The charcoal exterior has an uncluttered control panel that consists of just one dial and a back button, giving it a neat and streamlined appearance and it’s certainly better looking than other multicookers I’ve reviewed. I was disappointed that there was no mention in the instruction manual about whether the parts are dishwasher safe or not. Each pre-set program has a default time and temperature, but these can easily be adjusted if necessary and you can also add a delay timer at this stage. Sign up to our newsletter for style and decor inspiration, house makeovers, project advice and more. The result was a fiery curry with very tender chicken, a great result for what felt like minimal effort.

The lid can be submerged in water for easy cleaning and the base doesn’t get dirty but is easy to wipe over should you need to. If you’re new to multi-cookers and electric pressure cookers, you’ll benefit from the pre-set programs that take the guesswork out of cooking lots of different foods.

This seemingly simple task was actually the trickiest of all the things I made in the Cleverchef Pro. The recipe uses brown basmati and I selected the brown rice pre-set program which takes just 20 minutes, although there was an additional six minutes to heat up.

While scrolling through the menus the display screen is illuminated blue, but when cooking or preheating, the display turns orange so you can see at a glance that it’s cooking, which is a nice feature.It’s easy to use, doesn’t take up too much space, and offers the same functions as many of the best multi-cooker. Having completely renovated her current house, Helen reviews kitchen appliances from her open plan kitchen at home in a beautiful Berkshire village. At the end of cooking I flicked the pressure release valve to the vent position so that the steam pressure released fast, it’s good to have it near an extractor fan during this stage due to the large amount of steam released. After this, the broccoli was still very hard and in the end, I put it on a further three times to get the broccoli steamed to the correct texture. I still had to run the broccoli steam program twice to get perfectly cooked al dente broccoli, but the result was much better with less water in the pot.

So I’d say if you’re planning to steam with the Cleverchef Pro, you’ll have to be prepared to experiment to get the results you’re looking for. I knew something wasn’t right so tried again, but this time I added just 1cm of water to the bottom of the pot. I allowed the pressure to slow release for 15 minutes and then released the rest manually, which just requires flicking the pressure release switch so the steam can escape. While browsing the app for recipes I kept coming back to the Nutella brownie recipe and in the end, I couldn’t resist giving it a go. After completing a Home Economics degree, Helen went on to work for the Good Housekeeping Institute and has been reviewing home appliances ever since.While the lid isn’t hinged, it does have an integrated tab that slots into the back of the cooker, this holds the lid so you don’t have to put it on the counter if you don’t want to. The pre-sets give you the confidence to use it more often by providing a starting cook time and temperature that you can adjust to suit your own preferences. So, if your particular food or recipe type isn’t listed, you can easily choose the program that most closely matches the time and temperature you think you need. After sauteing and adding the rest of the ingredients, it’s just a case of putting the lid on and selecting the pressure cook function, followed by the curry chicken program.