Been so stressed up recently that I didn’t have the time nor option to de-stress ! So online shopping becomes my only form of retail therapy !! Been wanting to get an electric pressure cooker for sometime already, but always hesitating at the last straw, worrying that it might be a while elephant again in the end. Used to have one for the gas stove, but apparently I wasn’t good at using it as it was difficult to gauge and control when I should release the pressure. Hence, I was contemplating an electric one since it will be quite fully automated.
But I am really glad that I got round to buying it !! Because pressure cooker involves cooking using a high pressure, so I was abit skeptical in getting one from Taobao since I wasn’t sure how the quality of those from TB would turn out to be liked ? I mean simple appliances like bread maker or blender, I have no qualms about purchasing them at a much cheaper price from taobao since the functions are generally quite straightforward. But for something like pressure cooker, I decide to get it locally instead and this time, I got the Philips Viva Pressure Cooker and it comes in a whopping huge 6L version. It was retailing at some 200ish from the major appliances store. But I gotten mine from Lazada at $180 which was also retailed directly from the Philips store and with some credit card promotions, I got a $20 off, which means I paid $160 for it, which was a huge discount from major stores. ( PS : this is not an advertorial in any form. J Just sharing my bargain buys ! )
So I used it consecutively for the entire weekend, cooking a duck and soup for both days. Indeed, it takes a fraction of the time used on the usual cooking and I get to enjoy my food at half the time I would have to take on a gas stove. Also, another difference quite notable is that cooking on a stove usually depletes the sauce or soup after continuous simmering, however with that on a pressure cooker, the amount of water remains fairly consistent without much evaporation. So I guess it’s more of a convenience and time saving appliance, especially if you need to prepare something in a short time.
Enjoy !!
- 1 whole fresh duck, cut into small pieces
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- ½ tbsp sze chuan peppercorns
- 10 slices ginger
- 10 shallots, lightly crushed
- 5 garlics, lightly crushed
- 20g dried chillies (soaked and drained, you can adjust the amount of dried chilies according to how spicy you prefer it to be.)
- 1½ tbsp light soya sauce
- 2 tbsp dark soya sauce
- 1½ tbsp sweet soya sauce (kecap manis)
- 2 tbsp shaoxing wine
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 200mi water
- 1 tsp corn flour + 1 tbsp water (mix together)
Under the "bake" function of the pressure cooker, select it to "vegetables" mode. Add in the 2 tbsp of cooking oil and sze chuan peppercorns. Stir fried till aromatic and remove the peppercorns.
Add in the ginger slices, garlics, shallots and dried chillies and saute till fragrant.
Add in the duck pieces, followed by all the seasoning sauce ingredients, except for the corn flour mixture. Stir well to ensure the duck pieces is well covered by all the sauce and becomes evenly browned. Add in the corn flour mixture and stir well.
Cover the pressure cooker and out it to "chicken/duck" mode. Once the cooking is completed, release the pressure completely before removing the lid.
Garnish as desired and serve hot with rice
