*** COOKING SIMPLIFIED FOR MOTHERS - OPOS ***

If you are a working woman and cook by yourself, I want to hug you first. Managing morning rush and cooking is such a mind consuming activity. It needs proper planning and execution. And you lose control even for a minute, either your paratha gets burnt or you curry gets overcooked. Especially in north Indian cooking which is basically around oil and spices, you need to take into control the heat of the stove with constant checking of the dish. When I have to cook, with one eye I see things in the kitchen and my other eye is always at the watch. For new mothers who are still understanding the world of motherhood and also carrying the kitchen duties, spending time on cooking is such a pain.

However, in this post, I am going to write about simplistic and minimalistic cooking. "One Pot One shot". As the name says, using OPOS techniques, you can prepare dishes using a single pot and amazingly in one go. No need for periodic stirring or checking. The founder of OPOS cooking technique is Mr. Ramakrishnan. Some 15 years before Mr. Ramaki went out of India. And like many homesick Indians abroad, he missed Indian food. Armed with just a 2-liter pressure cooker, a stove, a few measuring spoons/cups, and a weighing scale, he started his experiments with traditional Indian recipes which he found time-consuming and tedious. Soon he invented OPOS. With OPOS, he developed a simplified version of traditional Indian dishes.

In OPOS, ingredients (vegetables, spices, oil, etc) of a dish are layered in a pressure cooker and then cooked with very little water on high heat. Each OPOS dish has a very specific recipe and steps to be followed. All it needs to pressure cook items and mix well with adding a few flavoring agents after cooking into the dish. In OPOS technique, each recipe is a theme. Each theme is a template for a huge number of ingredients you can easily cook up by just varying the building blocks.

As in the words of Mr. Ramaki, Why OPOS ?

OPOS is Green. One vessel to wash and maintain.
OPOS is Clean. Hygienic by design.
OPOS is Fast. Pressure cooking gives you food in 5-10 minutes.
OPOS is Liberating. No supervision or constant watch.
OPOS is Healthy. Less oil used. No overcooking.
OPOS is Consistent. Same results every time.
OPOS is Flexible. Cook your way!

I have tried a few OPOS recipes and I can give honest feedback on them. It works, first of all. Your job gets done in maximum of 5 minutes as pressure cooking is fast. Put veggies in a pressure cooker with water at the bottom, add spices and oil on top of it and close the pressure to get the job done. Once you open it after the pressure is released, you need to slowly mix everything. Add tampering if you feel like and done!

However, if you prefer authentic taste then you might get disappointed. Indian cooking is mostly a slow cooking style where each spice is assumed to be releasing its flavor at a certain temperature. Hence we let recipes cook in slow flame and keep stirring the dish to avoid burns and spoilage. OPOS dishes are boiled version with added spices. Hence you will not find the smokiness or crispiness in any dish. However, for multitaskers, OPOS is a boon. When you don't have time and you still want to stay stuck to the traditional recipes of your region, you can try OPOS. In 10 minutes, you can even cook biryani.

Google it and you will find a lot of matter and videos on how to skill OPOS. Do let me know how was your experience!!

Happy cooking.
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