I’ve had my Instant Pot for a few years now. While I use it once a week to make yogurt, it’s never been an essential part of my kitchen gear.
It makes yogurt foolproof and works fine as a slow cooker (the sear function is great), but it took me about two years to drum up the courage to use it as a pressure cooker. My first attempt, on the famous Instant Pot butter chicken recipe, was interesting. It all tasted good, and the sauce was great, but the chicken had a texture like pulled pork. Plus, the time it took to bring it up to pressure, cook it, let it cool down and release the steam all took about the same time (or longer) than doing it on the stovetop.
That all changed today. First, we’re in the middle of a 4-day heat wave and nothing that requires heating ovens or broilers is appealing. Secondly, I had a package of Rancho Gordo chickpeas that I was going to soak and cook but a pot of beans on the stove might be comfort food in January but not so much in July.
Being brave, why not use my Instant Pot? Chickpeas, water, salt and half a massive garlic clove went in. Pressure for 35 minutes, natural release for 25 minutes et voilà , beautiful tender tasty chickpeas. Use a ratio of 1 cup chickpeas to 3 cups water
Why not just go out and buy a couple of cans? Cans are fine, and I do have at least one lurking in the cupboard, but I’ve tasted canned vs. dried and cooked, and the dried ones win hands down. It used to be that you needed time and freezer space to do a batch of dried chickpeas, but now that I can do them in an hour, I don’t need to do a whole bag of them at one time. Today, I did a cup of dried and came away with about 3 ½ cups of cooked chickpeas (between nibbling and tossing them in my salad, I ended up with 3 one-cup bags that I froze).
When we move to France, my electrical appliances will find new homes. Getting a food processor will be at the top of the list and an Instant Pot wasn’t even on the list. Today it might be, especially if we’re in pandemic mode for a while.
If you haven’t tried any beans in your Instant Pot, find some good ones from a place like Rancho Gordo and give that pot a new purpose. Let me know if you’re now a fan in the comments.
