Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Jambalaya in your Instant Pot


I've owned my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker for just under a week now, and so far it is (nearly) everything I hoped for. Beans - including "soaking" - in about an hour. Rice in 20 minutes. Chicken from frozen in about 20. Oatmeal for breakfast in 15. Pretty exciting stuff!

I decided to give Jambalaya a try tonight. I've already made rice in the cooker several times and was comfortable with the timing and water ratio, so I was confident enough to attempt an adaptation of my  favorite One Pot Jambalaya recipe.

This is a fantastic recipe I've made more-or-less as written several times in the last few months. It is Super flavorful and somehow creamy tasting - even before you garnish with sour cream. But it does take a Long Time to cook - even longer than it says. I've had trouble with crunchy rice about 1/2 of the times I've made it, probably because I've done it for a crowd on Sunday nights and tried to cram too much into a single pot. No matter the cause, though, crunchy rice is no fun. So it was an obvious candidate for the pressure cooker.

The adaptation was simplicity itself and it turned out great.
I was only cooking for my husband and I tonight (the kids wouldn't touch it with a 10 ft pole), so I also cut the recipe in half.
Please, check out the original at eRecipeCards.com for a more traditional ingredients list, plus ideas for spicing up the roux you make in the first step. Of course, Jambalaya is supposed to be thrown together out of whatever is on hand, so I don't feel too inauthentic in my substitutions!

Ingredients (Serves about 4) 

1 to 1.5 lbs Pre-cooked meat of choice, in bite size pieces. I have used various sausages such as Louisiana Hot Links, Kielbasa, etc, shredded rotisserie chicken, shrimp, and etc. Tonight it was just hot links.
1/2 bag of frozen diced onion (or about 1/2 an onion)
1/2 bag frozen mixed bell peppers (or about 1 pepper)
Heaping Tbsp of minced garlic
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c flour
2 T Cajun spices, or to taste (I made my own from a recipe similar to this one)
2 C white rice, uncooked.
3 C chicken stock

Instructions 

  • Set the Instant Pot to Saute.
  • Make a roux from the oil and flour, combining well and stirring until it begins to bubble. 
  • Add onions and peppers and stir to coat. Cook until veggies are tender. 
  • Add garlic and then meat. Stir to coat and heat until warm through. 
  • Meanwhile, heat your chicken stock (Or in my case, water with a Tbsp of "Better Than Bullion") in the microwave until boiling. This will save you lots of time when coming up to pressure! 
  • Slowly add stock and cajun spices to Instant Pot, stirring well. 
  • Finally, add the white rice. Do not stir: just gently push it under. 
  • Put the lid on the Instant Pot and set to Manual, 9 minutes. 
  • Leave in "Keep Warm" for about 10 minutes - longer if you have the time for full natural pressure release. In my case, we were ready to eat and I got impatient after 10 and released the rest of the steam manually. 
  • Serve with Tabasco (for your husband) and plenty of sour cream (for me!) 





1 comment:

abo-bder said...
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