What’s so great about the Instant Pot? That’s the underlying question I have as I continue on this month-long challenge to use my Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 (6 Quart) for all my meals.
Straight off the bat, I made the #1 Instant Pot rookie mistake …. winging it. I realized quickly when I used too much or not enough water that I ought to read the thin and basic Instant Pot manual, which comes with the dang thing. I had dropped into a couple of Facebook groups where the members were talking another language using acronyms to discuss tips and offer advice.
Yup better read the dang manual. (There’s also some recipes to get you started.)
I can’t stress this enough – read the manual that comes with the Instant Pot before you start messing around with your shiny, new appliance. It will save you some of the minor headaches. Not to mention, it will give you a solid base then you can start asking questions and tweaking your recipes. (There’s also handy cooking times at the back of the book.) But I should mention you will likely still have TONS of questions after reading the manual. I know I did. (Cue the YouTube and Facebook searches. Find your people.)
Playing it safe
In this second week of the challenge, I turned my focus to using two programs – Saute and Steam – from the 14 smart programs.
The “Saute” feature does just as you would expect it would do – saute the stuff. Close your eyes and pretend it’s a saute pan. Use it like a saute pan to cook something (or as I just learned) to thicken sauces after cooking.
I know it may sound obvious to some cooks but keep the lid off when using the saute function. (This simple instruction is not in the manual.) I learned another neat trick while Googling “how to saute.” The saute button has three adjustable temperature modes – normal, less or more – which you can choose by pressing the saute button. Head to the Instant Pot website for getting started and more resources. (I am not sure I like this because I think about people who do not have access to the Internet or those who are not comfortable with Internet searching. Yes those people still exist.)
Veg Biryani
I chose a vegetable biryani recipe that called for saute for one of my test meals this week. I used two recipes as guidelines – Instant Pot Soya Chunks Biryani and Cook with Manali’s Easy Instant Pot Vegetable Biryani. I like to use more than one recipe so I can determine the basic ingredients and see how the cook has tweaked it to make his or her own. Let me tell you. I LOVE biryani. In fact, I just made some for dinner tonight. I got home late and I was starving. So instead of chopping up all the veg, I used frozen vegetables from my freezer. Presto!
This dish is so easy to whip up that you can’t really screw it up (maybe if you burn the spices). What I really liked is the step from Manali’s recipe to soak the rice for 20 minutes. This is brilliant and I think this will transfer well for other recipes when you want to make sure everything cooks at the same rate.
I’m already addicted to this dish but I know it would be silly to eat the same thing every week for the challenge. What fun would that be?
Trying out the Beyond Burger in the Instant Pot.
Another lesson that I learned? Sauteing and frying are not the same thing. Clearly there is a reason why there’s not a “fry” button on the Instant Pot. I bought a Beyond Burger patty from Planet Organic which I “sauted” in the Instant Pot. It tasted fine but next time I think I would cut it up into strips or something.
You don’t have to use oil to saute in the Instant Pot. Just like dry sauteing you can use water in place of oil.
Vegan Pot Roast
My next dish featured the sensational Portobello mushroom. Again I referenced two recipes – My Darling Vegan’s Instant Pot Vegan Post Roast and A Virtual Vegan’s Vegan Portobello Instant Pot Pot Roast. Funny I thought I had everything for the recipe on Sunday when I realized I picked up red wine vinegar instead of red wine. I picked up the cheapest bottle of red that I could find. (Here’s my wine buying tip for drinking. I was told once upon a time at a wine tasting if you are buying on the cheap, pick a red from Chile. The wine usually doesn’t suck. This tip has never failed me.)
My gosh! I think this dish tasted better the next day. I usually like rainbow coloured dishes but this brown beauty was hearty and filling. Perfect for those cold winter days. It felt more like a stew dish than a pot roast.
STEAMING
One of my favourite things to eat is steamed vegetables with a little pepper. I am boring that way. The manual says you will need one cup of water and an ovenproof or steel bowl on the trivet. There’s also a chart for suggested cooking times. The programmable steaming program starts at 10 minutes. I have steamed everything from tofu, cauliflower, broccoli to mushrooms. Perfect every single time.
I love steaming veg in the Instant Pot.
I didn’t try any recipes that incorporated steaming because it is pretty basic. Sometimes I use vegetable stock if I want to give the veg, such as cauliflower, a little more flavour. I used a little collapsible steaming basic, which I bought for about $6 at Canadian tire. I think the golden rule is to have at least one cup of water for steaming.
Beans and legumes
Last week it was all about the black beans. This week I turned to brown lentils. I like to make batch of beans or legumes for the week so I can add them to salads or eat them on their own. Like I do for veg, I use a vegetable stock when cooking beans or I add some garlic. I have not tried the Bean/Chili smart program yet. It’s getting a little colder here in Calgary so I am thinking this weekend may be the one when I make a chili or try out the slow cooker.
Waiting for the lentils to add to my salad.
I have to tell you I am enjoying the challenge. I have a lot of my plate (no pun intended). While I love cooking, I don’t want to spend all my time in the kitchen especially during the week. There are only so many hours left in the evening after work, training and life generally .
Food prep on the weekends has always been a life safer for me. By making a couple of new dishes in the Instant Pot on the weekend, I am set up for the week. I am sure it would be the same for anyone who has a family. It’s all about being organized and efficient. That’s why I am super excited about using my Instant Pot. There’s a lot of useless food appliances out there.
I am very particular about what I buy because I hate wasting money and I hate creating waste. Instant Pot? So far, so good.
I would love to hear from you if you own an Instant Pot. Let me know in the comments below .. what are your go-to meals?
