We started work on this technique due to three factors:

1. Many kids started cooking and we wanted a bunch of kid safe recipes without use of knives.
2. With OPOS,cooking time was brought to under 5 minutes for many recipes. Members now complained that chopping took much longer than cooking and wanted a way to deskill it and minimse the preparation time.
3. After the preparation problem was addressed, a new one surfaced – decision fatigue. Members demanded recipes that required no conscious thinking or planning.

We addressed these problems in the following ways:

• Build recipes around base, flavouring and additives which do not require cutting.
• Promote crushing/ slicing/ grating to deskill cutting
• Work on templates to mix and match dry curries, gravies and full meals.

Focus on ingredients that require no cutting:

• We chose bases that require no cutting and paired them with additives & flavouring that did not require the use of a knife. A huge varieties of veggies/ meats are available ready to use. These can be used whole/ snapped/ torn with hand /crushed/ grated/ sliced.
• Ingredients that can be used whole: Baby potatoes, mushrooms, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, baby corn, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, soya chunks, soaked legumes, sprouts, fresh legumes, okra, eggs
• Vegetables that can be snapped and used: French beans, broad beans, long beans, cluster beans, cauliflower, broccoli, baby radish.
• Ingredients that can be torn and used: Spinach varieties, Capsicum, Paneer, Tofu,..
• Others that come precut: Chopped meats/ cleaned sea food
• Flavouring: Rely mostly on dry powders/ crushed spices/ herbs.
• Additives: Avoid additives that require chopping. Use curry bases, pickles, nut pastes, dairy, coconut paste, cooked lentils, tamarind paste that can be paired with most ingredients to create a variety of recipes.

A big range of recipes from appetisers to desserts that require no cutting, arose from the above experiments :

• Starters: Cashew Chicken Bites, Mutton Uppukari, Cauliflower/ Broccoli Fondue, Pindi Channa, Paneer tikka, Soya tikka, Sundal varieties.
• Soups: Tomato soup, Broccoli soup, Mushroom soup, Spinach soup, Dal shorba, Gazpacho, Rasam, Chicken soup
• Breakfast: Achari semia, Achari noodles, Muesli, Morekali, Pongal, Upma, Porridge varieties
• Lunch box: Penne arabbiatta, Papad pickle pulao, Methi pulai, Pasta achari, Mac & Cheese, Pasta Alfredo, Pasta carbonara, Thayir Semia, Pasta Spinaci, Pasta Funghi,
• Curries: Soya Pudina Masala, Palak saag/ Keerai Masiyal, Achari Sabji, Prawn Masala, Macher Jhol, Meen kolambu, Bhindi Shorshe, Cauliflower Posto, Rogani kumbh, Shahi Bhindi, Thakkali Kuruma, Soya Kuruma, Methi Muttar masala, Methi Malai Muttar, Tamatar kadhi, Gobhi Musallam, Palak dal, Paneer Korma, Achari Bhindi Kofta, Dimer Jhol
• Desserts: Dulce De Leche, Aval payasam, Semia Payasam, paruppu payasam, Bhapa Doi, Chakkara pongal, Mysorepak, Shahi Tukda, Qubani ka meetha
• Drinks: Sharbath, Lassi, Dum Tea
• Dips: Hummus, Chutneys, Pesto, Kashundi
• Pickles: Hari mirch achaar, Avakkaya, Tomato thokku, mint thokku, garlic thokku

Deskilling cutting: Crushing, using a grater or a mechanical chopper addressed half the problem.

• Vegetables that can be crushed and used: Mushroom, tomato, garlic, baby vegetables, ivy gourd.
• Vegetables that can be grated and used: Carrot, radish, tomato, potato, squash, beets, turnip.
• Vegetables that can be sliced and used: Ivy gourd, carrot, radish, cabbage, eggplant, bitter gourd, capsicum, snake gourd.
• But we still had to address the elephant in the room – Onions. These are responsible for more tears and curses than any other vegetable. First, an onion slicer was proposed, but it had two problems – fingertips were getting sliced and peeling onions still required a knife.
• Then we figured out a way to slice onions without peeling them. The unpeeled onion was sliced directly into a bowl of water. The skins would float and the black fungus present between layers would be washed away. This hack almost eliminated tears from the kitchen.
• The last remaining problem of fingertips getting sliced was addressed by changing the grip. The onion was to be held pressed by your palm against the slicer and not by your fingertips.

Finally, the elephant was tamed. Not just members, but even commercial establishments loved this hack. Most restaurants, especially the Biriyani restaurants go through mounds of onions a day. Peeling and slicing them eat up a lot of man hours. One popular biriyani establishment so loved this hack that it distributed free biriyanis to a charity of our choice (The Little Drops Home, Chennai), as a token of their appreciation.

No Recipe cooking:

To reduce decision fatigue, we tried doing away with recipes. Here is the general template for cooking nutritionally balanced dry curries/ gravies/meals, with whatever you have at hand:

In a 2L cooker, layer as below:

• Layer 1: 2tbsp oil/ 1/4C water
• Layer 2: 2C Base (See below)
• Layer 3: 1/2tsp each (salt,
• Layer 4 (optional): 1/2C Starch (see below)

Cook on high for:

• 3-5 mins for vegetables, seafood, eggs.
• 6-8 mins for chicken.
• 8-10 mins for other meats.

To make dry curries: Skip layer 4. Mix all.

To make Gravies: Skip layer 4. Mix in thick Coconut milk/ cream/ yogurt/ curry bases

To make meals: Mix all. Can mix in yogurt, chopped salad vegetables

Base:

• 1. Paneer/ Tofu
• 2. Soaked soya chunks
• 3. Sprouts/ Fresh legumes
• 4. Spinach/ Mushroom/ Capsicum
• 5. Crushed baby vegetables
• 6. Whole Okra/ Beans
• 7. Cauliflower/ Broccoli florets
• 8. Cleaned meats/ Seafood
• 9. Sausage/ Eggs
• 10. Others/ Combo of above

Starches: Use the following as Layer 4:

• 1. Hydrated grain flakes
• 2. Hydrated thin rice noodles
• 3. Hydated puffed rice
• 4. Quick cooking oats
• 5. Double roasted rava
• 6. Roasted gram flour
• 7. Chopped bread/left over flatbread
• 8. Dumplings
• 9. Fresh pasta/ noodles
• 10. Hydrated instant noodles