HDG Shrila Prabhupada
showing his assistant Upendra his 3 Tier Brass Cooker,
June 1975, Denver, Colorado.
An excerpt from the book on Srila Prabhupada's cooker (with a recipe): Yamuna Devi ..
"There are only a few photos of Srila Prabhupada cooking, and for twenty years I've kept one of them in my kitchen.
He is standing in front of a white gas range, holding a slotted spoon in his right hand, its tip hovering just above a metal mixing bowl.
Srila Prabhupada is focused on the contents of the bowl, his head and eyes slightly downcast. He is freshly bathed and wearing only a silk dhoti. The silky smooth skin of his upper body and shaved head seem almost effulgent.
Of the two pots cooking on the stove to his right, the one clearly visible is well known to all his servants and cooks simply as "Srila Prabhupada's cooker." One of the few personal possessions he carried in his extensive travels, it went around the world more than ten times and ended up on stoves on almost every continent.
Made in India,
the cooker is a heavy-gauge three-tiered brass steamer about sixteen-inches high. The snug-fitting lid is bowl-shaped and when inverted doubles as a small cooking pan, called a karai or Indian wok.
The cooker comes with two removable tin-coated metal inserts that may be used to hold dishes in the two top steaming tiers. Srila Prabhupada trained his assistants in the use and care of the cooker, which is large enough, he said, "to make a full meal for four gentleman appetites in an hour."
Just glancing at the picture, I remember Srila Prabhupada's scent his clothes and body hinting of sandalwood mixed with pure goodness.
As a rule, before he entered the kitchen to cook he took a massage and a bath and put on fresh clothes.
I have never met anyone who so reflected
cleanliness,
in his person and habits, in and out of the kitchen, externally and internally.
How to use Prabhupada’s Cooker
1) Bottom: 3pts. water; 3pts. channa dhal; 1 ½ tsp. salt; ½ tsp. turmeric; ½ tsp. ground cumin.
2) Middle (without pot) jack fruit pieces, bitter melons 2 (broken in half), whole small potatoes, okra whole.
3) Top (2pts water; 1pt. rice (washed 3x) with 3 small potatoes. Closed with lid on top.
4) On top of pan cover; large slices cut eggplant
From Yamuna Devi's India Journal 1970-1972
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