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| Indian Instant Pot |
I am late to the Instant Pot party, I had zero interest in another kitchen gadget. I made Jasmine rice in a pot and didn't really like how it came out. The bag said for best results use a rice cooker. I started researching rice cookers and discovered the Instant Pot is a rice cooker and six other things. I had Kohl's cash and gift cards to burn and realized I could get the 3 quart model for almost free! After researching the Instant Pot, I found that Indian food is very popular. I hate Indian food, but I am so sick to death of everything else. Suddenly I am obsessed with Indian food. Why do I hate it? I have never even eaten it, and certainly have never made it. I think I love Indian food!
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| My new Instant Pot |
One almost free Instant Pot, 7 cookbooks, and $30 in Indian spices later, I was ready to make some Indian food. First I made my own garam masala because the cookbook said to make your own. I ordered coriander seeds on Amazon because it was cheaper than the grocery store. I started to think I was going to like this because I love cilantro so much, and coriander IS cilantro. I used coriander seeds, cumin, cloves, cardamom seeds, bay leaves, cayenne, and cinnamon... in RJ's coffee grinder. Wow, so strong and so fragrant! It smelled like citrus, nuts, and sunshine. And RJ probably should never use his grinder for coffee again...oops.
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| Garam Masala |
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| Jasmine Rice in the Instant Pot |
My first test of the Instant Pot was to make the Jasmine rice. It took about 10 minutes for the pot to come up to pressure, 4 minutes to cook and 10 minutes for the pressure to come back down. I had a beautiful pot of rice and it was so easy.
It seems Murgh Makhani, also known as Butter Chicken is the most popular Indian recipe. The Indian Instant Pot Cookbook by Urvashi Pitre had a great recipe for it. The recipe required a can of tomatoes, garlic, turmeric, cayenne, the garam masala I made earlier, salt, boneless chicken, butter, heavy whipping cream, and cilantro. I skipped the ginger because it tastes like soap to me. First cook the chicken in the pot with the sauce, use an immersion blender to blend the sauce, and finally add the butter, cream and cilantro at the end. I had no idea Indian food used so much cilantro. What have I been missing?
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| The sauce before the immersion blender |
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| After the immersion blender |
My Instant Pot is magical. It was so easy to use, and the chicken was absolutely phenomenal. It was so delicious that the second pickiest kid on the planet not only ate it and liked it, but asked for leftovers the next day. The spices were bright and aromatic, and just so different than anything I have ever tried before. The recipe makes a lot of sauce, and it says to save half for something else. The extra sauce lasts three days in the fridge or can go in the freezer. The recipe was super easy to follow. Since I am new to Indian food and had no clue what I was doing, or what it should look or taste like, I think I did all right. RJ and I both loved it, and it was even better the next day.
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| Butter Chicken |
I already know I need the bigger Instant Pot! I found a Nutella Bread Pudding recipe...
