What’s inside the cube?

What looks like a topsecret cuboid box that may protect a deathly secret sits on the kitchen top of Masque Chef Prateek Sadhu lifts the square plate top revealing a circular wooden lid made of Hinoki Japanese cypress that opens into deeprounded bottomed cooking pot called Imogama which means potato shaped The cube is called ANAORI Kakugama a cooking tool with superior heat retention that also rivals the far infrared emissivity achieved when cooking with charcoal Made of carbon graphite it emits five times more infrared than cast ironldquoIt has multipurpose use and can go into the oven used on the stove and the top lid even turns into a grill One can make rice braise a quail roast a chicken in the oven and make sausages or veggies on the grill Once it is hot you can turn off your stove or oven and allow the heat to cook the ingredients insiderdquo Sadhu explains The rounded bottom ensures equal distribution of heat The equipment is now a permanent feature at the Masque Lab a wildernesstotable restaurant located in Mahalaxmi which seats only 1012 patrons at a timeGuchhi pulao with rogan josh sausages Made using the expensive guchhi mushrooms or morels this flavorsome rice dish is from KashmirSadhu makes us a guchhi pulao using the equipment He cooks the rice without adding water in ghee spices and a morrel miso that has been fermenting in his kitchen since February The equipment generates and retains five times more heat than a traditional pot which efficiently cuts cooking time ldquoA nofrillsattached pot it is easy to care for All you need is a foam soap washrdquo says Sadhu The ANAORI Kakugama which is priced at 3200 dollars approximately R235 lakh is for home use too if you can afford it ldquoCooking time is reduced and energy is savedrdquo says SadhuToru Okuda from Ginza Kojya Japan has used it to make takikomigohan Japanese mixed riceIn his home country Toru Okuda from Ginza Kojya Japan has used it to make simmered abalone and vegetables which took about twothird the time it normally takes He also tried a takikomigohan Japanese mixed riceldquoWhile the cooking time did not change for making rice the water absorption process which normally must be done before heating was not necessary because the rice cooked well without itrdquo says OkudaSadhu says the equipment generates and retains five times more heat than a traditional pot which efficiently cuts cooking timeThe pot has the same effect as cooking with charcoal which is essential in Japanese cuisine ldquoThe advantage of cooking with charcoal is that the ingredients can be cooked without placing any stress on them This means that they are not heated from the outside but from the inside of their tissues This way the ingredients can be cooked while retaining their proper moisture content and without destroying their tissues thus drawing out their umami flavourrdquo says OkudaIt has multipurpose use and can go into the oven used on the stove and the top lid even turns into a grillWhen chef Enrico Crippa of Piazza Duomo in Alba Italy first got his hands on the pot he cooked a chickpeas ramen a tribute to the origin of the pot ldquoLater I made the salad of Vignaiolo a traditional and old way to reuse the meat leftover from Sunday lunch flavoured with green sauce and generally consumed by the winery workers the day after I elevated it with walnuts hazelnuts Raschera cheese and applesrdquo says Crippa whose 3Michelin star restaurant is also among the 50 best restaurants in the worldKnown for sourcing ingredients from his vegetable garden he also used the pot to create his classic dish the vegetable soup ldquoIt has been fun to renew my recipes using the pot Creativity is always a challenge and when you open your kitchen to something new it reveals new flavours The innovation in kitchen tools brings curiosity and new ways of conceiving the dishes The cypress lid gives an unmistakable flavour I am impressed how the tool changes the aromas of the bollito stew we use in the salad of Vignaiolordquo he addsThe first dish that chef Enrico Crippa of Piazza Duomo in Alba Italy cooked with the ANAORI was chickpeas ramenThe aroma of guchhi brings us back to the Masque kitchen The entire process took less than 30 minutes from cooking the pulao in the pot and grilling the rogan josh sausages on the grill ldquoIrsquom thinking it would be great to make payasam sheera or halwa in thisrdquo Sadhu thinks aloud We dig our spoon into the pulao and allow the flavours to take over The umami lingers long after we have wiped the bowl clean