be easy to maintain as cooking produces a lot of mess to clean up. Cookers are notorious for making stovetops dirty with stains, streaks, splotches, etc. Look out for those with features that slice a huge chunk off the cleaning burden. If you’re fed up with water and starch discharge every time your cooker blows the whistle, opt for an Impex dripless pressure cooker .

3) Capacity

Another key factor to pay attention to is the capacity of the pressure cooker. Not every cooker comes in the same size and choosing the right volume depends on the size of the family. If you have a family consisting of 2 to 3 members, go for the 3 liter pressure cooker. For a large family (members more than 5), anything between 5 and 7.5 liters is fine. A 1 liter to 1.5 liter pressure cooker is enough for babies. Likewise, you can decide whether you need the bigger one or the smaller. With a wide range of sizes, Impex has a long range of pressure cookers to suit your needs.

4) Safety

Imagine the force pressure and temperature can create in a sealed chamber.This makes a pressure cooker one of the high-risk yet extremely useful appliances requiring the maximum safety features. What may look like a careless mistake or safety valve malfunctioning could cause life-threatening explosions. You will need to select a brand which carries an ISI mark and boasts a good track record for safety features and reliability. Impex ranks among the best in the safety department with the least complaint ratio.

5) After-sales service
Any serviceable product is incomplete without a good after-sales service, and a pressure cooker figures as one needing it the most, with constant valve bursts and leak issues. Ensure that you are buying a cooker from a brand that has service centres nearby. Check out their service history and complaint resolution ratio before spending your hard earned money on it. Impex has the most number of service centres with the least complaint ratio yet.