Where do I get a replacement gasket for an Indian pressure cooker in the USA?

Buy the gasket by your cooker's litre capacity and brand, not by diameter, because Hawkins and Prestige gaskets are not interchangeable and neither fits the other's lid. American kitchen shops do not stock either, so the practical routes are an Indian grocery store with a housewares aisle, or ordering the correct part from India directly.

Indian pressure cookers are built around a sealing ring that is a wear part. It hardens, loses its squeeze and starts letting steam past the rim, usually after somewhere between one and three years of regular use. That is normal and it is not the cooker failing. What surprises people who move to the US is that the replacement is genuinely hard to find locally: American pressure cookers use a different sealing design, so a hardware store or a Williams Sonoma has nothing that fits.

Match on three things and you will not go wrong. The brand, because Hawkins and Prestige use different lid geometry entirely and their rings are not swappable. The capacity in litres, which is stamped on the base or the handle. And the lid type: Hawkins is an inner lid cooker, where the lid passes down through the rim and seals from inside, and Prestige is typically an outer lid, which seals under a flange. An inner lid gasket in an outer lid cooker will not seat at all.

Hawkins gaskets are sold by a size code rather than a plain litre number, which is where most wrong orders come from. The code is printed on the old gasket itself, so read it before you throw the old one away, and photograph the base of the cooker while you are at it. If your cooker is a Contura or a Futura the gasket differs from the classic model of the same capacity.

The other spares worth buying at the same time, because shipping one small rubber ring across an ocean is poor value: the safety valve or fusible plug, the vent weight or whistle, and the gasket for a second cooker if you have one. These are inexpensive and they all fail eventually. Aalacart lists cookware and spares from the Indian market, so the parts are the ones actually made for the cooker rather than a generic fit.

One safety point that is worth more than any of the above. Do not run a pressure cooker with a hardened or cracked gasket, and do not stretch an old one to make it seat. A ring that only seals under pressure is a ring that can release under pressure.

Related questions

Are Hawkins and Prestige gaskets interchangeable?

No. The lid designs are different, Hawkins sealing from inside the rim and Prestige typically under an outer flange. A gasket from one brand will not seat in the other, whatever its diameter measures.

How often should the gasket be replaced?

Every one to three years with regular use, or as soon as it stops sealing, hardens, cracks or needs stretching to fit. Steam escaping from the rim rather than the vent is the usual first sign.

Will an Indian pressure cooker work on a US stove?

On gas and standard electric, yes, since it is a pot rather than an appliance. On induction only if the base is induction compatible, which the listing states. There is no voltage question because there is no electricity involved.

Can I use an Indian cooker on a glass cooktop?

Yes if the base is flat and undamaged. Older cookers with a slightly domed or dented base heat unevenly on glass and can rock, which is a burn risk rather than a cooking problem.