Instructions For Using The Tongtel Electric Pressure Cooker

Recently I bought this extremely cheap Tongtel brand pressure cooker from Sams Warehouse here in Australia. I’d been meaning to buy a pressure cooker for some time now and at the price of $49, it seemed like a steal.

It didn’t come in a box, all it came with is a lead, measuring cups and that’s it. No instruction manual.

Being new to the idea of electric pressure cookers, I searched high and low for an instruction book on how to start this thing to no avail. After plenty of trial and error, I worked it out.

The Exhaust Vent Valve

There is a little black thing on-top of the pressure cooker. This is the vent valve. Before the cooker will work properly, this needs to be in the open position. I made the mistake of trying to cook with this not in the on position and it won’t work (no heating or pressure build up).

Position it so the black tab is pointed between 10 and 11 on a clock-face. You should see a little image on the lid itself showing you where to set it.

Cooking

Once you’ve set it, choose your preset and once you see the animated bar on the digital display moving, turn it to face the 5 o’clock to lock the pressure in. No steam should be escaping and the timer should start counting down.

Once you’re done

When the timer is up, be careful, this thing is now a loaded steam weapon. Using a long spoon, nudge the exhaust valve back to the 10ish clock face position and wait for the steam to escape. If you had it on the meat setting for an hour, you’ll have to wait at least 5 minutes for the steam to escape (it’s crazy how much steam these things can hold).

Recipes

For recipes on how to cook in a pressure cooker, try Googling them. Cooking in a pressure cooker is slightly different to that of a slow cooker or oven, you don’t want to overfill these things.