InstantPot for the Busy Professional Student
A month ago, I had heard of the InstantPot, among a whole slew of kitchen gadgets that all look like a giant monolith on the counter. My mother has one, I think, or is that an Air Fryer? It’s all too much for a family of two, just my husband and I, to get one of these contraptions… Isn’t it? We don’t even have a microwave at home, though, full disclosure, the apartment we just moved out of came with a microwave. But the house didn’t, and we’d lived our entire relationship otherwise, without a microwave or one of these fancy contraptions. So, what made us dive head-first into the InstantPot? Was it just because we’re both busy professional students?
I’ll admit to the impulse buy - it just seemed so right - the InstantPot Duo Nova was on sale for Amazon Prime Day at something like forty- or fifty-percent off. But what really got me to look the thing up on smile.amazon.com (yes, the smile and the dot in front of amazon.com makes a difference) was an article I had just read about a busy doctor who wanted home cooked meals of the caliber she remembers from her childhood growing up in India. Dr. Urvashi Pitre had me at ‘Murgh Makhani’ (Butter Chicken), but only because she executed her entire cookbook using the InstantPot. I too longed for homemade Indian food, of a caliber that I’d had at restaurants though; but like the good doctor, I didn’t have hours to spend in the kitchen. The article went on lauding her recipes, and sure enough, both the discounted Duo Nova and her cookbook, “Indian Instant Pot® Cookbook: Traditional Indian Dishes Made Easy and Fast” made it into my smile.amazon.com shopping cart that day.
Wouldn’t you know it, they arrived the very next day! I guess that’s one of the big deals about Prime Day, but I digress. We immediately went out to the local Market32 store and picked up the few ingredients we lacked to try the recipe that hooked me on the whole idea, Butter Chicken. Now, for my sensible readers, in terms of eating an entire stick of butter - not in one sitting mind you - I can’t think of a more delicious way to pull it off than on such a savory dish. There is a reason it’s called Butter Chicken, after all. Another side note: I’m one of those people who thinks cilantro tastes like dish soap, so we did everything by her book other than the coriander and cilantro. We also grabbed an immersion blender, on sale at Wal-Mart, and then headed home.
Other than the buttons being slightly different, the execution was easily flawless, and the tastes were amazing. The flavor had permeated the chicken perfectly. The recipe calls for taking half the sauce and storing it, so in another act of deviance from the good doctor’s recipe, we doubled the amount of chicken. This allowed us to pack a few lunches away for later in the week with portions of basmati rice; and weekend meal preparation is something I also highly recommend for any busy student or professional. Since then, we’ve used the machine two more times to great success, once for Dal Makhani (look it up), and last night for Sloppy Joes. Yes, you read that correctly. The Sloppy Joes were delicious, and you can absolutely reproduce the canned sauce with fresh vegetables and spices in minutes if given the chance, I promise. Just Google sloppy joes with fresh tomatoes. You can thank me later.
