Where are all the Instant Potters?

[Sgtmajormummy]

Not talking about Harry!

The Instant Pot was a huge thing recently when people got them on Black Friday and started making all sorts of things.

Personally I’m a traditional pressure cooker user. I have three (!) Italian Lagostina ones with all the weights and valves on the top. They aren’t as heavy as the traditional models and double up as ordinary pans. With the timer on my induction hob I can just leave it to switch itself off.

Having said that I did buy an Amazon version of the Instant Pot. I tried it out for yoghurt (meh) and the infamous cheesecake (yum) but concluded that my own system was fine. I was meaning to sell it on my local second hand site but never got around to it...

Now, with 3 of us working and studying from home I need to keep the hissing to a minimum, so I’ve brought it out again. This week I’ve made:

Several batches of dried beans/lentils/chickpeas.
A delicious cowboy beans, carrots, tinned tomatoes and sausages.
Bolognese sauce.
Minestrone soup.
Meat and potato stew.
Risotto.
All in two-thirds of the traditional time and with very little fuss. Mostly with a normal pressure cooker but some IP.

I came on here looking for all the IP fans and found very few. Is there anybody there?

I'm here!!!!

Me!

Use it at least once a day, sometimes three LOL.

Porridge, soups, risottos, curries, stews ...

Mmm, curry!
I think I have some spice mix in the back of the cupboard.
Thanks for reminding me!

Me!! I use it every single day! I use pretty much every function. The yogurt is fabulous if you use a quality starter yoghurt and have a proper strainer. Even with skimmed milk, it's so creamy!! Kids love it!

Cooked 2 full chickens in it tonight and then popped then under the grill to brown. Pot to table 25 mins! The juiciest, easiest dinner ever!

Me! I did minestrone this week too. Will be doing another soup this week too. Thankfully we have lots of dried mixes as I had done and asked my daughters to take home with them any of their food stuffs.

Fresh and frozen vegetables.
Five minutes from the hiss!

Still here too! Learned about the Instantpot right here 2-3 years years ago now I think. I bought it, joined the FB group and my life hasn’t been the same since! I made Ragu and beef curry in mine this weekend for this week’s batch. Also made basmati rice in it to go with the beef curry for tea this evening

I have a pressure king pro is that similar ? It's fab

It’s also very economical.
Here in Italy the domestic power supply is weaker than the U.K. If you have the hairdryer going you have to switch off the oven! One of the reasons I cook this way.
Pressure cooking only needs minimum power once the pressure is up.

Surely a good thing in these times of lockdown where we’re dealing with lower incomes.

Waves - I did chicken noodle soup the other day I love it I find beef and gammon the best in it

Here too! I use it almost daily. If you like curry I highly recommend My Heart Beets, and for risotto HIP pressure cooking. Amy and Jacky are fab for weird looking recipes that taste amazing. Their chilli is great...

Me!

Soups. And dinners. Get on Pinterest and search for ip plus your main ingredient.

I'm South Asian so make lots of curries in it.
Bone broths / chicken stock as bases for noodle soups / ramen type dishes.
Dried pulses and beans too.
Rice in 4 mins.

Never done yoghurt or desserts in it!

Me! I love mine. I don't use it daily, but several times a week.
I do yogurt, curry and rice at the same time, potatoes for mashing, rice...

And a great 'roast' beef the other week.
I love just leaving to do its thing, and knowing there won't be hissing, boiling dry, scorching etc.

Great cowboy beans from scratch.

Pasta! Macaroni cheese, tomatoey/basil pasta, spaghetti with meatballs, mushroom pasta.. its one pot, no mess, few ingredients, easy to chuck in some veg. Not what I thought it'd be good for at all!

What do you think would be your lockdown signature dish?
Something that uses tins or freely available ingredients. Here in Italy we haven’t had much panic buying. Everything except hand sanitizer and face masks is freely available.
But online supermarket delivery is still in its early days so it’s a trip to one supermarket every five days for me. I’ve been buying long-life vegetables such as cabbage, potatoes, peppers, green beans, rather than salads But my freezer is well stocked.

I nominate my cowboy beans and sausages.

Or chickpea curry. That’s on the list for tomorrow!

Me! It’s been making lots of soup for us recently

Me too! I’ve had mine a while and tend to use it for risotto/paella as I love the fact I don’t have to stand there and stir it. There is a really good butter chicken recipe on the two sleevers website too

Funny that this thread came up yesterday actually - a friend had just bought an IP after my raving about them, and it struck me to look and see how long I'd had it.

Bought in October 2018, and a rare day that it hasn't been used at least once - can't knock that for a 'faddy kitchen gadget'!

Can I share my latest recipe?

Tomato and ricotta pasta sauce. So salute garlic and two diced carrots and garlic. Add tin of tomatoes, squirt of tomato paste and half a chicken stock cube (I used low salt). Pressure cook for six minutes, half a pot of ricotta stirred in and blended.

We had it with spaghetti.

Plates were licked

Saute not salute lol

Had mine for about 18 months and use it 5 or 6 times a week. Pasta sauces, soups, greek yogurt, chicken and gammon for lunches, chilli and curries. As well as cooking rice and parboiling veg

I use mine (though mine is the Wilko own brand one rather than an IP) for cheaper cuts of meat which need a long, slow cook - I made oxtail stew last week and it was divine. Only took an hour and 45 minutes rather than the four or five hours it would usually take in the crock pot.

2kg of oxtail
Two large onions
One large sweet potato or yam
3 carrots
A cup of beef stock
Oregano and basil
6 cloves of garlic
Splash of soy sauce
Oil for browning and frying

Fry chopped onions and garlic on sauté setting. Add oxtail and brown it. Add beef stock. Add everything else. Cook for an hour and 45 minutes.