COOKING UP CONVENIENCE
The Ropot, a designed-in-Ottawa kitchen appliance, is ready to take off, writes Peter Hum.
When Lu Yang finishes work and returns each night to her east-end Ottawa home, she invariably cooks using two tabletop appliances — one that you’ve likely heard of and another that you almost certainly have not.
The much better-known one is an Instant Pot, the developed-inOttawa, next-generation pressure cooker that in recent years has built up an enthusiastic global following and is now supported by third-party cookbooks and recipe bloggers galore.
Yang’s other go-to is one of the world’s few Ropots — “an intelligent robot cooker,” its makers say. The Ropot, manufactured in China as per the specifications of a small Ottawa company, automates stir frying, pan frying and more.
For Yang, both pots are essential. “I use both devices daily,” she says. “I love both.”
By day, Yang is a chemist with the National Research Council. But she’s also a passionate home cook and food blogger who has received more than 38 million views at her bilingual (Chinese and English) recipe blog MaomaoMom Kitchen (maomaomom.com). Among the scores of recipes on her blog are dozens each for the Instant Pot and now the Ropot.
“I don’t like to follow recipes by other people,” she says. “I like to create my own.”
Yang agreed to try one of the first Ropots in early 2016. “I only want to try high-quality products,” she says. She was given a unit by SimLife Inc., the small Ottawa company led by Bin Chen, who was also a co-founder of Double Insight, the company that launched the Instant Pot. (He is no longer involved in Double Insight.)
The idea for the Ropot, Chen and his colleagues explain, came to them in 2008. They dreamt up the basic concept and then searched the internet for companies that were working on something similar and promising. Seven years later, they found their partner company in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang, which had built a similar product for the Chinese market.
It then took more than a year for Chen and his associates to work with the Chinese company to create the Ropot, as it would be branded for the North American market. Critically, the new product would have to work with a 110volt electricity supply (its Chinese equivalent is a 220-volt machine) and meet safety standards to gain Underwriter Laboratories certification.
So far, by relying on word of mouth and social media, the company has sold almost 1,500 Ropots from ropots.com, where they are priced at US$279 (about C$350) each. Some customers have been referred from Yang’s website. Those customers receive a discount and Yang receives a small commission. Chen hopes to sell Ropots in stores one day.
Cooking occurs inside the Ropot’s removable 4.2-litre nonstick, PFOA-free pot that’s outfitted with a rotating paddle at its centre. Users program the Ropot through its touch screen and the unit cooks food with not just its bottom element, but also an infrared element built into its lid. Meanwhile, sensors in the machine keep its temperature stable and below the smoking point of common cooking oils. The lid and the sensors allow the company to tout a major selling point — that the machine contains smoke, smells and oily messes far better than its stovetop equivalents.
“My range hood is super clean now,” Yang says.
The unit’s primary function is stir frying, but it also pan fries, sautés, braises, steams, roasts, and deep fries. Once the unit warms up, each function comes with a preprogrammed heat, which is usually 220 C (430 F). For each function, there is a default time period so that, for example, the unit will stir fry for three minutes unless a user keys in more or less time.
For an interviewer, Chen quickly turned out a succession of deadsimple, tasty, two- or three-ingredient dishes — a thick, properly pan-fried steak, stir-fried asparagus with oyster sauce, juicy chicken wings, pecans roasted with maple syrup. He stressed convenience, speed and ease of use when demonstrating his machine.
“Kitchen appliances are trending in the smart and healthy direction and this is exactly what Ropot is engineered for,” says Chen’s colleague Norman Wu. “Once people start to know it, to try it, they will start to fall in love with it.”
The machine comes with booklets (in English and Chinese) containing more than 70 basic recipes ranging from Chinese stir-fries, soups and stews to pad thai and chili.
However, Yang ’s recipes (available on her blog ) are more detailed and come with step-by-step photos — if the Ropot is to take off, its success will likely require a community of users like her, swapping tips and recipes to get the most out of the device.
Once people start to know it, to try it, they will start to fall in love with it.
SHRIMP, EGG AND ENOKI STIR FRY
Time: 15 minutes Makes: 4 servings
For the shrimp:
30 medium-sized frozen deveined white shrimp
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground white pepper 1 1/2 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp sesame oil
For the eggs and mushrooms:
3 extra large eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/6 tsp chicken bouillon powder 1 200-g package enoki mushrooms
2 tbsp. freshly chopped green onion
2 tbsp. avocado oil
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1. Place shrimp in cold water to thaw, remove shells, rinse and drain well. Combine shrimp with 1/2 tsp salt, pepper, cornstarch, sesame oil in a bowl. Mix well and set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Remove roots of enoki mushrooms, rinse with water and drain. Cut mushrooms into 2 cm-long pieces.
3. Place eggs, 1/2 tsp salt, bouillon powder in a bowl, beat well. Add chopped green onions and chopped mushrooms, mix well. 4. Plug in the Ropot cooker, press power button to preheat the cooker. Add 1 tbsp. avocado oil to the pot. Add shrimp, close the lid, press function to select stir-fry function. When countdown finishes, press the minus sign and decrease time by 1 1/2 minutes. Program starts automatically.
5. When the program ends, open the lid, transfer cooked shrimp to a bowl, set aside. Add another tablespoon avocado oil to the pot, add egg and mushrooms mixture to the pot, close the lid, press function to select stir-fry function. Program starts automatically.
6. When only 30 seconds are left, open the lid, add cooked shrimp and 1/2 tsp sesame oil and close the lid. Let the program finish.
7. When the program ends, open the lid and transfer to a serving plate and serve with steamed rice.