Difference between cooking vegetable curries in a pressure cooker and a wok?

Question

Is the difference only w.r.t time consumed?
Is it better (in terms of taste) to cook vegetable curries in a Kadhai rather than a pressure cooker?

EDIT 1:
Q: Do the spices change their taste when cooked in Kadhai versus pressure cooker?

Answer 1

What gives spices their flavors are the oils that they contain, along with any water soluble flavors that they might have. In a pressure cooker, your food will cook hot. What that means to your spices will vary as certain spices could grow more bitter or sweeter depending on the compounds inside them. Conventional wisdom says that pressure cooking concentrates the flavors, although that would seem to fly in the face of physics as you aren't reducing while pressure cooking, you are just heating steam at a higher atmosphere to transfer more heat to the food faster.

As for texture, use the one that you like.

Answer 2

I am not sure if you are asking about pressure cooking vegetables or just using the pressure cooker to cook. If you are talking about pressure cooking the vegetables, I think a kadai is more suitable because it preserves the texture of the vegetable you are cooking. If you cook the same vegetable in the pressure cooker, it is difficult to control the 'doneness' of the vegetable.

For example, I have cooked aloo mattar (potatoes and peas) in a kadai and in a pressure cooker. The peas come out much more mushier when cooked in a pressure cooker versus a kadai. If I want a pressure-cooked texture in a kadai, I cook longer.

If you are talking about cooking in a pressure cooker without the lid on, it makes no difference whether you are using a kadai or a pressure cooker.

Answer 3

Pressure cookers are good for things that require very long simmering, like tough cuts of meat. There's no good reason to use them for vegetables; the amount of time you save will be insignificant, and you'll probably overcook the vegetables.