Instant Pot

One of the hottest items for the last year or so on the RV boards I read has been the Instant Pot.  What is an Instant Pot?  No sales pitch here, it is an intelligent electric pressure cooker.  You can cook one pot meals, rice, stews, pretty much anything you can cook in a pot.  As a pressure cooker, it can cook things faster, and since it is intelligent (monitors pressure, temperature and time) you can set it and then walk away.  Seems like a winner.

So my In-laws gave me one for Christmas.  I do try and limit what I carry in the Fuse.  Not just because space is at a little premium, but if you were to look at my kitchen at home you would see every gadget known to man in one of the cabinets.  Yet, I still find myself using the same several pots 90% of the time.  So I have been testing the Instant Pot since Christmas.

So what have I been experimenting with.  One thing it says is that it is a rice cooker.  So I decided to try that first.  It will cook rice.   Pretty easy.  Stick 2 cups of rice with 3 cups of water in the stainless steel cooking pot.  Close the lid, make sure the steam vent is closed, hit the rice button and stand back.  It will beep when it gets to pressure and beep again when it is finished cooking.   Once it is finished cooking, wait 10 minutes and then open the steam vent.  In a minute or so you can open the lid (once all of the pressure is released) and you have rice.  Takes about 30 minutes.   Not so bad until I tell you that with my normal pot I can do the same thing in the same amount of time.   The Instant Pot cooks rice fine.  It is just not any improvement over the traditional method.

The next thing I have been experimenting with is Chicken and Rice or as known in some places Chicken Purleu.  A full meal in a pot.  So the recipe is:

• 3 cups of Water
• 2 cups of Jasime Rice
• 1 tablespoon of dried onion flakes
• 2 tablespoons of Chicken Bullion (or Chicken Soup base)
• 4-6 Chicken Thighs (de-boned)

Mix the water and bullion together until dissolved in the cooking pot.  Add the onion and then stir in the rice so it is even in the bottom of the pot.   Now place the chicken on top of this.  You might want to cut the thighs in half so you have a nice even layer.

Put the Instant Pot lid on.  Make sure the vent is closed and press the rice button.  Then it will start cooking.  In about 30 minutes it will stop pressure cooking and go to low, it will beep to let you know.  Then wait 10 min and release the pressure by opening the steam vent.   When the steam is finished coming out you can take off the lid and you are done.  The chicken will fall apart and you can mix it with the rice.   Takes from start to finish about 45 min.

A big hint is to take the pot out of the cooker.  Otherwise the rice will burn on bottom since the cooking element in the cooker stays hot for a while after it is turned off.

This recipe is a winner.   I have tried the same approach with turkey and thin cut steak.  Both were pretty good but not as good as the chicken.  You will probably want to add some salt and pepper but it is not needed depending on the bullion you use.

I have still not decided if it is going to be a part of the Fuse or not.   On the ease of use front, it is still easier to use the microwave.  I am not sure how much time it actually saves.  Taste wise, I can make some real good Chicken and Rice in the Instant Pot.   I am going to try several more things.   It will for sure be a part of the home kitchen lineup.  I am not sure it is going to be a fixture in the Motorhome. Time will tell.