Ohsawa Pot Instructions

[Bruce Paine]

After eating a delicious bowl of udon noodles in shitake broth at Masao's Kitchen ( [ http://www.masaoskitchen.com/ ] 581 Moody Street, Waltham, MA 02453. 781-647-7977 12-8 Monday-Thursday, 12-9 Friday and Saturday) the other night, I made the acquaintance of

Lourdes Pita
( http://www.lourdesmusic.com/ )

who asked me how to make good tasting rice, and of course anyone one who knows me, knows that I use Ohsawa Pots in my pressure cookers often when I cook my rice, beans and other delectables and when sending her the addresses of my two posts from an earlier incarnation of Cybermacro:

Ohsawa Pots: Let there be no substitutes! http://www.cybermacro.com/forums/for...ex.cgi/read/59

and

Inspired? Then read this! ( http://www.cybermacro.com/forums/for...ex.cgi/read/64 ),

I realized that the information given, doesn't help Lourdes or anyone else for that matter quickly and easily find out what size Ohsawa Pot fits best with what size pressure cooker.

So without further ado:

"What Size Ohsawa Pot Fits Your Pressure Cooker?" (thanks to Gold Mine Natural Foods for that catchy title and most of the following information):

Aeturnum 4 qt, Presto 4 qt, Silit 5 1/2 qt, Kuhn Rikon 2 3/4 qt*, 3 3/4 qt.............Small (S) Ohsawa Pot


Aeturnum 5 1/2 qt, Aeturnum 7 1/3 qt.....................S, Medium (M) Ohsawa Pot(s)

Kuhn Rikon 5 1/4 qt*, Silit 8 qt.......................S, M, Intermediate (I) Ohsawa Pot(s)

Kuhn Rikon 6 qt*, Presto 6 qt, ......................S, M, I, and Large (L) Ohsawa Pot(s)

*besides via Gold Mine, you can find these and other pressure cookers at Cybermacro's store ( http://www.macrobiotic-foods.com/sho...recookers.html ) but the size Ohsawa Pots for the Ellipse, Mult Pressure and Astral Pressure Cookers have not been as yet acertained [Gary?], sorry.

Maybe this will make the selection of your Ohsawa Pots a bit easier on your way to producing more delicious and delectable rice and other great dishes.

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[Bananadan]

I've lost my Ohsawa pot instructions and would like to use it to start cooking brown rice again. Can anyone send me the instructions on how to cook brown rice in the Ohsawa pot?
Thank you.
Dan

[Bruce Paine]

Bananadan,

Your pot and lid should be seasoned first by cooking them both covered in water for an hour in a metal pot and a tight fitting lid (bring to a boil and then simmer).


For brown rice cooking, it's usually, it's 1.25 cups of water to one cup of brown rice (and as the amount of grain increases, the relative amount of water diminishes).

Don't forget to add the sea salt.

Tie the rope tightly, affixing the lid down onto the pot

Place the Ohsawa Pot (OP) inside the pressure cooker on something very hard and smooth (like a trivet) to keep the bottom of the OP from scratching the inside bottom of the pressure cooker and fill the pressure cooker with water until the water reaches the bottom of the rope holders, then secure the pressure cooker lid and the jiggler weight, place on the stove and turn on the heat or flame.

Bring up to pressure where the jiggler is rocking almost violently and then turn down the flame, and cook for 45 to 50 minutes with the jiggler releasing an almost faint hiss.

When finished cooking you can wait for the pressure valve to drop and either remove the pot carefully and gingerly with potholders, or wait for the pot and rope to cool sufficiently before removing from the pressure cooker.


I used pressure cooker and OP combinations for almost 15 years as I was cooking for most of them on electric (the last two years cooking on butane and propane) but since I moved in with a macrobiotic teacher (in gas cooking environments), we've been cooking a certain amount of our grains and beans using pressure cookers but no OPs and I have noted a significant improvement in my health and well being.

Of course there have been other areas that I've changed that have contributed to the improvement but the OP-less pressure cooked foods, I feel, has contributed significantly.

What kind of pressure cooker are you using, type of sea salt, water source, and quantities of rice and water used?

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[Bananadan]

Thank you Bruce. I really appreciate the reply.

[carolee]

Could someone let me know the best place to buy an Ohsawa pot online? I've only found a couple.

[Ilanit]

hi Bruce!

Are you saying you felt better after NOT using the Ohsawa pot or after switching to Gas cooking?
I agree that the OP makes it much easier to cook on electric and I also feel better cooking on gas - I alternate between PC, with and without the pot and boiling here and there depending on how I feel etc.
Boiling results in much softer, slightly less sweet or sustaining grain but feels better when I get too yang or lose my appetite etc...

I am ordering some Silit pressure cookers - enamel lined from germany....another adventure..
ilanit

[Bruce Paine]

Hi Ilanit!

How's the preparation for the fermentation class, coming?


The first improvement was with using the OP, then switching to SI Seasalt , then using portable gas cooking devices (both butane and propane) and then living in three different new places with gas stoves, the most recent one with a longtime macrobiotic housemate.

Presently, as I may have mentioned before, we alternate between boiling our rice and pressure cooking it and we also add a small amount of things like spelt, kamut, lotus seeds, other rices, etc. to it as well.


The Ohsawa Pots may be in the Cybermacro kitchenware section, soon, and Gary might announce that fact, as well.


The word on the Silit (Sicomatic) Pressure Cookers is that they are usually not available anywhere besides Germany, but that could change.

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[Ilanit]

Hi Bruce,

the preparations for Sandor's lecture are going very well - lots and lots of interest!

I am going to import some silit pressure cookers and a few of their other items - just a few for now - to Australia directly from Germany.

I am also now alternating a lot between boiling and pressure cooking my rice/grains. After a few days of each I start to crave the other - the relaxed softness of boiled rice and then the sturdier texture of pc rice.

I have been boiling it in my genmai donabe - a clay pot which like the ohsawa pot is made of a specially fired clay that is also supposed to impart the far infra red energy into the food.
Whatever it is food cooked in a clay pot is always delicious with often a lot less seasoning.

I just love dried daikon, onion and cabbage with dried tofu slowly simmered in a clay pot with a drizzle of shoyu or tamari....mmm....!

ilanit

Hi Bruce

Its now www.LourdesPita.com

lourdesmusic.com does not exist anymore!

thanks
Lourdes