Five minutes is how long it takes to prepare 200 ‘idlis’ in the ‘Steam kitchen’ of Government Lower Primary School at Manacaud. The renovated kitchen, which was inaugurated two months ago, has been drawing visitors to the school in recent times. The authorities vouch for the time-saving and fuel-efficient kitchen that lets the school’s entire cooking be done by 11 in the morning.
Anyone who has visited the school would know it is a colourful, cheerful place especially since it was spruced up two years ago as part of the ‘Padanodyanam’ project of the Corporation and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The kitchen has also made the premises cleaner and smoke-free. Here, it is coconut shells, and not LPG or firewood, which is the major fuel used to prepare breakfast and lunch for more than 1000 students covered under the school’s meal scheme.
“We use mainly coconut shells, which the students bring from home, to fuel up the boiler,” said Bindu L, one of the school’s four cooks, indicating the large appliance in the corner. The boiler is connected by iron pipes to two huge cooking vessels, an ‘idli chamber’ and 16 ‘puttu kuttis’. The steam produced in the boiler is used to cook rice, vegetables, pulses, and of course, ‘idli’ and ‘puttu’, all done simultaneously.
“The main advantage now is that we save a great deal of time,” said head cook Vamini K, who has been working at the school for close to 20 years. “Before, I had to reach here by 4.30 in the morning to prepare breakfast in time. Now, work here starts only by 6.30 am. We can prepare 200 ‘idlis’ and 16 slices of ‘puttu’ in five minutes and cook 20 kg of rice in 20 minutes. After breakfast is served at 8.30 am, we finish preparing lunch latest by 11 am.”
The near-total dependance on firewood has also come down according to headmistress Lissy Kuriakose. “Earlier, we would spend about ` 9,000 to 10,000 every month on firewood,” she said. “Now we need just enough to help the coconut shells keep burning. The steam is supplied continuously through the pipes and once the water in the boiler is heated up, the cooking gets done within minutes” .
The ` 4,06,481 unit was constructed in 15 days by a Coimbatore-based private company which manufactures kitchen equipment. It was set up using funds from T N Seema MP under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme for 2012-13.