How to cook like Srila Prabhupada | Bhumi Devi Dasi

How to cook like Srila Prabhupada, using a three-tiered Cooker — as told by Srutakirti dasa

"I had to learn how to keep the flame at a level that would cook the dhal, without burning it and steam the rice and veggies without them becoming overcooked"

Bhumi Devi Dasi (ACBSP) Friday, May 13, 2011 at 5:28pm – A couple of months ago I wrote to Srutakirti prabhu asking him how he used that famous three-tiered cooker that Srila Prabhupada brought with him when he came to America.

Prabhupada used it to prepare his lunch prasadam daily, and when Srutakirti became his servant in 1972, he became proficient in preparing his lunches using this cooker.

Here is the letter Srutakirti wrote back to me explaining his daily routine, using this cooker while juggling the scheduled massage….so if any of you were ever wondering, ‘how the heck does that thing work?’, then read on…… Srutakirti wrote:

The cooker! Okay, it is a brass cooker and lined with tin, which was done every year or so while in India. The bottom as you know had to have the liquid in it. When Srila Prabhupada showed me how to use it we cooked his dhal in the bottom, which was most always split mung, with the salt and turmeric added.

This bottom is the key to everything and it wasn’t easy for me since after setting up the cooker I had to go and give him massage in another room or sometimes in a different building. His massage could last from about 80 minutes to 2 hours.

With the cooker in a different place and a variety of times I had to learn how to keep the flame at a level that would cook the dhal, without burning it and steam the rice and veggies without them becoming overcooked. Frankly, I don’t know how it happened, but it did.

The next two parts had holes along the bottom which allowed the steam to go through. In the middle section I put whatever vegetables I was using for the day, they were cut up and would be ready for chauncing after the massage.

The top section had a container just a little smaller than the section itself. In there, I put the basmati rice and enough water for it to come out perfect. I put a lid on top of that and used the remaining area to put more vegetables.

You put as many veggies as possible in the cooker to make a variety of preparations. After massage I would run back into the room or kitchen, turn off the cooker and turn the lid upside down onto an open flame.

The lid also performed as a small wok. You put enough ghee in the wok to pour some into the dhal and then put some of the veggies into the remaining ghee. Then you make two more chaunces and place the other veggies in them sauteeing them.

You now had rice, dhal, and three subjis. You could cut up some bitter melon and sauté that in ghee with salt and turmeric until a little crispy. Now you roll out a chapatti and bring Srila Prabhupada his lunch. You keep going back and forth with chapatis until he had enough.

I was always in anxiety about the dhal burning and modified how I used the cooker. I purchased a small two part tiffin and put that in the top part. It just fit. In the bottom of that I steamed the split dhal and in the top of it the rice.

Now the rice had a lid which kept it hot until he opened it at the end of the meal. The rice and the dhal both cooked perfectly. I would only have to stir the dhal a little and add the chaunce. In the bottom I could make a wet vegetable with potato, cauliflower etc. and chaunce that, the dhal and one subji with the same chaunce.

After coming up with that method I didn’t have to worry about burning anything again. It was really simple if you were near it. It was only worrisome because of his massage varying in time.

Since his massage was generally over 90 minutes I kept the flame very low so that nothing overcooked. I hope that helps. I could write lots more but this gives you the basics.