SARAI STAINLESS STEEL STEAM COOKER

AD Karve January 2003

Sarai is a stainless steam steam cooker. It is a non-pressurised

cooker, into which you put about 150 ml of water and then lower into it a

wire cage, which holds three cookpots, one on top of another. The steam pot

has a lid which is kept closed while the food is being cooked. The heat is

provided by a charcoal burner, which is designed to hold just 100 g of

charcoal or a single honeycomb briquette of 100 g. After the coal has caught

fire, the steam pot containing the food to be cooked is placed on the stove.

A hollow cylinder, also made of stainless steel, surrounds the entire

assembly, including the stove. The gap between the steam pot and the

stainless steel cylinder surrounding it is just 5 mm. The flue gases

generated by the stove escape through this gap. In this way, the pot is

heated on all sides, instead of just from the bottom. The boiling and

evaporation test showed the efficiency of this gadget to be 70%. Beans, rice

and vegetables of a family of 4 to 5 are cooked with just 100 g of charcoal

briquettes. It takes between 45 minutes to an hour to cook the meal. At

present we are advocating it for food that needs to be cooked. We have not

tried roasting anything in this cooker.

Dr.A.D.Karve, President,

Appropriate Rural Technology Institute

Pune, India.