WHY buy a Sun Ray Cooker? It’s ideal to use in a country like ours where we have 10 hours of sunshine in summer, says Sun Ray Cooker’s founder Herman Warren, who gave me one to try out. “It’s safe, very economical and eco-Friendly,” he said.
You can take it into the garden and while you either lounge beside the pool or work on your flower beds you can keep an eye on the food without being tied to a hot stove indoors. It only weighs 3kg so is also ideal for taking to a picnic or on a camping trip.
I tried it out to make a beef curry. I browned the meat on the stove before putting the curry in the solar cooker. It took 2-3 hours to make the meat meltingly tender and the potatoes and carrots were soft but firm and did not go mushy as would have been the case on the stove top. There is no evaporation of liquid so you end up with lots of
delicious gravy.
I was surprised to find I needed oven gloves to remove the saucepan, it was that hot. The cooker reaches a temperature of 150°C, according to Warren, which is high enough to kill any pathogens and put any of my contamination fears to rest.
If you bake in the oven then you need to pre-heat the cooker by placing it in the sun for about an hour. There is also a Solar cooker plate which you preheat in the cooker which speeds up baking and cooking.
You have to use black saucepans to cook in or wrap the pots you have in the black foil that comes with the cooker. The black absorbs the sun’s ray, thus facilitating the cooking process. Fish, steaks or chops take 45 minutes to cook, while a loaf of bread takes about 2 hours. You can even make meringues – about 2 hours. The most important factor when using the solar cooker is to keep it in the right direction tracking the sun. Ideal for those wanting to save on electricity, it costs R899 for the cooker with the foil and the plate.
l For more info and lots of recipes, see www.sunraycooker.co.za or call Herman Warren at 011 484 6089.
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