I had leftover prime rib bones in the freezer from Christmas; my sister smoked the prime rib in her Traeger. I adapted this IP beef barley soup recipe.

It was fabulous.

Mods: I sauteed the vegetables on the stove while the barley/bones/soup flavoring vegetables were cooking in the IP. Saved me time since I didn't have to sequentially brown the meat, saute the sliced (rather than diced) vegetables, then the soup vegetables.

Also added mushrooms.

If I were to do it again (more prime rib bones anywhere?), I'd consider doing the soup stock the day before so I could refrigerate and remove fat. Then it would be easy to saute the other vegetables, pour in the soup stock, and bingo. Although the barley might get too squishy and absorb too much liquid?

Anyway, it was a great dinner.

Last weekend was the annual men’s trip to Las Vegas. One of the guys (at the tender age of 82) has recently become interested in cooking (his wife of some 60 years, herself an excellent cook, is terrified), and bought himself an instant pot. He brought it with him and asked me to show him how to use it. He ended up doing *all* the cooking for the weekend and none of the dishes which is usually my schtick.

So two “fancy” recipes. The chicken Fricassee I trial ran at home and boosted with chicken broth instead of water for the rice, 1/2 an onion in with the ‘shrooms, garlic salt instead of salt, and some powdered poultry seasoning at the end. Spectacularly good - as good as any restaurant version I’ve ever had.

https://www.google.com/amp/amp...ot-chicken-fricassee

The second we chose “in the field”. Swiss steak with brown mushroom gravy. We went to the grocery, bought the stuff, brought it home, modified the recipe and prepared it. I didn’t change much - used beef broth in the rice, had the meat department tenderize the round steak rather than pounding it out; used Lawrys season salt because there was some in the drawer at the VRBO.

Hands down the best mushroom gravy ever and everyone agreed. Meat was cooked just right! Damn - so good!

https://frugalhausfrau.com/201...m-gravy-instant-pot/

Pro-tips:

1. These recipes are not real time savers. Lots of steps and each one requires an addition, which makes the IP labor mightily to warm it up. In the future I’ll make sure to first warm up ingredients in the micro, especially frozen ingredients.

2. Frozen pearl onions are delish and deserve wider distribution.

3. Don’t skimp on browning the meat. It takes longer than the recipes say.

4. I thickened both recipes with Wondra because it’s easy. Better cooks might use a roux or a cornstarch slurry or even mess with the liquid ratio to eliminate thickening altogether.

Last night I made Cassoulet using this recipe.

It was very good but it takes a long time to make because you have to saute things in different batches and the IP takes a long time to warm up between batches. Next time I make it I am gong to do the saute work on the stove.

The toasted Panko on top was interesting but I still prefer sourdough bread.

The "IP Rotisserie Chicken" you make the cassoulet with was very good by itself as well, but 30 minutes is too long to cook it (too soft). I might try 15 minutes next time.

Tried a recipe for keema, an Indian dish made with ground beef, peas and various spices. The version we have liked when we've had it in restaurants has some tomatoes in it, and the recipe in my Indian Instant Pot Cookbook does not.

It was OK but we won't make it again. Off to find one that is closer to the restaurant version...

Recall notice - Instapots purchased at Walmart. Overheating problems. Google it for the numbers...

So maybe different builds for different retailers. One way to keep prices down?

Different design.

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2...clusively-at-Walmart

Actually, I don't think it's a pressure cooker, based on the description. It has, for example, a tempered glass lid.

https://instantpot.com/portfol...tem/gem-multicooker/

quote:

Originally posted by well-tempered gardener:
Tried a recipe for keema, an Indian dish made with ground beef, peas and various spices. The version we have liked when we've had it in restaurants has some tomatoes in it, and the recipe in my Indian Instant Pot Cookbook does not.

It was OK but we won't make it again. Off to find one that is closer to the restaurant version...

I just got my son that cookbook. Anything you'd recommend?

Just checking....Urvashi Pitre is the author of the book I have.

Faves: We keep going back to Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken), Punjabi Chicken Curry, Chicken Tikka Masala, and the Lamb Dum Biryani. Haven't tried the Chicken Biryani, but that looks very good.

We've had the Aloo Gobi (potatoes and cauliflower) and Bundh Gobi Mutter (cabbage and peas). Both were good.

The only recipe from the book that we weren't over the top about was the Kheema Matar. I didn't look carefully at the recipe before preparing it; if I had, I would have noticed that it didn't have a tomato based sauce like we're used to.

There's another kheema recipe in the book that has more of a sauce; we haven't tried that but it has potential.

All in all, a very good cookbook and one I would recommend to anyone who wants to cook Indian food in the Instant Pot.

quote:

Originally posted by well-tempered gardener:
Just checking....Urvashi Pitre is the author of the book I have.

Faves: We keep going back to Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken), Punjabi Chicken Curry, Chicken Tikka Masala, and the Lamb Dum Biryani. Haven't tried the Chicken Biryani, but that looks very good.

We've had the Aloo Gobi (potatoes and cauliflower) and Bundh Gobi Mutter (cabbage and peas). Both were good.

The only recipe from the book that we weren't over the top about was the Kheema Matar. I didn't look carefully at the recipe before preparing it; if I had, I would have noticed that it didn't have a tomato based sauce like we're used to.

There's another kheema recipe in the book that has more of a sauce; we haven't tried that but it has potential.

All in all, a very good cookbook and one I would recommend to anyone who wants to cook Indian food in the Instant Pot.

Thanks!

I posted a few of the recipes in the WTF Cookbook thread if you want to take a look/try one out.

Thanks! my son is a cook and a huge Indian food fan. I'll send along the recommendations. I'm pretty sure he will try the Vindaloo first. (I have his instant pot and cookbook with me, waiting to take them up in a few weeks, if this doesn't make sense.)

Haven't tried that one; let us know what he thinks!

The other keema recipe, the one with coconut milk and spinach, is excellent.

This week I made two IP meals.

The first was Indian butter chicken because the local market had ginormous chicken thighs for $.99/lb and I bought 8 pounds. I should have bought more.

The recipe was from the website "JoCooks.com and was very, very good. I added half an onion because I had one in the fridge that was on its way out, and I didn't bother to mince the garlic - just smashed it and threw it in.

Indian Butter Chicken

Ingredients

3 tbsp butter unsalted
8 cloves garlic minced
2 tsp fresh ginger minced (or paste)
1 cup tomato puree or passata
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp coriander ground
1 tsp cumin ground
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 lbs chicken thighs boneless and skinless, cut into pieces
1 cup water
1 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp parsley chopped

Instructions

Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting. (See your manufacturer's guide for detailed instructions on how to use your instant pot.)

Add the butter and cook until the butter has melted. Add the garlic and ginger and saute for another minute or until the garlic becomes aromatic. Do not cook too long because you don't want to burn it.

Add the tomato puree and tomato paste to the Instant Pot and stir. Add the garam masala, coriander, cumin, paprika, turmeric and salt to the Instant Pot, stir and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the chicken thighs, water and stir everything together. There should be enough liquid in the pot to cover the chicken, so add more water if needed.

Close the lid (follow the manufacturer's guide for instructions on how to close the instant pot lid). Set the Instant Pot to the Poultry setting and set the timer to 5 minutes.

Once the Instant Pot cycle is complete, wait until the natural release cycle is complete, should take about 10 minutes. Follow the manufacturer's guide for quick release, if in a rush. Carefully unlock and remove the lid from the instant pot.

Switch the Instant Pot to the saute setting (do not put the lid on). Add the whipping cream and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce should thicken and reduce a bit. You don't want it to reduce too much.

Turn off the Instant Pot and garnish with fresh parsley. Serve warm over rice and with naan.