MPOS (Multiple Pots One Shot) stands for cooking multiple dishes at the same time. This idea is nothing new. Early pressure cookers came with 2-3 inner vessels, that can be stacked one over another. The bottom larger vessel would be filled with rice & water, the vessel above that was used for cooking vegetables and the top stack usually had dal and water. After cooking, the vegetable would be removed and stir fried with tadka, and the dal would be used for making sambar/ rasam. This is the recipe followed in many south Indian homes.

In north Indian homes, the bottom vessel would have dal & water, the middle stack would have a vegetable and the top stack would have potatoes/ another vegetable. After cooking, the dal would be stir fried with tadka into a dal fry, the vegetable would be stir fried with tadka to become a sukhi subji (dry curry) and the potatoes/ other vegetable would be stir fried with spiced onion- tomato to become a raswali subji (Gravy).

Millions of homes have been cooking this way ever since the pressure cookers were introduced. This way of cooking is convenient & fast but produces bland mush. Vegetables lose colour, taste, texture and flavour. Soon, this style of cooking fell out of favour, with most households limiting the cooker to cooking rice, dal and potatoes alone, where overcooking/ colour/ texture is not a problem.

We revived this technique without any compromise on taste, texture or flavour. The idea was to cook more than one recipe at one time, using multiple vessels & building blocks. Unlike traditional cooking, we do not focus on partial preparation in OPOS. We do not cook vegetables/ dal and use it as a base to cook other recipes. Our goal is to go the last mile and get a 100% ready to eat recipe cooked at one shot.

To make this happen, we grouped recipes which take similar cooking times, placed them in individual containers and cooked them all together, without the risk of overcooking or undercooking.

This is possible by using building blocks – cooked dal, OPOS tamarind paste, cooked curry bases & bottled tadka. This ensures the complete meal is cooked at one shot. It is magical to open your pot and see a feast ready to be eaten. Here’s an example.

MPOS South Indian Thali: South Indian cuisine is built on Tamarind, Dal, Coconut and Yogurt. The Sambar-rasam-kootu-poriyal combination with rice is the staple daily meal for millions across south India.

Rasam is nothing but spiced stock, with or without dal. Sambar is a thicker version of Rasam with added dal & vegetables. Kootu is a stew of vegetables cooked with coconut & dal. Poriyal is just spiced vegetables. All these curries are flavoured in a similar fashion – with a tadka of mustard, curry leaves, asafoetida and the ubiquitous sambar powder.

MPOS in action:
South Indian Thali:

In a MagicPot, add 1/4C water, 2C mixed vegetables mixed with 1/4tsp salt. In small cups, place the building blocks below. Cook on high for 3 whistles. Release pressure.

Mix in 1/2C vegetables with each of building blocks (except rasam). Mix in 1tbsp bottled tadka. Dilute with water as needed. garnish with chopped cilantro.

Rasam Pot: Mix 1/4C cooked dal with 1tsp each (tamarind paste, rasam powder), 1/2tsp salt.

Sambar Pot: Mix 1/2C cooked dal with 1tsp each (tamarind paste, sambar powder), 1/2tsp salt.

Kootu Pot: Mix 1/4C each (cooked dal, coconut- cumin-chilli paste), 1/2tsp salt

Kuzhambu Pot: Mix 1/4C OPOS tamarind paste, 1tbsp sambar powder, 1tsp jaggery, 1/2tsp salt.

North Indian Thali :

In a MagicPot, add 1/4C water, 2C mixed vegetables mixed with 1/4tsp salt. In small cups, add the building blocks below. Cook on high for 3 whistles. Release pressure. Mix in 1tbsp bottled tadka.

Mix in 1/2C vegetables with each of the recipes below (except kadhi). Dilute with water/ milk/ cream. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Kadhi (Yogurt stew): Mix 1/2C strained yogurt, 1/2tsp each (salt, grated ginger), 1/4tsp each (hing, turmeric powder, garam masala), 2tsp gram flour, 1ch chilli.

Dal Fry:Mix 1/2C cooked dal, 1tsp OPOS GG paste, 2 slit green chillies, 1tbsp each caramelised (onion, tomato), 1/2tsp each (salt, cumin powder, garam masala).

Masala: Mix 1/4C each caramelised (onion, tomato), 1tsp GG paste 1/2tsp each (salt, chilli powder, garam masala).

Korma: Mix 1/4C cashew paste, 1Tbsp each caramelised (onion, tomato), 1tsp GG paste 1/2tsp each (salt, chilli powder, garam masala).

MPOS with edible containers: https://youtu.be/YAy9kV-WAR4

The ‘pots’ can be edible, as in the case of scooped vegetables. In such case, we can use the same technique to cook different dishes by just varying what goes into the ‘pots’.

MPOS with stuffed vegetables – https://youtu.be/-y2JJMT4dDs

The ‘pots’ need not even look like pots, as in the case of stuffed vegetables. We can use still use the same technique to cook different dishes by just varying what goes into these ‘pots’.

MPOS to zoned pressure baking

When we cut out multiple pots and instead layered thick curry pastes directly over vegetables/ meats, it resulted in a series of zoned pressure baking recipes, which was less flexible, but easier.

MPOS with starches & curries
The same technique was extended to cook starches and curries together. The cooking times were balanced with multiple ‘pots’ so that they all cooked at the same time. The following classic combinations were unlocked:

Idli combos

Idli- Sambar – https://youtu.be/ETX6m0DVhG0

Rava idli – Saagu

Semia idli – Thokku

Kanchipuram idli – Thakkali thokku

Idli – Chicken kuzhambu

Idli – Fish kuzhambu

Idli: Vadakari

Pongal Combos

Pongal – Thalaagam

Pongal- Aviyal

Millet Pongal- Gothsu

String hopper combos

Sevai: Morekuzhambu

Idiappam: Kuruma

Upma combos

Upma kozhakattai: Sambar

Upma: Thokku

Upma: Inji pachadi.

Thiruvadhirai Kali – Ezhu kari kootu

Puttu Combos

Puttu: Kadala kari.

Puttu: Mutton varattiyadhu

Kappa Puttu: Egg Curry

Kappa: Fish curry

Karnataka combos:

Ragi Mudde: Avarakke huli

Bisi bele bath: potato fry

N.Indian Combos

Batti: Dal

Litti: Chokka

Kichidi – Kadhi

Rice Combos

Rice: Dal

Pulao: Kuruma

Biriyani: Dalcha

Rice: Chicken salna

Rice: Fish curry

Thengachoru: Paruppu curry

Rice: Thakkali thokku

Rice: Onion thokku

Lemon rice: Potato fry

Fried rice: Manchurian

Continental Combos

Pasta: sauce

Noodles: sauce

MPOS is still an under-rated technique in OPOS. By combining it with other techniques, we can easily cook up a huge feast, in a single step.