To tell you all about my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker?

[lougle]

In ridiculously sad excited. I got given an Instant Pot Duo 60 for Christmas and it is utterly fantastic!

I cooked a cheesecake in 25 minutes. It's delicious. Then I pot roasted a 2kg joint of beef in 45 minutes -beautifully tender and still just ever so slightly rare in the middle.

Naice, post the recipe if you can.

bestcat feel free to start a thread probably the food topic would be best.

Hmm Im a sucker for a kitchen gadget but all those stages sound a bit faffy tbh < still tempted>

I love my slow cooker- I have meals already prepped in bags in the freezer, chuck in add stock ,turn on.
I come home and its cooked.

Does it reduce down the sauce. Obviously it cooks quickly, but do you get a delicious meal at the end of it. I would usually cook a bolognese or chilli for hours to get an intense flavour. It's so long since I used a pressure cooker.

The most tempting thing is that you can saute in it as well. I hate having to saute in a separate pan when I use the slow cooker.

Just seen your recipe lougle. So you do need to reduce and thicken after it's cooked.

I just ordered one too with the code due to this thread, need to get rid of my slow cooker now and look up some recipes. DH dropped my pressure cooker lid and broke it just before Christmas and broke it, so this is my replacement!

No, it won't thicken unless you have something like flour or barley that soaks up liquid. A pressure cooker is a sealed pot so no liquid escapes during cooking. You lose the quantity of liquid that becomes steam, but that's not a huge amount.

It's really not faffy at all, I promise. The recipe above I've altered -instead of moving on to the stage of adding the soy sauce, etc., I've ignored the IP and used MN and chatted to the children instead. The IP is quite happily keeping it warm until I can be bothered resume cooking.

fireside yes to thickening but no to reducing -I've only got half a pint of liquid in the pot so I don't want to reduce it at all.

ruhrpott and user - hooray! We can be excited together

I've just ordered mine too- really excited!

My chilli was good! I have included a basic recipe below.

Vegetable chilli recipe:

You can of course adapt this to include any veg/spice combination.

Dice an aubergine into 1/2 inch pieces and sprinkle with salt, place in a colander for an hour or so. Then dry with kitchen towel. Fry in some olive oil using the saute function for 5 mins, then add 2 diced onions, 3 chopped garlic cloves, chopped celery (one stalk), carrots (1 large), 2 red and yellow peppers, fry for another few minutes until all vegetables are soft.

Add a teaspoon each of cumin powder, chilli powder, oregano and basil. Also a half teaspoon of fennel seeds.

Add tin of chopped tomatoes, half a tin of water, and a good squeeze of tomato puree. Cook on high pressure for 8 minutes. Then quick release and add a tin of chickpeas and a tin of kidney beans. Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes. Check to make sure everything tender, especially aubergine.

Then add a squeeze of lemon juice, some salt and pepper. Serve with sour cream, grated cheese, rice or wraps.

I haven't found dishes I've made in the Instant Pot as watery as they were in the slow cooker. I have bought some arrowroot for thickening but haven't needed to use it yet.

In case anyone else is dithering, I have just had a new kitchen installed with lovely new hob and oven, and still use my Instant Pot in preference. It gets used pretty much every day.

Sounds good Naice!

Evening Potheads.

My pot has apparently been sorted by parcel force so hoping it might be here tomorrow. Then it will be cheesecake tastic!

Question: my 1 and 2 year olds are obviously weaned but thinking ahead to newborn getting started in 6 months. I have done baby led weaning with the other two but hoping there will be some good recipes I can use for meals that will suit everyone. Any tips?

I think a thread in Food would be a great idea

Argh, I wonder how long the discount code will last...tis my birthday at the end of the month...

I'm really enjoying the FB IP group, particularly all the discussions about smelly rings

What is this water test of which they speak? I've not had time to read the lengthy instructions yet.

Also, any recommendations for an easy and fool proof starter meal?

If food is too watery you could always sauté for a few mins to evaporate some of the water.

The water test is the first thing the instructions tell you to do, I think it is just to check the machine is working ok. That's all I can remember I'm afraid!

First meal I made was a beef casserole. Saute onions, diced beef till browned, chuck in chopped leek, carrot, celery, tomato puree, beef stock, herbs. Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes and allow to release pressure naturally.

I tend to always use the manual high pressure button and adjust the times with that, rather than the pre-set programmes.

Pot has arrived

I'm lazy but will have to start reading the instructions now. Now the work begins.

Looks nice and is quite light for its size.

Haven't ordered yet - dithering...anyone know how long the promo code is valid for?

Gobolino - any meal you're having will be fine for baby as long as you cut out salt (and honey until 1yo). You could steam some vegetables super fast.

Snoot -any one pot meal will be great. Just remember the only real rule: To make pressure you need steam and to make steam you need water.

If you are making something with a thick sauce, throw in a cup of water on top. Thick sauces aren't wet enough on their own to create the stream.

Mine has just arrived! I'm feeding baby and reading the instructions. Then going to make a cheesecake and s shin of beef stew

I'd like to add potatos but don't know if they will dissolve as will have to do the shin of beef for s bit. If they do a bit, that's ok as can thicken up the sauce a bit.

Will report back.....

Ps - to anyone who ordered using the good food code, my extra accoutrements arrived so have two seals.

'Haven't ordered yet - dithering...anyone know how long the promo code is valid for?'

BBC site doesn't mention when it runs out but I am guessing that it might run for at least January.

Very good offer - £30 off plus free delivery plus extra seal plus two mitts

I have been looking at youtube instant pot recipes for a while. I'm wondering whether to wait for the smart version because you can apparently use it for sous vide as well.