I have been thinking to write a review on Prestige for a long time but somehow it kept getting postponed, finally I guess this is the time. Though, not many bachelors would worry too much about a kitchen and on top of that for a Pressure Cooker { With no offence to those who do :) please don’t mind }.
However, I personally like to maintain my kitchen as much as my whole apartment. Ground Work -Pressure Cooker is inarguably one of the most important utensil of an Indian Kitchen. If you are doing a serious cooking, you are bound to use a Pressure Cooker. When I was setting up my kitchen, I went out to buy a Pressure Cooker, I saw Hawkins Models but they seemed to be quite expensive and I was not prepared to shelve out that much money.
I saw some Prestige Models as well and here I would like to mention that I came across three types of Cookers at stores Types
Futura Types - Black Ones - Gook Looking and expensive.
Steel Made - Look similar to the normal ones you see all the time but they are also expensive.
Aluminium Made - They are widely sold model and is cheap. It has the disadvantage of losing its shine after prolonged usage.Decision making - When I was to choose amongst the three, I asked for sales-person opinion. He looked at me as a bachelor and advised me to go for the Aluminium Made.
I was little apprehensive about the reliability and durability of Aluminium ones since price difference was quite high but I was convinced by the sales-person that that they are as safe and durable as the Steel Made or the Futura. Only thing that would go on a negative side would be the shine on the utensil. After one and a half years, I can say that the sales-person was absolutely right. Shine has gone completely but safety and durability stood with time.I went for -I went for a 3 Litres capapcity, Alumnium Made Cooker and it costed me 500 Rupees, one and a half years back. I went for the model one in which you place the lid on top of cooker and then rotate it to lock.
This model is different than the model two in which you take the lid inside the cooker, lift it up and then secure it with its handle lock. Model One vs Model Two -I find the model one, a little convenient than the latter. There are two reasons, one is ease to clean the Cooker, it is always easy to clean the model one as compared to model two. Second, since model two has more complexity in securing the lid, often its sub-components get loose and then it becomes a nuisance to handle. In contrast to that, model one is far more sturdy and robust because of its locking mechanism which is far simpler than model two. Usage and Experience -As a bachelor I would put my usage as mild, it has been 18 months with 3 Litres Cooker and I am pretty satisfied with it.
I also bought the same model in 2 Litres capacity as well. Most interesting thing I observed was I can use the lids from these two cookers interchangeably, the lids are identical in size, difference is in the depth of two cookers.I would not advise you to go for a 2 Litre capacity Cooker since it is almost of the same price and is inconvenient if you wish to prepare more quantity, water would just gush out of it on very first whistle. It can only prepare a very small quantity if the preparation needs water as an ingredient.Recently, with the 2 Litre Cooker, I forgot it on stove while preparing daal and I believe whistle was choked because all the water had evaporated and daal particles got stuck to the whistle opening inside the lid, that why safety valve went open.
This is the first time, I ever saw safety valve going open and releasing the steam, so I can say that I have also tested safety features and they proved to be reliable. One thing I found problematic was the frequent loosening of screws / bolts both from lid as well as cooker, every month I have to tighten them up with screw driver. So thats one area where the product needs some improvement.All in all, I am quite happy with this Prestige Product and would recommend that to readers as an economically available option.