I have to confess, I’ve had an InstantPot for something like a year-and-a-half and I think I’ve only used it once before.  The kids have used it a couple more times.  But we have obviously not been making the most of it.  I was very intrigued when I was given the opportunity to review Instant Indian: Classic Foods from Every Region of India Made Easy in the Instant Pot.

The InstantPot has some benefits specific to traditional Indian cooking, above and beyond routine American cooking.  One is that Indian recipes frequently call for the toasting of spices before continuing with meal preparation.  This has the potential to be a real hassle, dirty additional pans, etc.  The InstantPot is perfect for this, because you can toast the spices on the “saute” setting, then dump everything else in and switch it over to pressure cook the meal as a whole.

The author also uses the pot in some unique ways.  For instance, she uses the “yogurt” setting to ferment the batter for idlis or dosas (cakes/flatbreads made with fermented rice/bean batters).  There are also instructions for making ghee in the pot.

India is a large country, and the cuisine varies by region (much as you might not expect to see pork cracklins and collards served in Calfornia), so the book includes recipes from four larger regions: northern, southern, eastern, and western India.  One of the features I appreciate is the section at the front that lists some of the distinctive Indian ingredients and tells what their functions are.  This makes it easier to know what can be substituted if you can’t locate a particular spice or something.

Saag Murgh

I haven’t had a chance to try many recipes in this yet, due to a combination of food sensitivities and ingredients on hand.  (That is, there are many I need to acquire additional spices before making, and of the remainder, a few are things I can’t eat.)  But I made the Saag Murgh this evening, and it was a huge hit!

Ssag Murgh is described in the book as “Mom’s chicken curry with seasonal greens.”  I made a few tweaks to the recipe, but they’re pretty minor in the grand scheme of things.  It called for 1/2 a cup of chopped tomatoes, but I omitted those because I can’t eat them.  I used all spinach instead of half spinach/half kale, I cut the cayenne down from 1 teaspoon to about 3/4 teaspoon (because my kids don’t like a lot of heat — this amount was perfect!), and I ended up using lemon juice instead of lime juice when I discovered my lime juice expired about 6-1/2 years ago!  (Hey, I’m keepin’ it real, y’all!)

Trust the recipes.  I was really skeptical there was enough liquid in this recipe — especially after omitting the tomatoes — to even come to pressure, but as it turns out, there was a lot of liquid at the end.  I really should have prepared some rice to go with this and sop up the flavorful liquid!

But I have to tell you, I am amazed at how well this went over.  My 7-year-old hates chicken.  None of us is a fan of cooked greens.  (That’s actually why I made this — in hopes that we would find them tolerable this way.)  The 5-year-old had to be persuaded to take his first bite, because he thought it looked gross, so it made him nervous, but my kids raved about this.  The chicken-hater said it was delicious and when I said I’d happily eat seconds, eagerly agreed that she would, too.  The two older girls were at choir when we first ate dinner, and when they walked back in the door, they walked in to a clamor from these younger two, practically falling all over themselves to tell them about the amazing Indian food we had in the InstantPot that was “so much deliciouser than [they] expected!”

That is definitely a win in my book!

(It did take a bit longer than the instructions say, mostly because it took me a long time to chop the onion, thanks to having to stop so I didn’t cut off a finger when I couldn’t see past the stinging/tears.)  It’s a good one to start with, because all of the seasonings are readily available in a regular American supermarket.

I’m really looking forward to trying the idlis, once I have something to cook them in.  (A baking-type pan, I mean.)  India has an amazingly wide variety of breads, many of which are gluten-free — including idlis.

If you’re interested in Indian food, or simply in expanding your repertoire, with a minimum of hassle, check this out.

Instant Indian, by Rinku Bhattacharya {review} is a post from: Titus 2 Homemaker

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