Instant Pot

We use it all the time. Not just for the usual rice etc.

Works wonders for steaming meat with all your spices etc. before cooking it on the stove. The meat comes out soft and falls off the bone. Would take about an hour or two to steam it properly on the stove. Pressure cooker does it in 20 minutes.

With that said this is just an electric pressure cooker. It doesn't necessarily do anything that another pressure cooker can't. I bought it cos I had eBucks...
 
Finally got a workable instant pot akni, my previous attempt some posts back was a disaster of burn warnings that i eventually tried to save on the stove...

I figured that the burn warnings were triggered by the thick marinade (with tomatoes in it) being right at the bottom of the pot.

I marinated my chicken and soaked my basmati rice as usual. Saute normal for the onions and the chicken/marinade/spices, used that time to peel and cut my potatoes and drain my rice. Then I took the chicken mixture out of the pot completely and set it aside. I used 1/2 cup of clean water to deglaze the bottom of the pot very thoroughly. Potatoes at the bottom, rice on top of the potatoes, tumeric on top of the rice with 2 cups of water (for 2 cups of rice) and then the chicken mixture dumped right on top of that whole lot. Pressure cooked on normal, high pressure for 10min and allowed 20min for natural release.

It was very good, not the absolute best akni I've ever had, since I didn't add quite enough salt (my mistake). The rice was perfectly cooked and absorbed nearly all the liquid (wasn't too wet after resting for a few minutes at all), the chicken was tender and delicious, the potatoes were actually too soft so I will cut them a bit bigger next time.
 
Just a question. I have never seen an Instapot and how it works. But pressure cookers are known to be used as home made bombs. My pressure cooker I can inspect everything all around, see and test all the pressure release and safety release valves etc. And I do it before every use.
Can you do the same on an Instapot?
 
Jean Claude Vaaldamme said:
Just a question. I have never seen an Instapot and how it works. But pressure cookers are known to be used as home made bombs. My pressure cooker I can inspect everything all around, see and test all the pressure release and safety release valves etc. And I do it before every use.
Can you do the same on an Instapot?
Click to expand...
Modern pressure cookers are super safe. It was the old school ones that were dodgy.
 
Jean Claude Vaaldamme said:
Just a question. I have never seen an Instapot and how it works. But pressure cookers are known to be used as home made bombs. My pressure cooker I can inspect everything all around, see and test all the pressure release and safety release valves etc. And I do it before every use.
Can you do the same on an Instapot?
Click to expand...

That’s only applicable to stove top pressure cookers.

Pretty much impossible for electric ones.

But yes all the valves and gaskets are equally accessible.
 
RanzB said:
Modern pressure cookers are super safe. It was the old school ones that were dodgy.
Click to expand...
Well mine has two additional safety features above the normal, but I still don't trust that bomb, I still inspect them every use and test they are working, food or something can get stuck in them.
 
ShaunSA said:
Between me and the SO there's only one person that uses a pressure cooker.... and it's notavok me!
Click to expand...
Isn't it great for beans and stuff? I just caved and bought one (Instant Pot). Expecting it today. Haven't had a pressure cooker before.
 
TofuMofu said:
Isn't it great for beans and stuff? I just caved and bought one (Instant Pot). Expecting it today. Haven't had a pressure cooker before.
Click to expand...

It's way faster yeah but I prefer a slow cooker. No chance of it exploding on me :oops:
 
ShaunSA said:
It's way faster yeah but I prefer a slow cooker. No chance of it exploding on me :oops:
Click to expand...
Well, from what happened last week in Woodstock, it seems gas it more of a hazard :ROFL:

My mother cooks a lot of a pressure cooker and she still has her roof so seems good. She has a pure pressure cooker though, not an Instant Pot.
 
I have a Russell Hobbs RHEP7 (90% the same as the Instant Pot, an electric pressure cooker) and tried homemade yogurt and I am hooked. Heat, Cool, add starter (plain supermarket brand) and mix, leave for 6 hours at the optimal temperature, refrigerate. Exercise portion self control.
 
I've been seeing some awesome beef stew Instant Pot recipes lately, I'll probably get myself one.
 
Made Mujadara (lentil and rice) last night in the Instant Pot for the first time. It was a bit mush, so will need to get used to how long stuff needs to be in there. Tasted great though and it was super fast (faster next time to prevent the mushiness).
 
Got some lamb on special at checkers (R99/kg) so I've been enjoying some lamb in the instant pot. Lamb curry first time came out amazing, nice and tender, used some masala and added some red chili flakes and also cut up 2 green chilis into the pot, cut my carrots up in nice big pieces and my potatoes (med) halved and peeled and 2 tomatoes. cooked it for 45min under pressure. Second time I ran out of fresh chilis so I used some thai red chili powder which was quite a bit hotter and wasn't quite as nice a flavor as the fresh chilis.

Family is asking for "irish lamb stew" so I'm planning to cook that up sometime this weekend, should be good.

Any tips on cooking rice? I've tried a few times but never been 100% satisfied:
- used the rice setting with basmati rice and it came out super sticky not at all how I like it, but it was edible, don't remember how much water I used and the manual doesn't explain so I might have put the amount of water indicated on the rice packet?
- used whatever white rice was on special (not basmati) with 1 cup of water and 1 cup of rice and 5min pressure + natural release, this was a disaster, it was yellow and hard and I just threw it out.
- used the same white rice above but 1 cup rice to 2 cups of water, 4min pressure + natural release, this was very good, the water was all absorbed and it was a good texture. it did seem to stick together when I left it sitting though, but I may not have rinsed it well enough.
 
1am7h30n3 said:
Family is asking for "irish lamb stew" so I'm planning to cook that up sometime this weekend, should be good.
Click to expand...
Irish lamb stew wound up being made with mutton, but wow it was good, so tender and delicious, nice big potatoes and carrots and some onions. Loving pressure cooking, once you get it sauteed a little bit at first everything just goes in the pot together you close the lid and set the timer and leave it alone, nothing you can do until it's done.
 
1am7h30n3 said:
Got some lamb on special at checkers (R99/kg) so I've been enjoying some lamb in the instant pot. Lamb curry first time came out amazing, nice and tender, used some masala and added some red chili flakes and also cut up 2 green chilis into the pot, cut my carrots up in nice big pieces and my potatoes (med) halved and peeled and 2 tomatoes. cooked it for 45min under pressure. Second time I ran out of fresh chilis so I used some thai red chili powder which was quite a bit hotter and wasn't quite as nice a flavor as the fresh chilis.

Family is asking for "irish lamb stew" so I'm planning to cook that up sometime this weekend, should be good.

Any tips on cooking rice? I've tried a few times but never been 100% satisfied:
- used the rice setting with basmati rice and it came out super sticky not at all how I like it, but it was edible, don't remember how much water I used and the manual doesn't explain so I might have put the amount of water indicated on the rice packet?
- used whatever white rice was on special (not basmati) with 1 cup of water and 1 cup of rice and 5min pressure + natural release, this was a disaster, it was yellow and hard and I just threw it out.
- used the same white rice above but 1 cup rice to 2 cups of water, 4min pressure + natural release, this was very good, the water was all absorbed and it was a good texture. it did seem to stick together when I left it sitting though, but I may not have rinsed it well enough.
Click to expand...
The more water you use, the more moist and less sticky the rice comes out. I use 2 cups water to 1 cup rice on the Rice setting...
 
1am7h30n3 said:
Oxtail come out amazing in the instant pot. My stove top recipe calls for something around 5h+, I cook it for 1h40min or so in the instant pot and it comes out even more tender. So delicious. (Also oxtail is on special at checkers for R88/kg at the moment - Gauteng.)
Click to expand...
My mom and sister decided that they want to cook oxtail their way, on the stove top. They cooked it for 3h30min and it was still tough. When I cook it in the pressure cooker it falls off the bone after 1h45min!
 
Vis1/0N said:
I have a Russell Hobbs RHEP7 (90% the same as the Instant Pot, an electric pressure cooker) and tried homemade yogurt and I am hooked. Heat, Cool, add starter (plain supermarket brand) and mix, leave for 6 hours at the optimal temperature, refrigerate. Exercise portion self control.
Click to expand...
I bought a second hand RHEP7 without a manual. The downloadable version is not for the model that can make yoghurt. Can you perhaps send me the recipe?
 
It is all over the youtube and the web - eg https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/instant-pot-yogurt/ or https://www.farmcurious.com/blogs/farmcurious/47824517-homemade-yogurt-youre-doing-it-wrong
  1. Heat (Menu Button, + Button, Program 5 Saute) a litre of milk to above 82C - use a thermometer - stirring now and then, and then cancel. You can't really maintain the temperature with the saute function. Scalding is fine but try and avoid the formation of the skins.
  2. cool down to around 44C - placing the inner pot in a larger container of icy water could speed this up.
  3. mix 1/3 cup of the milk with the starter (couple of teaspoons of plain yogurt from the supermarket) and then mix it with the rest of the milk.
  4. Close the lid, click the menu button and then the + button until P15 (yogurt) is selected.
  5. 6+ hours later with the temp maintained at 44C you have homemade yogurt, some of which could be set aside to use as starter for the next batch.
Eyeball the measurements.
 
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