Instant Pot Tomato Bulgur

Here's a real favorite for my family. We've been making various versions of tomato bulgur for years. but when we got the Instant Pot we worked out a version to take advantage of that.

This is a versatile side dish, but one of my favorite ways to serve it is with chicken - either sweet chili chicken legs, or magically crispy chicken - a pico de gallo and a creamy cold sauce of some kind, maybe a ranch dip.

Instant Pot Tomato Bulgur
Serves 4 generously (we always have leftovers and they're very good cold in a salad)

1 small onion, finely chopped
olive oil
400 ml bulgur wheat, the coarse kind
1 tin (400 g) crushed tomatoes
400 ml water (just use the tin above)
1 tsp Vegeta (optional but gives a little extra oomph)

Set the IP to Sauté and heat the oil. Fry the onion for a few minutes, Add the bulgur wheat. Press cancel, and add tomatoes, water and vegeta (if using).

Place the IP on high pressure for 12 minutes (I use the rice setting) and then do an instant release. Season with salt and pepper as you see fit.

Instant Pot Taco Soup

I made this super simple taco soup with the kids. There's barely any work to it at all. I browned my meat separately but will not do that next time - I use a fairly lean meat so I might as well do it all the Instant Pot since it's so much easier. (But if you have a fattier meat you might want to strain off some of the fat.)

Feel free to add beans, chickpeas, whatever stuff you'd like - but my kids don't like it, won't eat it and thus we made this bare bones. For toppings, the kids used cheese and tortilla chips, but sour cream, tomatoes, cilantro, and avocado are also good options.

Instant Pot Taco Soup
serves 4-6

cooking oil
500 g minced beef
1 chopped onion
taco spice mix - you can use a ready-made one, or just add salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, a little chili, cayenne, cumin and coriander.
1 small can (about 200 g) corn
1 can - 400 g - crushed tomatoes
water - use your judgement to get this as soupy as you want. I used about 600 ml.

Put your IP on the sauté setting and add a little cooking oil. Brown the minced meet. Add the onion and fry for a few minutes. Press cancel.

Add the taco spice, corn, tomatoes and water. Seal and turn your IP to high pressure for 15 minutes. Do a manual release of the steam, and turn off the Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Creamy Lemon Linguini with Chicken

I haven't written so much about my InstantPot, mostly because I'm busy loving and using it. I've been really wanting to get my recipes in order, before posting about them, since it's a fairly exact science.

So, this pasta recipe is one of my kids favorites and often requested. Not all pasta works well in the IP, as it's easily overcooked and mushy, but linguini works very well. I'll give two different measurements here, depending on how many you are, but it's really only a variation in garlic, pasta and water, I use the same amounts of everything else.

As you can tell from the photos, I  like to eat this with sautéed broccoli (not made in the IP). The kids prefer it plain.



Instant Pot Creamy Lemon Linguini with Chicken
Serves 3-5 (larger amounts in parenthesis below)

to cook:
pat of butter
1 (2) garlic cloves, finely minced
350 (500) g linguini, broken in half
700 (1000) ml water + 1 cube vegetable stock (or just the same amount of stock, depending on how you like to cook)
dash of Vegeta, my favorite little crutch in the kitchen these days
350 g chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
salt, pepper

to finish:
handful of grated parmesan
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon
100 ml cream

Place your InstantPot on sauté and melt the butter. Let the garlic fry until fragrant. Press cancel on the IP and add linguini, water, stock cube and vegeta. Place the chicken on top, add salt and pepper. Seal your Instant Pot and cook for 5 minutes on high pressure. Let the IP natural release for 5 minutes, then manually release remaining pressure.

Stir in parmesan, lemon zest, lemon juice and cream. Either serve right away, or if it looks a  little runny, sauté for a few minutes.

Cookbook watch March 2018

Oh it's been SO long since I talked about cookbooks. Let's remedy that immediately and dive right in.

First, I finally got an Instant Pot. I've been reading raves about this gadget for a few months now and I added it to my watchlist on Amazon. It finally got back into stock (for a few brief minutes) and I managed to snag one. However, once I got it and did  a test run (with water) it scared me a little and now I'm stuck. What should I cook? Any recommendations?

I have promised to try it tomorrow, and first out will be the saffron risotto from "Dinner in an Instant" by Melissa Clark. It does sound really good and I think risotto will be one of the things that can really work out in the Instant Pot. The book is nice - it has 75 recipes, all with good, clear photos. It has a fairly unadventurous chapter division (like meats, desserts etc) and it's easy enough to navigate.

Another book specifically for the Instant Pot is the "Indian Instant Pot Cookbook" by Urvashi Pitre who's otherwise known in the IP community as the "butter chicken lady". She is extremely well known for her recipe for Butter Chicken in the IP, but this cookbook has a lot more recipes - all Indian. I really like Indian food and I look forward to trying this. I do wish it had more photos though - it's just a few.

And finally a Swedish cookbook, "Frukost Hela Dagen" by Anna & Rasmus Axelsson. The title means "breakfast all day" and it's basically a bunch of breakfast recipes that work for any meal. They are all free from gluten and lactose, which is quite nice - even though I don't have any dietary restrictions. The recipes are from the super popular café named "Pom och  Flora" - do visit if you're in Stockholm. So far, I've tried their steel-cut oats (made with oatmeal "milk" and oats) and it was delicious.