A chulha is a traditional Indian stove, usually made of mud or clay, that burns firewood, cow-dung cakes, or crop waste. Pots rest on top of the fire. Chulhas were used in most Indian homes for centuries, but their smoke is harmful to health, especially for women and children.

What are traditional Indian cooking methods?

Traditional Indian methods include tadka (tempering spices in hot oil or ghee), dum (slow cooking in a sealed pot), tandoor baking, bhuna (dry roasting and frying), deep-frying, steaming (as for idli and dhokla), slow simmering, roasting on coals, fermenting batters, and sun-drying foods such as papad.

Dum cooking means slow-cooking food in a heavy pot sealed with dough so that it cooks in its own steam and flavours. It is associated with the royal kitchens of Awadh and is used for dishes such as biryani and dum aloo.

When did pressure cookers become popular in India?

Indian companies such as Hawkins and Prestige began making pressure cookers in the late 1950s. From the 1960s onwards the pressure cooker became a common wedding gift and a kitchen essential, cutting the cooking time for dal, rice, and beans and saving fuel.

Why does a pressure cooker cook faster?

A sealed pressure cooker traps steam, which raises the pressure inside. At higher pressure water boils at a higher temperature — around 120 °C instead of 100 °C — so food cooks much faster. The whistle releases extra steam, and many Indian cooks count whistles to time dishes.

When did LPG cooking gas start in India?

Indian Oil launched Indane LPG in 1965, with the first connections in Calcutta. LPG spread slowly to other cities, and from 2016 the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana gave free connections to women from poor households to replace smoky chulhas.

When did microwave ovens come to Indian homes?

Microwave ovens reached Indian middle-class homes mainly in the 1990s after economic liberalisation brought global appliance brands. They were first used for reheating and later, with convection models, for baking and grilling.

How does an induction cooktop work?

An induction cooktop uses a magnetic field to heat an iron or steel pan directly, so the glass surface itself stays cooler. It is fast, efficient, and has no flame, which made it popular in Indian apartments, hostels, and offices from the 2000s and 2010s.

Is an air fryer healthier than deep-frying?

An air fryer circulates very hot air around food to make it crisp, using a spoonful of oil or none instead of a pan full. This usually means far less fat than deep-frying, which is why air fryers became popular in India in the 2020s for samosas, pakoras, and tikkas.

What is a smart oven?

A smart oven connects to Wi-Fi or a phone app and offers preset cooking programmes, remote control, temperature probes, and sometimes cameras or voice control. It can follow a recipe automatically, set the right temperature and time, and notify you when the food is ready.

Daily Life Timeline

Cooking Methods Timeline of India: Chulha → Pressure Cooker → Microwave → Air Fryer → Smart Ovens

In the 1950s most Indian meals were cooked on a smoky mud chulha, with dal simmering for hours. From the 1960s the pressure cooker’s whistle cut that time to minutes, microwaves arrived in city kitchens in the 1990s, induction cooktops and multi-cookers spread in the 2010s, and in the 2020s air fryers and smart ovens make crispy snacks with a spoonful of oil at the tap of an app.

This timeline covers tandoors, clay pots and dum cooking, mud chulhas and blowpipes, angithis and kerosene stoves, pressure cookers and LPG, solar cookers, cookbooks and TV cooking shows, microwaves and non-stick pans, induction cooktops, electric kettles and multi-cookers, recipe videos, air fryers, and app-connected smart ovens.

1950s Chulha → 1960s Pressure Cooker 1990s Microwave → 2010s Induction 2020s Air Fryer & Smart Ovens

Why the Cooking Methods Story Matters

How a meal is cooked decides how long it takes, how much fuel it burns, how healthy it is, and how much smoke the cook breathes. In India the move from the mud chulha to the pressure cooker, gas, microwave, and air fryer has saved millions of hours of work — mostly for women — while traditional techniques such as tadka, dum, and slow simmering still give Indian food its flavour.

Big picture

India’s cooking journey in one view

For thousands of years Indians cooked over wood fires in clay pots, tandoors, and chulhas. Kerosene stoves reached towns in the early twentieth century, pressure cookers and LPG changed daily cooking from the 1960s, microwaves and non-stick pans arrived with liberalisation in the 1990s, induction cooktops and multi-cookers spread in the 2010s, and the 2020s brought air fryers and smart ovens. Related timelines: the power grid, the Green Revolution, the White Revolution.

1959

Indian-made pressure cookers arrive

1965

Indane LPG cooking gas launched

1990s

Microwaves reach city kitchens

2020s

Air fryers and smart ovens boom

Split image with a woman in a cotton sari squatting beside a wood-fired mud chulha cooking in a brass pot in a smoke-darkened village kitchen on the left, and a smiling woman in a kurta opening an air fryer in a bright modern kitchen beside a built-in smart oven and a tablet on the right — From the smoky mud chulha to the air fryer and smart oven (artistic illustration).

Cooking Then vs Now at a Glance

Feature	Then	Now
Main stove	Mud chulha or angithi	Gas, induction, and electric appliances
Fuel	Firewood, cow-dung cakes, coal	LPG, piped gas, electricity
Lighting the fire	Blowpipe and matches, many minutes	Knob, button, or app
Cooking dal	Simmered for an hour or more	A few whistles in a pressure cooker
Heat control	Adding or pulling out wood	Exact temperature settings
Frying	Deep kadhai of oil or ghee	Air fryer with a spoonful of oil
Reheating	Relight the fire	Two minutes in a microwave
Recipes	Learned from mothers and grandmothers	Cookbooks, TV shows, videos, and apps
Smoke	Filled the kitchen and harmed lungs	Chimneys and smoke-free appliances
Time in the kitchen	Many hours a day	Much less, with ready helpers

🔥 Tandoor & ClayAncient – 1946

Tandoors, Clay Pots & Slow Fire

For thousands of years Indians cooked over wood and dung fires. Food was roasted, boiled in clay pots, baked on tawas and in tandoors, steamed, fried, and slow-cooked, and many of these methods — tadka, dum, and bhuna — still define Indian cooking today.

Punjab village courtyard at dusk where women in salwar kameez and dupattas slap rotis onto the inner walls of a large clay community tandoor glowing with embers, with a basket of fresh rotis, earthen pots on a wood fire, a charcoal angithi, and brass vessels nearby — Rotis baked on the walls of a village community tandoor (artistic illustration).

c. 2600–1900 BCE: Harappan homes have hearths and clay ovens; grains, pulses, and meat are roasted, boiled in clay pots, and baked.
10th–12th centuries: The Kannada text Vaddaradhane (920 CE) mentions iddalige, an early form of idli, and the Manasollasa (c. 1130) describes roasting, frying, boiling, and steaming.
16th–18th centuries: Royal kitchens refine slow dum cooking in dough-sealed pots, especially in Awadh; community tandoors (sanjha chulha) serve Punjab villages.
Early 1900s–1940s: Kerosene pressure stoves and aluminium vessels reach towns, but almost every rural home still cooks on a wood-fired chulha.

Technology

Clay tandoors: Very high heat.
Earthen handis: Slow, even cooking.
Iron tawas and kadhais: Rotis and frying.

Features

Tadka: Spices bloomed in ghee.
Dum: Sealed slow cooking.
Fermenting and drying: Batters and papad.

🪵 Chulha1947 – 1959

Mud Chulhas & Kerosene Stoves

In the 1950s most Indian families cooked on a mud chulha fed with firewood, cow-dung cakes, and crop waste. Women blew on the fire through a metal pipe, the kitchen filled with smoke, and dal and rice took a long time to cook — while town homes began to use kerosene stoves and coal angithis.

Smoky 1950s rural kitchen where a woman in a sari seated on a low stool blows through a long metal pipe into a mud chulha under a blackened pot, with cow-dung cakes and firewood stacked beside her, a girl rolling rotis on a round board, and brass vessels on shelves — Fanning the chulha flame with a blowpipe while a daughter rolls rotis (artistic illustration).

1947–1950s: Most homes cook on mud chulhas; women and girls spend hours every week collecting firewood and making cow-dung cakes.
1950s: In towns, coal angithis and kerosene wick and pressure stoves are common; kerosene is sold through ration shops.
1950s: Daily cooking means slow-simmered dal, rice cooked in open pots, rotis on a tawa over the flame, and ghee tadka at the end.
Late 1950s: Indian companies such as Hawkins and Prestige begin making pressure cookers, which will transform cooking in the next decades.

Technology

Mud chulha: Wood and dung fire.
Blowpipe (phukni): Fanning the flame.
Kerosene stove: Pump for pressure.

Features

Smoky kitchens: Harmful to lungs.
Slow cooking: Hours at the fire.
Floor cooking: Sitting by the stove.

♨️ Pressure Cooker1960 – 1989

Pressure Cookers & LPG

The pressure cooker became the heart of the Indian kitchen. Its whistle told cooks when dal, rice, rajma, or potatoes were ready, it saved fuel, and it became a favourite wedding gift. LPG gas stoves arrived in cities, and cookbooks, instant noodles, and solar cookers added new ways to cook.

1970s kitchen where an aluminium pressure cooker releases a puff of steam on a two-burner gas stove connected to a red LPG cylinder, as a woman in a printed sari smiles and counts the whistles while her young son playfully covers his ears, with steel utensils on a wall rack — Counting whistles on a new LPG stove — the pressure cooker era (artistic illustration).

1960s: Pressure cookers spread in middle-class homes; cooks time dishes by counting whistles, and dal that took an hour cooks in minutes.
1965: Indian Oil launches Indane LPG with the first connections in Calcutta; gas stoves slowly spread to other cities, often after long waiting lists.
1970s: Cookbooks such as Tarla Dalal’s first book (1974) bring recipes from many regions into city kitchens; the “cooker cake” baked in a pressure cooker becomes popular.
1980s: Maggi 2-minute noodles (1983) arrive; the government promotes improved smokeless chulhas and box-type solar cookers; electric toasters and ovens appear in some homes.

Technology

Pressure cooker: Steam at about 120 °C.
LPG stove: Instant, smoke-free flame.
Solar cooker: Free heat from the sun.

Features

Whistle timer: Count and switch off.
Fuel saving: Less gas and wood.
Standing cooking: Platform kitchens.

📦 Microwave1990 – 2009

Microwaves & Non-Stick

Economic liberalisation in the 1990s brought global appliance brands into Indian homes. Microwave ovens reheated food in minutes and later baked cakes, non-stick pans needed less oil, TV cooking shows taught new dishes, and induction cooktops offered cooking without a flame.

The whole family studies the new microwave oven (artistic illustration).

1990s: After liberalisation, microwave ovens, mixer-grinders, and global kitchen brands reach city homes; the microwave is first used mostly for reheating.
1993: Sanjeev Kapoor’s Khana Khazana begins on Zee TV, making TV cooking shows popular with families.
Late 1990s–2000s: Non-stick cookware, electric rice cookers, and convection microwaves for baking and grilling spread; ready-to-eat meals in retort pouches appear.
2000s: Induction cooktops arrive, useful in small flats, hostels, and during gas shortages; recipe websites and food blogs begin to grow.

Technology

Microwaves: Heat water in food.
Non-stick coating: Less oil.
Convection ovens: Baking at home.

Features

Quick reheating: Leftovers in minutes.
TV recipes: New dishes at home.
Healthier frying: Less oil.

⚡ Induction2010 – 2019

Induction & Multi-Cookers

In the 2010s busy working families turned to electric helpers: induction cooktops, electric kettles, oven toaster grillers (OTGs), and one-pot multi-cookers. Recipe videos on smartphones replaced handwritten recipe books, home baking took off, and clean LPG finally reached millions of village homes.

Evening in a small apartment kitchen where a young working couple cooks together, the man stirring a pan on a black induction cooktop while the woman watches a recipe video on a smartphone propped on the counter, beside an electric kettle, a multi-cooker, and an oven toaster griller, with office bags on a chair — After office: induction cooktop, kettle, OTG, and a recipe video (artistic illustration).

Early 2010s: Induction cooktops, electric kettles, and sandwich makers become common in city homes, hostels, and PG rooms.
2010s: YouTube cooking channels in Hindi and regional languages make recipe videos a daily kitchen guide; OTGs spark a home-baking boom.
2014–2016: Food delivery apps change eating habits in cities, while the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (2016) gives free LPG connections to replace smoky chulhas.
Late 2010s: Electric pressure cookers and multi-cookers with presets for rice, dal, and curries gain popularity.

Technology

Induction: Magnetic heating.
Multi-cookers: One-pot presets.
OTGs: Bake, toast, and grill.

Features

Flame-free cooking: Safer in small flats.
Recipe videos: Learn by watching.
Home baking: Cakes and breads.

🍟 Air Fryer2020s – Future

Air Fryers & Smart Ovens

The 2020s began with lockdown home cooking and quickly moved to healthier, smarter appliances. Air fryers crisp samosas and tikkas with a spoonful of oil, smart ovens follow recipes from an app, and electric and solar cooking are promoted as cleaner options for the future.

Modern kitchen where a teenage girl and her mother pull a basket of golden samosas and paneer tikka from a sleek air fryer on a white quartz counter, with a built-in smart oven glowing behind them, the mother checking a cooking app on her phone, and a bowl of green chutney — Crispy samosas and paneer tikka from the air fryer, with a smart oven behind (artistic illustration).

2020: During the lockdown families cook and bake at home more than ever; home-made breads, cakes, and viral recipes such as whipped dalgona coffee trend online.
2020s: Air fryers become a popular purchase for healthier samosas, pakoras, fries, and tikkas; air-fryer ovens combine frying, baking, and grilling.
2021–2022: The government’s Go Electric campaign promotes electric cooking, and Indian Oil unveils the Surya Nutan indoor solar cooktop (2022).
Future: Wi-Fi smart ovens, AI recipe assistants, countertop cooking robots, and efficient induction may make gas flames rare in city kitchens.

Technology

Air fryers: Rapid hot air.
Smart ovens: App and voice control.
Food probes and cameras: Perfect doneness.

Features

Less oil: Healthier snacks.
Guided cooking: Step-by-step presets.
Clean energy: Electric and solar.

Traditional Indian Cooking Techniques, Then & Now

Technique	Traditional tool	Modern tool	Example dishes
Tadka (tempering)	Iron ladle over the chulha	Tadka pan on gas or induction	Dal, sambar, raita
Dum (sealed slow cooking)	Dough-sealed handi on coals	Heavy pot, oven, or multi-cooker	Biryani, dum aloo
Tandoor baking	Clay tandoor	OTG, air fryer, electric tandoor	Naan, tikka, tandoori roti
Bhuna (roast-frying)	Iron kadhai	Non-stick kadhai	Bhuna gosht, masalas
Deep-frying (talna)	Kadhai of oil	Air fryer	Samosa, pakora, puri
Steaming	Cloth over a pot, idli stand	Idli cooker, electric steamer	Idli, dhokla, modak, momos
Slow simmering	Open pot for hours	Pressure cooker	Dal, rajma, nihari
Roasting on coals	Embers of the chulha	Gas flame, grill, air fryer	Baingan bharta, litti, bhutta
Fermenting	Clay pots in a warm corner	Wet grinder and warm oven	Dosa batter, appam, kanji
Sun-drying	Rooftop mats	Food dehydrator	Papad, vadi, dried chillies

From Chulha to Smart Oven: Cooking Devices of India

1960s town kitchen where a woman in a cotton sari pumps a brass kerosene pressure stove with a roaring blue flame under an aluminium kadhai frying a puri, with a kerosene tin and funnel on the floor, a small boy watching, and steel plates and a clay water pot on a shelf — Pumping the brass kerosene stove to fry puris (artistic illustration).

Device	Common from	Energy	Best for
Mud chulha	Ancient times	Wood, dung cakes, crop waste	Rotis, dal, rice
Tandoor	Ancient times	Wood or charcoal	Breads and kebabs
Angithi / sigri	Pre-1900s	Coal or charcoal	Slow cooking and winter warmth
Kerosene stove	Early 1900s	Kerosene	Everyday cooking in towns
Pressure cooker	Late 1950s	Any stove	Dal, rice, beans, meat
LPG gas stove	1965	Cooking gas	All cooking
Solar box cooker	1980s	Sunlight	Slow-cooked rice and dal
Microwave oven	1990s	Electricity	Reheating, quick cooking, baking
Induction cooktop	2000s	Electricity	Fast boiling and frying
Multi-cooker	2010s	Electricity	One-pot meals with presets
Air fryer	2020s	Electricity	Crispy snacks with little oil
Smart oven	2020s	Electricity	App-guided baking and grilling

How Long Did It Take? Cooking Times Then & Now

Approximate times for a family-sized portion; real times depend on the ingredients, the quantity, and the heat.

Task	Old way	Modern way
Lighting the stove	Chulha: 10–15 minutes	Gas or induction: seconds
Cooking toor dal	Open pot: about 1 hour	Pressure cooker: 15–20 minutes
Cooking soaked rajma	Open pot: 2 hours or more	Pressure cooker: 30–40 minutes
Cooking rice	Open pot: 25–30 minutes	Pressure or rice cooker: 10–15 minutes
Reheating a meal	Relight the fire: 15 minutes	Microwave: 2–3 minutes
Boiling water for tea	Chulha: about 10 minutes	Electric kettle: 2–3 minutes
Making samosas crisp	Deep-frying in a kadhai of oil	Air fryer: 12–15 minutes, little oil
Baking a cake	Pressure cooker with sand: about 45 minutes	OTG or smart oven: 30–35 minutes

Cooking Methods Timeline Summary

Year / Era	Milestone
c. 2600–1900 BCE	Harappan hearths and clay ovens
920 CE	Iddalige, an early idli, mentioned in Vaddaradhane
c. 1130	Manasollasa describes cooking methods
16th–18th centuries	Dum cooking in royal kitchens; village tandoors
Early 1900s	Kerosene stoves and aluminium vessels in towns
1947–1950s	Mud chulhas in most homes
Late 1950s	Hawkins and Prestige pressure cookers
1960s	Pressure cookers spread; whistle timing
1965	Indane LPG launched in Calcutta
1974	Tarla Dalal’s first cookbook
1983	Maggi 2-minute noodles in India
1980s	Improved chulhas and solar cookers promoted
1990s	Microwave ovens after liberalisation
1993	Khana Khazana on Zee TV
Late 1990s–2000s	Non-stick pans, rice cookers, convection microwaves
2000s	Induction cooktops arrive
2010s	Kettles, OTGs, multi-cookers, recipe videos
2016	Ujjwala free LPG connections
2020	Lockdown home cooking and baking boom
2020s	Air fryers and smart ovens
2022	Surya Nutan solar cooktop unveiled
Future	AI recipe assistants and cooking robots

Timeline understanding Science of heat Health and energy Family traditions

Interview a grandparent about cooking on a chulha or kerosene stove and how long meals took.
Make a timeline poster: chulha (1950s), pressure cooker (1960s), microwave (1990s), induction (2010s), and air fryer (2020s).
Explain with a diagram why water boils at a higher temperature inside a pressure cooker.
Time how long it takes to boil one litre of water on gas, induction, and an electric kettle, and compare.
Build a simple solar cooker from a cardboard box and foil, and test whether it can melt chocolate or warm water.
List five traditional cooking techniques used in your home and the dishes made with each.
Find out why smoke from chulhas is harmful and how LPG and improved stoves help.
Collect a family recipe that has been passed down for generations and write how it is cooked today.
Compare the oil used to make samosas by deep-frying and in an air fryer.
Debate: “Food cooked slowly on a chulha tasted better than food from modern appliances.”

Continue exploring

Indian cooking changed with electricity, farming revolutions, dairy, and smart technology. Explore these connected timelines next.

Power grid timeline Green Revolution timeline White Revolution timeline AI timeline More India timelines All timelines

Moments Through Visual Stories

Click any panel to expand and explore the visual mood.

India’s cooking journey in pictures — the village tandoor, the smoky chulha, the kerosene stove, the whistling pressure cooker, the first microwave, induction and recipe videos, the air fryer, and then versus now.

Village Tandoor

Rotis on clay walls

1950s Chulha

Smoke and blowpipe

Kerosene Stove

Pump and roar

Pressure Cooker

Count the whistles

1990s Microwave

The new family gadget

Induction

Recipe videos after office

Air Fryer

Crispy with less oil

Then vs Now

Chulha to smart oven

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Disclaimer: This content is AI-generated for educational purposes and may contain errors or outdated details. For correct and authoritative information, please refer to official and reliable sources such as government publications, manufacturers, museums, and academic references.

Cooking Methods Timeline of India: Chulha → Pressure Cooker → Microwave → Air Fryer → Smart Ovens

Why the Cooking Methods Story Matters

India’s cooking journey in one view

Cooking Then vs Now at a Glance

Tandoors, Clay Pots & Slow Fire

Technology

Features

Mud Chulhas & Kerosene Stoves

Technology

Features

Pressure Cookers & LPG

Technology

Features

Microwaves & Non-Stick

Technology

Features

Induction & Multi-Cookers

Technology

Features

Air Fryers & Smart Ovens

Technology

Features

Traditional Indian Cooking Techniques, Then & Now

From Chulha to Smart Oven: Cooking Devices of India

How Long Did It Take? Cooking Times Then & Now

Cooking Methods Timeline Summary

Test Your Knowledge

Students Tasks

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Moments Through Visual Stories

Explore all daily life timelines