I’m certain I’m not the only one who’s had a tough time with household chores since the lockdown began in March. Despite the tremendous support from the husband, my very active infant leaves me with not enough time or energy for tasks like cooking, cleaning and simply managing my life.
And so, I was on the hunt for appliances to make my life easier, now and in the long run. (Has anyone checked if dishwasher and vacuum cleaner sales spiked during or after the lockdown?). I especially wanted something that would make cooking easier, given the amount of time it consumes every day and the sweltering heat.
Some friends who have lived abroad had mentioned the Mealthy pot a couple months ago, just before the lockdown began, so as soon as I heard Mumbai was allowing delivery of “non-essentials”, I quickly logged on to their website, explored it features, and I was SOLD. A few clicks later, and Amazon confirmed that my 6 litres Mealthy MultiPot was on its way.
There was much excitement when it arrived, therefore sadly no unboxing video. But now that I’ve been using this appliance every day since it arrived, it’s time to post my Mealthy MultiPot review.
What the Mealthy MultiPot does
Dubbed the “9-in-1 Programmable Smart Electric Pressure Cooker”, think of the Mealthy as a pressure cooker on genius pills. Basically, you put your ingredients in it (vegetables, grains, meat, seasonings), add sufficient liquid (such as water or stock), select a cooking programme with a specific time, and voila! Your dish is ready.
What you can cook
I’ve tried regular Indian dishes in my Mealthy MultiPot so far, such as:
- Brown rice
- Khichdi
- Several types of dal
- Sambhar
- Dhansak
- Boiled eggs
- Dry subzis such as capsicum and aloo gobi
And they have all turned out well. The final dish is the same result as it would be after cooking in a kadhai, wok or a pot or standard pressure cooker on my stovetop burner.
You can also prepare oats, curries and cakes, steam vegetables, dhokla or idlis, and stir fry dishes. Lots of food ideas are out there. Some of the standard programmes include eggs (for soft or hard boiled), multigrain (for brown rice, oats, quinoa and the like), poultry (for chicken), and slow cooker (for those ultra special dishes).
Some cool features of the Mealthy MultiPot
Cooking timer: You decide how long to cook each dish, depending on your preferences. So if you like your rice a tad al dente, you can cook for a shorter duration. So each dish is completely customised to your taste.
Sealed lid: The Mealthy lid won’t open while there’s still pressure inside, which makes the pot a very safe appliance to have in your kitchen.
Cooking indicator: An LCD screen tells you what stage of cooking is going on (pre-heating, cooking, or complete), so you’re not confused if you lose track of time writing your blog post (ahem).
Keep warm: Cooking done? The Mealthy will switch to Keep Warm mode so the food doesn’t get cold, and you don’t need to reheat.
Delayed start: For me, the most exciting feature is the delay start button, which lets you set the timer for the cooking start time. So you can set the cooker for, say, six hours from now, fill in the cooker settings, add your ingredients, seal the pot, and then let the magic happen on its own, while you are away. Which means, that you can technically wake up to a cooked breakfast or come home to a ready dinner.
What I’m liking about the Mealthy MultiPot
The Mealthy’s features are easy to use and fairly intuitive once you get the hang of the appliance (it doesn’t take that long, really).
I love that I can set a cooking timer and forget about it. The other day I was in a rush to run errands, so I did a quick tempering (tadka), added soaked chana dal and sufficient water, sealed the pot, set the timer, and rushed out. When I came home, the dal was ready!
Making standard Indian subzis or dals is easy peasy. You need just two modes: sauté (for the seasoning/ tadka) and pressure cooking (for cooking). Nothing complicated!
The MultiPot comes with a booklet of Indian recipes that you can try. I’ve been trying out a few recipes to see how they work with respect to timings and settings, so next time around I can adjust the timings and water proportion to get the texture I like.
What you need to know before you buy
Of course like any other appliance, the Mealthy has its limitations. For instance, I wouldn’t recommend deep frying in this pot. Nor can you prepare “instant” things, like noodles etc.
This appliance also has a bit of a learning curve as you learn to adapt recipes to suit your own favourites. You’ll need to do some experimentation and read up recipes on the Mealthy website or app to figure out how to adapt your recipe to Mealthy settings and proportions.
Having said that, once you’ve got the hang of it, there’s no looking back!
Verdict
Should you buy the Mealthy MultiPot? A resounding yes.
Where to buy
The Mealthy MultiPot is available on their official India website as well as on Amazon India.
Price
The six litres Melathy MultiPot is priced at Rs 9,990, while the three litres version is for Rs 7,750 (on the official Mealthy India website).